澳大利亚珀斯附近两条海底光缆在周末遭受损伤，引发业界关注。[1]受损的两条光缆——Indigo West和Indigo Central——连接珀斯与悉尼、雅加达和新加坡，承载着澳大利亚95%以上的国际互联网流量。[1]这两条光缆可传输超过20 Tbps的数据。[1]根据报道，故障被归类为"分流故障"，属于光缆电气部分的损伤。[1]
澳大利亚仅由不足24条海底光缆连接至全球互联网，使得这起事故显得尤为严重。[1]SubCo首席执行官Bevan Slattery将此事件描述为"令人担忧的发展"。[1]光缆损伤可能由船只锚泊或拖网渔船拖曳海床引起，也可能源于蓄意破坏。[1]
为应对海底光缆基础设施面临的威胁，分布式声学传感激光技术被视为一种潜在的保护手段。[1]该技术能够检测船只活动和海床扰动等物理干扰，甚至可以识别造成损伤的具体船只。[1]
Two critical subsea cables near Perth experienced damage over the weekend, raising concerns about Australia's dependence on submarine infrastructure for international connectivity.[1] The affected cables, Indigo West and Indigo Central, connect Perth to Sydney, Jakarta, and Singapore.[1] With fewer than 24 subsea cables linking Australia to the global internet in total, these lines carry more than 95 percent of the country's international internet traffic.[1]
The damage has been characterized as "shunt faults," a form of electrical degradation affecting the cable infrastructure.[1] Bevan Slattery, chief executive of SubCo, described the development as "concerning," highlighting the vulnerability of Australia's digital infrastructure.[1] The cables are capable of transmitting over 20 terabits per second of data.[1] While the exact cause remains under investigation, damage of this nature can result from ship anchors or fishing trawlers dragging across the seabed, or potentially from deliberate interference.[1]
Distributed acoustic sensing using laser technology may offer a solution to protect these critical assets. This technology can monitor subsea cables and detect physical disturbances including vessel activity and seafloor disruptions.[1] This capability could potentially identify the ships responsible for causing cable damage, providing a pathway toward enhanced protection of Australia's essential internet infrastructure.[1]
