ASN announced it is collaborating with seismic instrumentation company Nanometrics and environmental monitoring firm RBR to integrate climate-change monitoring tech into subsea cables, starting with a new cable project underway in the Pacific Islands.
ASN signed a deal with Vanuatu-based telecoms infrastructure firm Prima in January 2024 to design, manufacture, and deploy the “Tamtam” subsea cable that will run from Vanuatu and New Caledonia, with an option to extend it to Fiji and Australia.
The Tamtam cable is billed as the first-ever Scientific Monitoring and Reliable Telecommunications (SMART) cable, which means that – in addition to providing telecoms connectivity – the cable will be fitted with “climate change nodes” that enable real-time monitoring of seismic activities and efficient tsunami detection.
The Tamtam project is being spearheaded by French telecoms company Pacific Peering, which manages international data communications and plans for all of its cables in the Pacific to support environmental sensor technology by 2030, according to the company’s website.
Under the collaboration deal revealed Wednesday, ASN will use high-precision seismic sensors from Nanometrics and advanced environmental monitoring technologies from RBR for the climate-change nodes. Nanometrics has developed custom ocean-bottom seismic instrumentation, while RBR’s sensors monitor critical environmental parameters such as temperature and pressure.
According to Pacific Peering, the data from the sensors will be stored in a data centre in New Caledonia, and will be made accessible license-free to the scientific community and civil protection agencies.
ASN says the technology will enhance security and preparedness against natural disasters in that part of the South Pacific near the seismically volatile New Hebrides Trench.
ASN said the SMART technology is also being integrated into the Atlantic CAM subsea cable ring that will connect Portugal and the Autonomous Region of Azores and Madeira by 2026.
“Our efforts to develop the SMART technology is another testimony of ASN’s commitment to sustainability in the implementation of subsea optical networks,” said ASN president and CEO Alain Biston in a statement. “We believe that Nanometrics and RBR are the right partners for developing this complete SMART solution.”
The 375-km Tamtam cable will be the second to connect Vanuatu after the Interchange Cable Network 1 (ICN1) system that has connected the island to Fiji since 2014. Apart from Prima and ASN, the project is also supported by New Caledonia’s Office des Postes et Télécommunications (OPT) and the governments of Vanuatu and France.
The cable will have landing sites on Lifou Island in New Caledonia and Port Vila in Vanuatu. OMS has been contracted to install the subsea cable, which is scheduled to be completed and operational in 2026.