Providing High-Bandwidth Connectivity Between Land & Sea
(Click to enlarge) Credit: OOI Regional Scale Nodes program and the Center for Environmental Visualization, University of Washington
The Regional Scale Nodes (RSN) and sections of the Coastal Scale Nodes use cables to distribute power from land to sea and to provide two-way communications between land and sea. Up to 200 kW of power and up to 240 Gigabits/second bandwidth will be distributed from a land-based Shore Station to subsea terminals (Primary Nodes) from coastal sites to ocean depths as great as 3,000 meters on the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate.
The RSN network will feature two submarine cables (called Backbone Cables) extending from the Shore Station to the Hydrate Ridge study site, the Coastal Scale Nodes Endurance Array to the south, and the Axial Seamount study site on the Juan de Fuca Ridge.
The Backbone cable connects the Shore Station to the Primary Nodes, which are distribution centers for extension cables that provide direct access to the specific sites of scientific interest.
Sharing Data-Video Imagery Over The Internet
A Backhaul System, which includes dedicated high-bandwidth (up to 240 Gb/s) terrestrial telecommunication cables, provides Internet connectivity from a Shore Station to the Internet through a CyberPop in Portland, Oregon. The CyberPop provides some data storage, but predominantly serves as a data-video imagery routing station to distribute two-way information over the Internet in real-time.
The Shore Station houses Power Feed Equipment to convert utility power to high voltage (up to 200 kW) regulated and controlled power for each of the submarine cables that runs from the Shore Station into the ocean. Also included in the Shore Station is Line Termination Equipment that contains the optical drivers and receivers for the submarine cables that terminate in the Shore Station. A Cable Landing provides the transition for the submarine cables from the ocean bed through buried conduits to the Shore Station.
