I think that report is a summary of the thinking that led to the new higher count cables. In fact, those researchers work for the companies that laid those cables.
The new cables are based on the ideas outlined in that paper? spacing regen farther apart, putting fewer waves on each fiber pair so nonlinearities can be avoided, etc. -R. ________________________________ From: NANOG <nanog-bounces+rod.beck=unitedcablecompany....@nanog.org> on behalf of Mark Tinka <mark@tinka.africa> Sent: Monday, February 1, 2021 3:22 PM To: nanog@nanog.org <nanog@nanog.org> Subject: Re: New High Fiber Count Deep Sea Cables On 2/1/21 12:30, Rod Beck wrote: Here is the intellectual foundation or underpinnings of the new deep sea design which are enabling fiber pair counts as high as 24. I think the engineers might enjoy this. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8369356 This is from 2018 - the submarine cable industry has come a long way since then :-). Channel spacing on marine systems has always been the game. Adding intelligence into branching units (BU's), as well as improvements in amplifier design has been a contributory factor as well. What is interesting, now, is that in lieu of copper, aluminium is being preferred as a conductor, to lower build costs. Mark.