The SL Undersea Lightguide System

A digital optical fiber undersea cable system targeted for transatlantic service in 1988 is now under development at Bell Laboratories. The system uses single-mode fibers to carry data at a bit rate of 280 Mbits/s. Using digital speech compression techniques, a total system capacity of over 35 000 two-way voice channels can be realized. With laser transmitters at 1.3 ?>m, repeater spacings are expected to exceed 35 km. This paper discusses system parameters, repeaters, fiber and cable design, terminal equipment, and system measurements.