Consortium led by DST's telecommunications arm launches second sensorized submarine cable in Portugal.

One year after launching the first prototype of the K2D project, in the Portuguese Technological Free Zone (ZLT), in Tróia, which consists of an intelligent submarine cable that guarantees to be "unique worldwide", the Portuguese-American consortium led by dstelecom ends to finalize the installation of the second prototype of a two-kilometer-long "smartcable", near the port of Sesimbra, "in the open sea and to depths exceeding 100 meters".

"Earthquakes, tsunamis, marine fauna, pollution, vessel circulation, submersibles, water temperature are part of the wealth of data that can be captured in real time through this sensorized infrastructure", explains the telecommunications arm of the DST group, which is based in Braga and is led by José Teixeira.

"The acquisition of data powered by the system will, therefore, allow the creation of analysis models based on geoinformatics and artificial intelligence, in order to expand the reach of monitoring and the spectrum of knowledge to the interior of the oceans", details dstelecom, which appears at the head of this project, the flag of the prestigious North American immigration institution MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Started in 2020, under the MIT Portugal Program and financed with 1.4 million euros, this K2D project, an acronym for "Knowledge and Data from Deep to the Space", this project also has the participation of the University of the Azores , Air Centre, Alcatel Submarine Networks, INESC TEC, Algarve Technological Research Center (CINTAL) and the University of Minho. The research and development of sensors that are installed along the cable - installed off the port of Sesimbra - and capture data in real time was in charge of the last three institutions mentioned.

Installed with the support of the Portuguese Navy, the choice of location in Sesimbra, as had already happened with Troia, in September last year, is due to the fact that it is part of the ZLT Infante D. Henrique, for experimentation with maritime technology, notes dstelecom . This company claims to have started this project with a view to creating the "smartcable" as "a differentiating and added value product, which does not yet exist worldwide", he said.

"Our strategy involves increasing the added value of submarine cables, converting them not only into data highways, but also adding monitoring capacity, associating a sensorization layer with these elements that are housed at the bottom of the ocean", he said. Sérgio Fernandes, CTO of dstelecom "This will allow us to present a unique solution to this market and which we hope will be disseminated globally."

Source: Jornal de Negócios