Physical Design of the SL Branching Repeater

Since undersea fiber-optic cable can carry multiple transmission paths, it is now possible to conceive of a device which allows physical separation of the fiber paths and the subsequent routing of these paths to different landing points. This paper describes such a device now being designed for TAT 8. It has the capability of switching power from shore such that in the case of branch failure (such as might be caused by surface activities like fishing, etc.) the service in the other branch can be maintained. It also can have the capability of switching the incoming transoceanic signal paths to either shore-end cable so that all transoceanic capability can be maintained in the face of such failure.