Tag Archives: undersea

Undersea robots find key clue to a mysterious shipwreck

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Robots just helped shed light on a maritime tragedy. The US Coast Guard, National Transportation Safety Board and Woods Hole Oceanographic have used both an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and a fiber-controlled craft to find the voyage data rec...

US reportedly uses security agreements to intercept data from undersea fiber optic lines

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Fiber optic lines

The US government has clear incentives to safeguard against internet attacks coming through undersea fiber optic lines, but the Washington Post now hears that they're stretching the law to make this happen. The newspaper claims that federal agencies push foreign fiber operators into Network Security Agreements that, while public, are used for eavesdropping that isn't covered under their terms. In the case of an old deal with Global Crossing, the telecom firm had to allow short-notice government visits and even keep top executives in the dark. The FCC reportedly serves as the bargaining chip, delaying cable licenses until providers agree to the terms. Government officials maintain that their surveillance is legal, although that's cold comfort -- the New York Times and Wall Street Journal both allege that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has reinterpreted laws to let the NSA collect more information than it would otherwise.

[Image credit: JL Hopgood, Flickr]

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Source: Washington Post

Cuba’s undersea fiber cable potentially sees consumer internet use for first time

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Cuba's undersea fiber cable potentially sees consumer internet use for first time

An underwater fiber cable linking Cuba and Venezuela has given the island a hard connection to the internet since 2011, but reports have said that only government bodies from both countries have used the line. According to internet and network analysis firm Renesys, the cable lit up with activity last week with data flowing through it between Telefonica and the nation's state telecom company, Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A. (ETECSA). Presumably, this could signal use by the average joe. Traceroutes into Cuba through the new Telefonica path show markedly lower latencies than the Caribbean country's existing satellite-reliant connections, hinting that the cable has been flipped on -- at least in one direction. It appears that the ETECSA is using the line for inbound data while leaning on satellites for outbound traffic.

Despite the clues, a GlobalPost correspondent in Cuba says there has been no perceptible improvement in internet speeds as of yet. Castro and Co. may not have said a peep about the development, but the new Telefonica path surfaced the very same day Cuba nixed the requirement of exit visas for citizens to travel outside its borders. Hit the source link for network stats and the nitty gritty details.

[Image credit: Phil Guest, Flickr]

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Via: Ubergizmo

Source: Renesys

University of Victoria’s Mano underwater robot to prowl Arctic waters for legendary ships

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University of Victoria's Mano underwater robot to prowl Arctic waters for legendary ships

Canadians well-versed in their history are very aware of Sir John Franklin's ill-fated 1845 expedition to find the Northwest Passage: a British voyage that set out to establish a sailing route through the Arctic and ended with the untimely, mysterious deaths of its two ship crews. No human ever found the abandoned ships, which makes it all the more fitting that the next best shot at discovery might come through a just-launched autonomous underwater vehicle from the University of Victoria and Bluefin Robotics. Meet the Mano, a new sonar-toting robot that can produce detailed undersea maps all by its lonesome while keeping a steady altitude above the ocean floor. It can only operate for 12 hours at a time, which will keep humans in the area, but its ability to run untethered below storms and cold Arctic winds should dramatically expand the territory that researchers can cover during their share of a larger five- to six-week journey. There's no guarantee that the Mano will hit the jackpot, or find something recognizable even if it does. Still, any mapping should improve navigation for modern boats -- and hopefully prevent others from sharing Sir Franklin's fate.

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University of Victoria's Mano underwater robot to prowl Arctic waters for legendary ships originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Aug 2012 22:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mainland China, Taiwan send first data over direct fiber optic link, take steps towards peace and harmony

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Mainland China, Taiwan send first data over direct fiber optic link, take steps towards peace and harmony

Relations between mainland China and Taiwan haven't always been what you'd call warm, even with many companies having a footprint in both regions. Consider the first bursts of network traffic from a newly active connection as olive branches: a pair of undersea fiber optic cables running between southern China's Xiamen and the Taiwan-claimed Kinmen island chain represent the first truly direct data link between the two sides. Built by China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom, the link both has its share of diplomatic symbolism as well as the very practical advantage of a faster, more reliable route -- there's no globetrotting required to get data and voice to their destinations, and there's fewer chances of blackouts if a boat inadvertently slices a cable. We wouldn't go so far as to call it a Happily Ever After for either faction after decades of tension, but it does at least provide a greater semblance of normalcy to their communication.

[Image credit: Aine Hickey, Wikitravel]

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Mainland China, Taiwan send first data over direct fiber optic link, take steps towards peace and harmony originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 09:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook and others invest in 6,214-mile Asia-Pacific undersea internet cable, friend request lag to plummet

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Undersea cableIt's almost become a truism that internet connections from the Asia-Pacific region to the rest of the world can be slow and lag-ridden, but that assumption is about to be knocked flat if Facebook and others in a Time Dotcom-led consortium have their way. The alliance is investing a combined $450 million into the Asia Pacific Gateway, a 6,214-mile undersea cable that will run between Japan, Malaysia and South Korea. The fiber optic pipe will not only help reduce the need to route large volumes of traffic through Singapore but, in many cases, send much of that traffic straight to American shores -- a big help when Facebook and much of the web industry still hosts most of its content on the Eastern side of the ocean. Although faster speeds won't be in place until the summer of 2014, by which point the more direct connections might be absolutely necessary, it still gives hope to those of us who want to poke friends and upload photos in record time.

Facebook and others invest in 6,214-mile Asia-Pacific undersea internet cable, friend request lag to plummet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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