2021-09-23 18:00:08
Google and Facebook have both laid thousands of miles of cables along the seafloor, stretching between continents, to carry internet around the world.Laying these cables takes months of preparation, and specialized vessels take them out to sea. Once laid, the cables can ferry huge quantities of internet data around the globe.
Here’s how they do it:Google is invested in 19 cable projects around the world. Facebook is invested in two currently active cables, and is involved in five more cable projects under construction, a spokesperson said.
First, the companies have to plan the route they want the cable to take. Jayne Stowell, strategic negotiator for Global Infrastructure at Google, said this step can take up to a year.
The cable itself is about the thickness of a garden hose, Stowell said. Cables are wrapped in a copper casing for electricity conduction.
Once the route is mapped out and the cable is made, it's time to load the cable onto a specialised laying vessel.
The vessel leaves port, spooling the cable behind it. Once it gets into deeper water, it deploys an underwater plow to dig a trench along the seabed into which it lays the cable.
For longer cables, Stowell said Google also installs a device called an amplifier every 100 meters (328 feet) to boost the signal and keep the data moving.
Buoys are used to float the cable at the surface and it is guided into position by divers, jet skis, and smaller boats.
Finally, the cable is pulled up onto the beach to a ready-made trench, where it's connected to a beach
manhole, a buried container where the undersea cable is hooked up to a terrestrial cable - which in turn connects to a cable station.
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