The first prototype of the K2D project has just been launched in Troia, which aims to create an intelligent cable as "a differentiating and added-value product, which does not yet exist worldwide, guarantees the telecommunications arm of the group whose Efacec to the State is steeped in suspense.

With the president of DST, José Teixeira, opting for silence on the outcome of the Efacec operation, whose deadline to extend the purchase and sale contract signed with the State expired on the 20th, the telecommunications arm of the Braga group enters the sea to monitor the Earth.

DSTelecom has just launched the first prototype of the K2D project, in the Portuguese Free Technological Zone (ZLT), in Tróia. Acronym for "Knowledge and Data from tire Deep to the Space", it is a "smartcable" that should allow a holistic knowledge of the Earth's global systems, guarantees the company.

With a system "unique in the world", this intelligent submarine cable "will allow the monitoring of vital Earth data and validate the architecture of the system, composed of a signal repeater and monitoring nodes that allow the installation of a large number of sensors" , describes the company.

"Our strategy is to increase the added value of submarine cables, converting them not only into data highways, but also to add monitoring capacity, associating a sensing layer to these elements that are housed on the ocean floor. allow us to present a unique solution to this market and that we expect a global dissemination", explains Sérgio Fernandes, CTO of DSTelecom.

At the Tróia ZLT, also known as Infante D. Henrique, the structure, equipped with four sensors, was installed at the beginning of last month, having been submerged “for several weeks to validate the concept”.

Prototype with more sensors

However, Sérgio Fernandes adds that the company from Braga is "already working on the new prototype, with more sensors, which can be installed at greater depths, in order to test resistance to more adverse conditions of depth and high pressures".

More: "In this second phase, the monitoring spectrum will be expanded in order to allow the collection of additional data, namely on seismic activity", adds the same manager. Led by DSTelecom, this project is being developed in co-promotion with the University of Minho and INESC-TEC, in an investment of around 1.4 million euros, of which almost one million from community funds. Developed in partnership with MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with CLNTAL, AIRCenIre and the University of the Azores, K2D should be concluded in June next year.

Fonte: Jornal de Negócios