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The underwater web in 1999 Courtesy of TyCom and Rand McNally |
Today we use underwater cables more than ever. Every time we get on the Internet or make an overseas phone call, we tap into the underwater web. This vast flow of communication is made possible by a vast new network of fiber-optic technology.
Why fiber-optics?
The higher the frequency of an electrical wave (that is, the more impulses per second), the more information that wave can transmit. For this reason, you can send more signals by light than by electric currents, radio, or microwaves. By the year 2000, the vast majority of intercontinental Internet traffic was being carried by underwater fiber-optic cables.
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The underwater web in 1999 Courtesy of TyCom and Rand McNally |
Machinery on ship for laying fiber cable |
Landing the fiber cable |
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Laying fiber-optic cable in the 1990s Courtesy of TyCom | |
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Even the best optical fibers lose light, so signals must be amplified periodically - every 24 miles (40 km) for the first fiber-optic cable across the atlantic (1988), more than 100 miles (160 km) for later cables.
This early amplifier changed the optical signal into an electrical one, amplified it, and converted it back to optical. later versions use a technique that amplifies optical signals directly. |
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Optical amplifier, experimental model, 1984 National Museum of American History, from TyCom | |
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Optical amplifier in watertight brass casing, 1984 National Museum of American History | |
