Using highly innovative technologies, it will be possible to observe marine areas at depths never reached before
Having real-time information to study the structure of the Earth, natural disasters, oceans and deep sea areas and, last but not least, supporting climate studies: these and infinite other potentials of SMART Cable, an innovative underwater device installed by a team of researchers and technologists from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in the western sector of the Ionian Sea, off the coast of eastern Sicily.
The SMART Cable (Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications) is a prototype consisting of a cable of approximately 21 km commonly used for telecommunications, equipped with 3 technologically sophisticated repeaters spaced 6 km from each other capable of measuring all environmental and seismological variables in real time.
The SMART cable, now operating at 2000 meters depth about 30 km off the coast of Catania, is part of an infrastructure for research in the deep marine environment, jointly managed by INGV e INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics), which includes some monitoring stations that constitute one of the observation nodes of the European program (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory).
The SMART cable prototype, whose design idea was conceived within the Joint Task Force (JTF) established between the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of theUNESCO, was created within the framework of , coordinated by INGV and financed by the Ministry of University and Research with the program .
“The use of innovative underwater telecommunications cables, i.e. equipped with geophysical and environmental instrumentation, represents a solution to extend observations to marine areas never reached, to have real-time access to observations and to support studies on the climate, oceans , on the structure of the Earth and on natural disasters”, declares Giuditta Marinaro, Head of the Multidisciplinary Research Functional Unit on Geosphere-Ocean-Atmosphere interactions of the Rome 2 Section of the INGV.
Angelo De Santis, former researcher at INGV and scientific coordinator of the InSea Projecthe adds: “The data acquired by a future network of SMART Cables would be integrated with data from terrestrial and space observation networks, making the global observation network denser and more extensive. The application of this new technology to the monitoring of the deep marine environment of the western Ionian basin will contribute to improving knowledge on climate change, anthropogenic effects and natural risks that may affect that area".
Massimo Chiappini, Director of the Environment Department of INGV, points out: “The installation of the SMART Cable represents a pilot experiment of international importance that many scientific communities are looking at, in particular the JTF. The success of this experiment opens up new possibilities for collaboration with the telecommunications sector and the blue economy sector".
The construction of the SMART Cable was carried out by Guralp Systems, the logistics for its installation were provided by the Italian company Elettra Tlc via the cable-laying ship Antonio Meucci, with the support of the Italian maritime services company Aalea for submarine operations.
Useful links:
National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV)
European consortium
Having real-time information to study the structure of the Earth, natural disasters, oceans and deep sea areas and, last but not least, supporting climate studies: these and infinite other potentials of SMART Cable, an innovative underwater device installed by a team of researchers and technologists from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in the western sector of the Ionian Sea, off the coast of eastern Sicily.
The SMART Cable (Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications) is a prototype consisting of a cable of approximately 21 km commonly used for telecommunications, equipped with 3 technologically sophisticated repeaters spaced 6 km from each other capable of measuring all environmental and seismological variables in real time.
The SMART cable, now operating at 2000 meters depth about 30 km off the coast of Catania, is part of an infrastructure for research in the deep marine environment, jointly managed by INGV e INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics), which includes some monitoring stations that constitute one of the observation nodes of the European program (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory).
The SMART cable prototype, whose design idea was conceived within the Joint Task Force (JTF) established between the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of theUNESCO, was created within the framework of , coordinated by INGV and financed by the Ministry of University and Research with the program .
“The use of innovative underwater telecommunications cables, i.e. equipped with geophysical and environmental instrumentation, represents a solution to extend observations to marine areas never reached, to have real-time access to observations and to support studies on the climate, oceans , on the structure of the Earth and on natural disasters”, declares Giuditta Marinaro, Head of the Multidisciplinary Research Functional Unit on Geosphere-Ocean-Atmosphere interactions of the Rome 2 Section of the INGV.
Angelo De Santis, former researcher at INGV and scientific coordinator of the InSea Projecthe adds: “The data acquired by a future network of SMART Cables would be integrated with data from terrestrial and space observation networks, making the global observation network denser and more extensive. The application of this new technology to the monitoring of the deep marine environment of the western Ionian basin will contribute to improving knowledge on climate change, anthropogenic effects and natural risks that may affect that area".
Massimo Chiappini, Director of the Environment Department of INGV, points out: “The installation of the SMART Cable represents a pilot experiment of international importance that many scientific communities are looking at, in particular the JTF. The success of this experiment opens up new possibilities for collaboration with the telecommunications sector and the blue economy sector".
The construction of the SMART Cable was carried out by Guralp Systems, the logistics for its installation were provided by the Italian company Elettra Tlc via the cable-laying ship Antonio Meucci, with the support of the Italian maritime services company Aalea for submarine operations.
Useful links:
National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV)
European consortium
Photo 1: The SMART cable on the deck of the Elettra Tlc cable-laying ship 'Antonio Meucci'. SpA 
Photo 2: Underwater image of the SMART cable, after being deposited on the seabed, showing one of the three measurement modules equipped with a seismometer and accelerometer. 
Photo 3: Underwater image of one of the SMART cable pods incorporating an overlying water column pressure gauge (pressure switch) and a temperature gauge.