Terrain constrained path planning for long-haul cables

Abstract

A method for path planning for a long-haul submarine optical fiber cable connecting two locations on the surface of the Earth is presented. Previous work on path planning takes account of the laying cost of the cable including material, labor, and its survivability, with consideration of risk of future cable break arising from laying of the cable in sensitive and risky areas, such as, in particular, earthquake prone areas. Previous work has also taken account of variation in the cost per unit length to optimize shielding (and associated increased costs) in higher risk areas. The key novelty here is to take account of the important requirement to reduce the likelihood of capsize of a remotely..