Marine Survey & Cable Routing

Sub Optic 2004

Short Course

Ron RAPP, Mark LAWRENCE,

Dick BORWICK, Takuo KUWABARA

www.scig.net
 Topics
• Introduction/Objectives/Project Cycle Ron Rapp

• Desktop Study and Cable Route Study Mark Lawrence

• Routing & Cable Engineering General Guidelines Takuo Kuwabara

– Landing site selection
– Cable routing considerations
– Armor selection
– Burial Requirements

• Installation and Maintenance Considerations Dick Borwick

– Alter courses
– Laybacks

Introduction
– Touchdowns and offsets
– Cable crossings

• Documentation/Charting, Tools, Databases, (GIS) Ron Rapp

• Summary/Questions All

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 Introduction & Objectives
• Course to focus on Marine Route Selection and Cable Engineering (not
Surveying techniques)
• Intended audience are cable owners with some understanding of the
route engineering
• Objectives of the Course:
– How route selection and cable selection evolves from the bid
process to what is finally installed.
– How the route selection and engineering fits into the overall project.
– Importance and element of the Cable Route Study/ Desktop Study.
– General guidelines for selecting landings, routes, armor, burial

Introduction
– Examples of impact of route engineering on Installers and
Maintainers.
– Importance of documentation and use of common databases
through the process
– Tools for route engineering
– Opportunity for discussion and questions with SCIG members

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 What is the SCIG?
• Informal forum of several major industry suppliers
– Emphasis on Installation and Maintenance
• Complementary to the ICPC
• Scope includes areas of mutual benefit for our
customers and the industry as a whole
SCIG Members

Introduction
• Alcatel Submarine Networks
• Global Marine Systems Limited
• KDDI Submarine Cable Systems
• Tyco Telecommunications

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 SCIG Mission

“To develop cost-effective approaches and solutions

to improve cable reliability and to communicate
these to relevant international parties”

Introduction
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 Marine Project Cycle
Proposal
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 Key elements for success
• The marine activities form a critical part of the overall
project implementation, ensuring the provision of a
reliable and secure submarine link.

• The key elements to ensure success are:

– A thorough Cable Route Study
– Accurate data acquisition during the Route Survey

Introduction
– Detailed analysis of survey data leading to optimum route planning and
cable engineering
– Effective installation and burial of the cable

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 Key elements for success
• Installers are able to address these key
elements as follows:
– Cable Route Planning – considerable experience in the
planning of cable systems worldwide
– Route Survey data acquisition – leading the cable survey
industry standards through the introduction of seabed imagery
and digital terrain modelling

Introduction
– Route & cable engineering utilising specialist software such
as: ‘Makai Plan’
– Use of the latest, state of the art, purpose built cable ships and
cable ploughs

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 Desktop Study &
Cable Route Study

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 Desktop/Cable Route Study/
Cable Route Study
• A detailed Cable Route Study (CRS) will be carried
out, to allow a safe and economic route for the cable,
to include the following:
– Visits to Landing Sites Local Authorities, Representatives of
other industries (e.g. fishing, shipping, petrochemical)
– Identification of permits, licences and other regulatory items
– Investigation of environmental & cultural aspects
– Identification of all sources of risk to cable
– Produce recommendations for a secure cable route
(provisional cable protection & burial)

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 Desktop/Cable Route Study/
Cable Route Study
• The information within the CRS is derived from
existing data sources and concentrates primarily on
potential hazards. The study includes:
– Pre-Survey Route Position List (RPL)
– Seafloor Morphology and Geology
– Natural Hazards e.g. Seismic events, submarine volcanism
– Oceanography and Meteorology
– Human Activities e.g., mineral extraction, oil & gas, fishing
– Man-Made Hazards e.g. anchoring, dredging
– Other cables/pipelines/lease blocks

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 Desktop/Cable Route Study/
Cable Route Study
Seafloor Morphology & Geology
Coastal areas
Continental shelf
Continental Slope
Continental Rise

Abyssal Plains
Ocean Ridges Ocean Trenches

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 Desktop/Cable Route Study/
Cable Route Study

5.5° 16.5
C °C

Average Winter Seabed Average Summer Seabed

Temperatures around the UK Temperatures around the UK

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 Desktop/Cable Route Study/
Cable Route Study
• Natural Hazards

Earthquake activity around

the Pacific/Asia/Philippines
plate boundaries

Caption?
Caption?
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 Desktop/Cable Route Study/
Human Activities
External causes of cable faults in the Atlantic

Others 18%
Suspensions 5%
Cableship activity 1% Fishing Activity 52%
Earthquake or 3%
sediment
Anchor 18%
Fish bite 2%

Dredging/drilling/pipe installation1%

Human Activities account for over 75% of cable faults

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 Routing & Cable Engineering
General Guidelines

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 General Guidelines

• Landing site selection

General Guidelines
• Cable routing considerations
• Cable Protection
– Armor selection
– Burial

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 Decision of Cable Landing Station

• Consideration of Cable Landing Station

– Floor space for terminal equipment, facilities and
office for maintenance staff, etc

General Guidelines
– Connectivity to back haul network
– Access for construction and future maintenance
– Approach to the cable landing site
– Land cable route
– Electronic/magnetic interference

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 Cable Landing Site Selection
• Suitable for cable landing/installation operation
– cable laying ship can easily access to the beach
– access for beach works and usage of heavy machinery

General Guidelines
– seabed topography, material and condition
– close parallels/crossing to other cables, pipelines

• Low risk of fishing activity, anchoring, dredging,

mining

• Regulation, permission issues

– national park, coastal reserves, etc.

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 Cable Routing Considerations
• Avoid crossing of other cable/pipeline as far as
possible
• Shortest possible cable route

General Guidelines
• Avoid unnecessary alter courses
• Sea bottom sediment should preferably be sandy or
muddy, but not rocky
• Avoid steep slopes (less than 20º for surface laying)
and crossing steep slope
• Easier subsequent cable installation and removal of
the existing cable
• Maximise the utilization of the available space

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 Some of the issues to be considered
for Route Engineering
• Some specific areas no longer have suitable seabed

General Guidelines
How we can expand possible seabed for new cables?

• Developing reliable cable repair techniques for

congested areas
• Cable route recycle
• New/Local agreement, guidelines

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 Selection of Cable Protection
• Cable protection certainty
– Armoring
• low protection, high certainty of availability

General Guidelines
• increasing a chance of cable surviving for cable life
– Burying
• high protection, but reduced certainty of availability
• reducing certainty of burial protection by various seabed
composition and sediment movement
• Increasing the armoring level at the route engineering
stage where burial protection certainty is low

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 Armor Selection
• Factors of armor selection
– water depth for a cable recovery
– threat and hazard

General Guidelines
– what burial possible
• burial depth (level of requirement and achievement)
• burial method, tool
• soil condition
• Type of armor
• armor wire (LWA, SA, DA, RA, etc.)
• metallic screen/strengthen jacket (LWP, LWS, SPA, etc.)
• armoring post cable manufacturing
– duct, articulated pipe, etc.

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 Installation & Maintenance
Considerations

[“What the Owners don’t know about and the

Surveyors don’t care about!!!”]

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 Alter Courses
• Size of an Alter Course
• The frequency of A/Cs
• Layback – Cable touchdown
• Run-ins/ Run outs
• the ‘Touchdown Offset’ consideration

Cable Crossings

Considerations
• Close to Repeaters
• Close to Branching units
• Multiple crossings

Other Useful hints

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 Size of an Alter Course

• Typical limits are:

– Maximum 15° for plough buried sections

– Maximum 15° for PLIB buried sections

Considerations
– Maximum 25° in surface laid areas

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 The frequency of A/Cs
• In shallow water (less than 100m):
– A/C’s should be minimum 250 metres apart

• In deeper water depths (100 to 1000m):

– A/C’s should be minimum 300 metres apart

Considerations
• In deep water (>1000m):
– A/C’s should, where-ever possible be 2 x water
depth apart

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 Layback – Cable touchdown
Layback Distance (kilometres)

10

20

30

40

50

60
0

1,000
Depth of water (metres)

2,000

3,000

Considerations
4,000

5,000

6,000

0km/hr [0kts] 2km/hr [1.08kts] 4km/hr [2.16kts] 6km/hr [3.24kts]

8km/hr [4.32kts] 10km/hr [5.40kts] 12km/hr [6.48kts]

Calculated using ‘generic’ LW cable

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 Run-ins / Run outs
A sharp ‘Alter Course’ just before entering and just after exiting a
narrow cable corridor between two seabed features results in:

Potential cutting of corners across the hazard

Resulting in …
Damage = SYSTEM DOWNTIME = ADDITIONAL COST

Considerations
Significant period of slow laying to reduce ‘cable layback’ and thus
increase accuracy of touchdown

Resulting in …
Longer duration of installation = ADDITONAL COST

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 ‘Touchdown Offset’ consideration
[Cutting corners]

Modified route

Considerations
Original Route

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 Cable Crossings
Close to repeaters
– Separation to be three times the depth of water
– This will ensure that the repeater can be recovered, without
endangering the crossing cable
Close to branching units
– Main Trunk Leg – Separation to be three times the depth of water
– Branching Leg - Separation to be four times the depth of water
– This allows for a cutting drive, a holding drive and buoying off the

Considerations
cable
Multi Crossing Points
– Help to reduce cable congestion and reduce the total number of
crossings
– Multiple crossings can drastically reduce the length of sterilised or
unrecoverable cable in deep water scenarios if a fault occurs.

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Cable Crossings to Reduce Congestion
• SCIG Recommendations for Triple Crossing has
been incorporated into the ICPC cable crossing
recommendations (Issue 7 - May 8 2001)

Considerations
Triple
Crossing

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 Other useful hints
• Be aware of Steep slopes for ploughing
• Don’t have uneconomic distances for ploughing
• Don’t have more A/Cs in shore ends than is really
necessary
• Frequent Slack changes are unrealistic

Considerations
• Beware of the optimum direction of lay.
• Don’t have multiple RPL points
• Ensure armour change positions allow for adequate
cable strength for a cable recovery

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 Summary

• There is more to planning a cable route than

just finding a suitable geological and
hydrographically friendly cable corridor.
• Remember that someone actually has to lay
the cable

Considerations
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 Documentation/Charting, Tools,
Databases, GIS

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 Documentation/Charting, Tools,
Databases, (GIS)
• Cable Engineering and Survey Documentation
– Straight Line Diagrams (SLD)
– Route Position Lists (RPL)
– Survey Charts (Bathymetry, Geomorphology)
– Obstruction Reports/Crossing Matrix

Documentation
– Burial Feasibility Study (Cores/CPT data, Sub bottom Profile)
• Route Planning Tools
• Databases and Geographic Information System
– Cable database critical to determine cable crossings

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Straight Line Diagram (SLD)
Toyoashi BMH

(+) 28.460
DA-GP
19.227
LWA-GP
8.695
SPA
62.158
LWA-GP
83.410
SPA
245.400
LW
234.445
SPA
1650.684
LW
9.568
SPA
9.100
SPA
295.266
LW
0.000 28.460 47.687 56.382 118.540 201.950 447.350 681.795 2332.479 2351.147

Piti BMH
18.102
SPA
34.775
LW
19.911
SPA
18.838
LWA-GP
1.631
DA-GP (-)
2646.413 2664.515 2699.290 2719.201 2738.039 2739.670

• The SLD is established during the preliminary route

Documentation
planning in the bid and proposal phase and usually
becomes the contract baseline for the cable
deliverables.
• The SLD is refined through the DTS and Route survey.
• It becomes the manufacturing drawing

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Route Position Lists
TGN Pacific Segment G2 Issue: 7
Toyohashi, Japan to Piti, Guam Engr: ADB/GRT/VAN
Date: 06-Dec-01
Route Distance Cable Distance Cable
Pos Latitude Longitude Depth Heading Course Between Total Slack Between Total Span Cable Comments Auto Label
No. (m) Change (km) (km) (%) (km) (km) (km) Type Label
Provisional landing
0 N34 40.3300 E137 27.8300 -3 0.000 0.000 0.000 BMH;DA-GP
Toyohashi; Japan
192.12 4.518 0.25 4.529 DA-GP
1 N34 37.9410 E137 27.2090 28 -15.11 4.518 4.529 4.529 AC1
177.02 0.100 0.100 DA-GP
2 N34 37.8870 E137 27.2124 28 4.618 4.629 4.629 Plowing Begins Plow Event
177.02 0.927 0.930 DA-GP
3 N34 37.3860 E137 27.2440 33 -12.94 5.545 5.559 5.559 AC2
164.08 0.591 0.592 DA-GP
4 N34 37.0789 E137 27.3500 36 -5.85 6.136 6.151 6.151 AC3
158.22 0.585 0.587 DA-GP
5 N34 36.7850 E137 27.4920 39 -13.65 6.721 6.738 6.738 AC4

Documentation
144.58 0.646 0.647 DA-GP
6 N34 36.5003 E137 27.7370 42 7.367 7.385 7.385 Plow Up PLUP Slack Change
144.58 0.503 2.00 0.513 DA-GP
Crosses JIH Segs 1 and 2
7 N34 36.2787 E137 27.9275 44 7.870 7.898 7.898 Cable Crossing
Bundle @ 62 deg
144.58 0.500 0.510 DA-GP
8 N34 36.0584 E137 28.1171 47 8.370 8.408 8.408 Plow Down PLDN Slack Change
144.58 2.376 0.25 2.382 DA-GP Bury

• The Route Position List forms the

basis for all route planning, permit
applications, cable crossings,
installation planning and cable
manufacturing
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As Laid Chart – Traditional NorthUP

Documentation
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Marine Chart Overview

Documentation
• Chart outlines are established along the
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 Route Planning Tools - MakaiPlan
• Allows you to load:
– Regional shoreline
– Bathymetric data
– Survey data as it becomes
available.
• Create cable routes:
– Point and drag

Documentation
– Entering precise coordinate
points
– Reading an existing RPL
– Letting MakaiPlan
automatically route you
along a great circle route in
a series of Rhumb lines

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 Route Planning Tools - MakaiPlan
• Computes the bottom
profile along the
selected route
• Profiles are displayed
and slopes are
computed
• Required cable length is

Documentation
computed based on
specified bottom slack
• Allows zooming and
panning along the route
in both the plan and
profile views

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 Route Planning Tools - MakaiPlan

• An RPL can be
edited, exported,
reversed or split
into separate
cable lays.

Documentation
SLD and RPL generated from same data. Errors are minimized.

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GIS Based Charting

Documentation
• Data is continuous over the route rather than
cut into chart rectangles. User can zoom to area
of interest. Web based viewers make data
accessible to a wide array of users.
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 Documentation Summary
• The route survey charts/data will become the as-laid
charts/data that follow the system through its life
– Key to the maintenance authority.
• A complete, accurate, and consistent specification for
chart data and layering convention in the route
survey contract deliverable is crucial.

Documentation
• Agreement with client on as-laid charts (NorthUp,
alignment) format must be established early.

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 Summary
• Reliable and cost effective Route and Cable Engineering is crucial to
the project success and future maintenance needs.
• A complete and thorough Desktop Study is a fundamental building
block of the project
• Client contracted DTS and Marine Survey should be to specification of
the supply contractor to insure data compatibility
• If schedules requires that cable type decisions to be made prior to
route survey completion, then risk must be understood and accepted.
• Landing site selection, safe and efficient routing, and cable protection
guidelines provide for consistent engineering
• Route planning and engineering for efficient Installation and
Maintenance of the system is critical
• Route Survey data formats for charts must be established early since
they form the basis of the as laid final record

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 Marine Survey & Cable Routing

Sub Optic 2004

Short Course

Ron RAPP, Mark LAWRENCE,

Dick BORWICK, Takuo KUWABARA

www.scig.net