Submarine Communications-Connecting the World

Undersea fiber optic cables are the integral part of worldwide communications infrastructure carrying more than 99% of international data traffic between continents. In a bit more than last 20 years transmission technology experienced explosive growth resulting in more than 10⁵ orders of magnitude increase in cable capacity and similar reduction in cost per information bit. Despite this progress the demand for communication capacity is far from saturation with current annual growth rate of at least 30%. We are reaching an interesting point in history where transmission technology is becoming very mature and approaching fundamental limits. The talk will examine the evolution of transmission concepts that changed multiple times in the last 20 years, the next immediate steps in technology evolution, further challenges facing continuing capacity growth, and the need for the new disruptive technologies.