Global Communication Infrastructure Research Articles

Dangerous depths of bifurcation: the rise of “inter-national security narcissists” and undersea cable (dis) connections

ABSTRACT This article examines the rising bifurcation in global undersea cable networks amid growing U.S.-China tensions, building on the “weaponized interdependence” (WI) framework. While WI sheds light on how states leverage network centrality for strategic benefits, it falls short of capturing the proactive reshaping of network topologies for national security. We argue this bifurcation fosters parallel, redundant systems that, despite increased costs, enhance control and security. A sequential game model illustrates how U.S. and Chinese security-driven decisions contribute to network divergence, while a hierarchical Q-learning model explores how path dependency and lock-in effects sustain this split. Empirical cases, like the Cap-1 project, demonstrate the practical impact, emphasizing security’s role in reconfiguring global communications infrastructure.

Undersea cable security in the Indo‐Pacific: Enhancing the Quad’s collaborative approach

Undersea communication cables carry the bulk of global communications, intelligence, and financial transactions daily. They are increasingly threatened, and Australia, Japan, India, and the US have begun coordinating cable security activities in the Indo-Pacific as the Quad. This article investigates the Quad’s role in undersea cable communication security, and analyzes its motivations, strengths, and the challenges it faces thereby illuminating the Quad’s evolving position in international security and its role in global governance. In doing so, it evaluates the Quad’s significance in addressing emerging security threats in the Indo-Pacific, attempts to fill critical gaps in policy formulation, and contributes to theories of informality and global governance. It begins by outlining threats to undersea communication cables. Second, it details the Quad Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience within the context of an informal intergovernmental organization literature. Third, it provides recommendations for policy formulation in undersea cable security and explores the Quad's potential for improving connectivity, resilience, and security. Finally, the article emphasizes the need to tailor policies to India’s unique position within the Quad and explores proactive measures like floating Quad-supported cable repair ships. These recommendations offer insights for policymakers to bolster global communication infrastructure, resilience, and provide public goods amidst multipolarity and great power rivalry.

Starlink: A Revolution in Global Satellite Internet Communication

Abstract: The evolution of global communication infrastructures is entering a new phase with the introduction and development of Starlink, a satellite constellation project by SpaceX. Due to the [COVID-19], people all over the world need high-speed Internet connections, and India is one of the world's best copied consumer markets. Starlink has advised its customers around the world, including India, to allow all schools and organizations to access high-speed internet over the 'distance' of satellites and in the nature layer. Daily tasks are done online, and they urgently need high-speed Internet connection. There are demands, there are solutions directly from Sky, but Reliance JIO, Vodafone-Idea, Airtel etc. There are other service providers such as. Use FTTH, mobile networks Road and satellite internet, people are already using the internet, but the speed of the internet could be the turning point. Another point to consider is the price of $99 and $499, which may create some problems in the market because the Indian market is price sensitive. Starlink's architecture consists of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, which aim to minimize latency and maximize throughput, representing a significant departure from traditional geostationary satellites. In this research article, the author tries to find out what people think about Starlink's other business activities such as announcing products that start providing internet from SKY and competing with manufacturers in the market

Can We Save the Public Internet?

The goal of this short document is to explain why recent developments in the Internet's infrastructure are problematic. As context, we note that the Internet was originally designed to provide a simple universal service - global end-to-end packet delivery - on which a wide variety of end-user applications could be built. The early Internet supported this packet-delivery service via an interconnected collection of commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that we will refer to collectively as the "public Internet." The Internet has fulfilled its packet-delivery mission far beyond all expectations and is now the dominant global communications infrastructure. By providing a level playing field on which new applications could be deployed, the Internet has enabled a degree of innovation that no one could have foreseen. To improve performance for some common applications, "enhancements" such as caching (as in content-delivery networks) have been gradually added to the Internet. The resulting performance improvements are so significant that such enhancements are now effectively necessary to meet current content delivery demands. Despite these tangible benefits, this document argues that the way these enhancements are currently deployed seriously undermines the sustainability of the public Internet and could lead to an Internet infrastructure that reaches fewer people and is largely concentrated among only a few large-scale providers. We wrote this document because we fear that these developments are now decidedly tipping the Internet's playing field towards those who can deploy these enhancements at massive scale, which in turn will limit the degree to which the future Internet can support unfettered innovation. This document begins by explaining our concerns but goes on to articulate how this unfortunate fate can be avoided. To provide more depth for those who seek it, we provide a separate addendum with further detail.

DEVELOPMENT TENDENCIES OF MARKETING PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT UNDER THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The purpose of the article is to analyze the general features, technologies, risks and threats of the fourth industrial revolution, to justify changes in the educational and professional system on the development trends of personnel marketing management, taking into account the identified trends. The article defines the content and components of Industry 4.0. The problems that arise as a result of the development of the fourth industrial industry are identified, namely: “extinction of jobs” and “change of skills”. The “Industry 4.0 in Ukraine” movement was analyzed. The change of professions and types of activities in connection with technological and innovative development is analyzed. An analysis of the professions most and least prone to automation was carried out. It was determined that in the near future, professions that require social and creative skills, in particular, decision-making in conditions of uncertainty and the development of innovative ideas, will have a low risk of automation. Complex problem solving, communication skills, and systems skills will be in higher demand than physical abilities or content creation skills. The role of marketing management of personnel in the conditions of the fourth industrial revolution is substantiated. The requirements for personnel marketing management and the tasks of HR marketing at enterprises are defined. The main task of marketing management is determined, which consists in achieving a feeling of satisfaction with all parties to the exchange. It is justified that the education system is changing in accordance with the requirements of 4PR, the concept of education 4.0 is being formed, the content of which is determined through practical innovative activity. Indicators of educational transformations will be: changes in technologies, globalization, a new generation of young people who will live mostly in the virtual world, cultural and social diversity, new skills and competences, forms, means and technologies of learning, lifelong learning (LLL). The changes in the education system and directions of training of modern specialists are characterized, taking into account digital technologies and global communication infrastructure. Some measures of personnel marketing management under the conditions of adaptation to the requirements of the fourth industrial revolution are proposed.

The Societal and Educational Transformation Projects The Middle East’s Educational Construct-The Case of the Lebanese Specific Diverse Educational System (LSDES)

This paper uses the author’s Applied Holistic Mathematical Model (AHMM) and specific research and development approach to support activities and decision making (Trad, & Kalpić, 2020a) in the case of the Lebanese educational system. The historical nation of Semite tribes has influenced humanities and their corresponding civilizations for thousands of years. Their legacy includes, education, culture, seafaring, commerce, arts, languages, sciences, creativity, perseverance, and many other fields. Their migrations, curiosity, talent, and their unique holistic vision on major domains of evolution, culture and education, made them transform the Middle East Area (MEA) and other parts of the world; these transformations made humanity advance. This intellectually curious nation includes the: Arameans, Hebrews, Phoenicians, Akkadians, Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula (AAP), Babylonians, Assyrians, Syriacs and other Yemenite tribes. These tribes initially inhabited the lands of Shem (bilad el -Shem), drawing their common origins from the southern Yemenite inlands. They are probably the oldest structured, globalized, and networked civilization that established the first global communication infrastructure and educational eco-systems. They have chosen the Middle Eastern Area (MEA) and the Mediterranean Coast (MC) as a jumpstart for their unique and fulgurant expansions, to reach various parts of the world. Their innovative temperament, culture, discipline, skills, and education, enabled them to develop complex domains, like, technology, maritime navigation, massive constructions, architectural undertakings, the evolution of monotheistic religion(s), alphabet (abjad), evolution of language(s), pure and applied mathematics, sciences, commerce, networked finance, and many other fields. These fields were originated and developed by this exceptional and enduring nation of tribes, which used Aramaic as their lingua franca. From their origin until today, they faced many fatal challenges, confrontations, genocides and even risks of extinction. As the targeted subject is complex and inflammable, the focus is set on the Semite-Phoenicians (SP) or the modern Lebanese, their complex heritage, and their specific educational and multi-cultural system(s). SP’s heritage, education, and culture has spread throughout the MEA and much further. SPs inhabited the region of Lebanon that extended from Tyrus to the Nordic city of Tripoli; knowing that since thousands of years, Lebanon designates a region and is only country that has never changed its name. SP city states were avant-garde posts for their expansion in the world to reach the Americas. These well-organized and unconventional expansions brought them cultural, societal, economic successes and have done major changes in the newly discovered regions. This paper’s presented facts gave the Lebanese societal advantages that are felt in their Educational System (ES) and this paper will try to present the Case of the Lebanese Specific Diverse ES (LSDES).

Pico-Sat to Ground Control: Optimizing Download Link via Laser Communication

Consider a constellation of over a hundred low Earth orbit satellites that aim to capture every point on Earth at least once a day. Clearly, there is a need to download from each satellite a large set of high-quality images on a daily basis. In this paper, we present a laser communication (lasercom) framework that stands as an alternative solution to existing radio-frequency means of satellite communication. By using lasercom, the suggested solution requires no frequency licensing and therefore allows such satellites to communicate with any optical ground station on Earth. Naturally, in order to allow laser communication from a low Earth orbit satellite to a ground station, accurate aiming and tracking are required. This paper presents a free-space optical communication system designed for a set of ground stations and nano-satellites. A related scheduling model is presented, for optimizing the communication between a ground station and a set of lasercom satellites. Finally, we report on SATLLA-2B, the first 300 g pico-satellite with basic free-space optics capabilities, that was launched on January 2022. We conjecture that the true potential of the presented network can be obtained by using a swarm of few hundreds of such lasercom pico-satellites, which can serve as a global communication infrastructure using existing telescope-based observatories as ground stations.

Multimedia Priority Service over Wi-Fi Networks

Communication is a crucial capability for people with national security and emergency preparedness (NSEP) <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sup> <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sup> For example, NSEP Services are available in the United States as Government Emergency Telecommunications Service and Wireless Priority Service (https://www.cisa.gov/priority-telecommunications-services). responsibilities. There are several scenarios where Wi-Fi <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> Wi-Fi is a brand name and a trademark of Wi-Fi Alliance (https://www.wi-fi.org/). access networks may provide the best or only means for NSEP users to access the global communication infrastructure. However, unless communications traffic associated with NSEP users receives priority access to the wireless medium, it could experience significant performance degradation if the access network, which might be shared with a large number of non-NSEP users, is congested. Realizing this need for priority treatment of NSEP users' traffic, efforts are underway to define a Multimedia Priority Service <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> To support MPS, priority access capabilities are also defined in 3GPP (see TS 22.153: Multimedia Priority Service). (NSEP priority access) within IEEE 802.11be: Enhancement for extremely high throughput (EHT) [1], a next generation amendment of the IEEE 802.11 standard [2]. The NSEP priority access features encompass medium access control layer capabilities for discovery, verification of NSEP authorization, and invocation/revocation of priority access, and a mechanism to provide priority channel access to NSEP users' traffic. They are specified in IEEE 802.11be generically as Emergency Preparedness Communication Service priority access features. The performance study described in this article demonstrates that even in heavily congested Wi-Fi networks it is possible, using a scheme within the quality of service framework specified in IEEE 802.11be, to provide priority to NSEP traffic with limited negative impact on non-priority real-time traffic.

The radionuclide monitoring system of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation : from sample to product

Abstract The radionuclide monitoring network is one of the four technical components of the compliance-verification system associated with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Concentrations of radionuclides in the air are monitored at 80 stations worldwide from which spectral and counting data, together with meteorological and state-of-health data, are transmitted through a Global Communication Infrastructure to the Provisional Technical Secretariat in Vienna where the data are analyzed and reported as bulletins for States Parties. Support is provided by 16 Radionuclide Laboratories, which conduct sample analyses if necessary.

Financial professionals and the formation of proprietarian ideology

Financial professionals and the formation of proprietarian ideology

Trans-Pacific class transmission over a standard cladding ultralow-loss 4-core fiber

The total capacity of optical submarine cable systems as a global communication infrastructure must be continuously enlarged. Multi-core fibers (MCFs) have been studied as methods to maximize the total cable capacity under electrical power and cable space limitations. In particular, standard cladding MCFs, which are expected to have high productivity and mechanical reliability, are attractive for early deployment in submarine cable systems. In this paper, we demonstrate high-capacity trans-Pacific class transmission using standard cladding uncoupled 4-core fibers, achieving a transmission capacity of 55.94 Tbit/s over 12,040 km. In addition, based on the results of this and our previous coupled MCF transmission experiments, we summarize the characteristics of coupled and uncoupled MCFs applied to optical submarine cable systems.

An Introduction to Online Video Game QoS and QoE Influencing Factors

Online video games and cloud gaming are rapidly growing in pervasiveness. Their resource demands can put significant stress on the global communication infrastructure. And network conditions are amongst the chief factors that influence one&#x2019;s enjoyment while playing games. This makes it imperative for video games to be considered for network dimensioning, server placement or protocol development. For that reason, in this work we provide an introduction to the technical aspects of video games in general and of their network aspects in particular. This understanding forms the basis for a rich taxonomy of factors that influence and provide context to a video game&#x2019;s Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE). The taxonomy covers influence factors from all aspects involved in a video game, from the subjective player and game influence factors to the system and networking influence factors. Finally, this work gives an overview of conducted and ongoing research as well as future research opportunities while taking into account lessons learned from past approaches.

50.47-Tbit/s Standard Cladding Coupled 4-Core Fiber Transmission Over 9,150 km

Since optical submarine cable systems are a part of the global communications infrastructure, their total capacity must be continuously and dramatically enlarged. Recently, methods how to maximize the transmission capacity under electrical power limitations have been studied, and it has been reported that a single band (C-band only) transmission system with more fiber pairs (FPs) could be a promising technology. This finding has triggered work on submarine cables with more FPs. For a further increase in FPs in optical submarine cable systems, which also have space limitations in existing cable designs, space-division multiplexing (SDM) technologies such as multi-core fibers (MCFs) and multi-mode fibers (MMFs) could be promising solutions. In particular, 125-μm standard cladding SDM fibers are attractive for early deployment in submarine cable systems since they are expected to have high productivity and high mechanical reliability similar to existing single-mode fibers (SMFs) with the same cladding diameter. In this paper, we report transpacific MCF transmission over a 30-nm bandwidth using standard cladding ultralow-loss coupled 4-core fibers, extending our previous work. The Q <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> -factors of 608 (4 core × 152 WDM) SDM/WDM channels modulated with 24-Gbaud DP (dual polarization)-QPSK (quadrature phase shift keying) exceeded the assumed forward error correction (FEC) limits after a 9,150-km transmission. As a result, transmission capacity of 50.47 Tbit/s and a capacity-distance product of 461.8 Pbit/s·km were achieved for standard cladding diameter SDM fibers.

Technical perspective: Tracking pandemic-driven internet traffic

The Internet is a research experiment that escaped from the lab to become a critical global communications infrastructure during our lifetimes. Over the past year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet has supported friends and families staying in touch and supporting each other, remote work and learning, and the global collaboration of experts designing much-needed treatments and vaccines. As challenging as the past year (and more) has been, the Internet has made it possible for many important aspects of life, work, and culture to continue. The following paper offers a detailed look at how Internet traffic changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper is distinctive in analyzing traffic measurements from multiple networks--ISPs, three major Internet exchange points, a mobile provider, and a university network--across a long period of time.

INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS’ ASSESSMENT THROUGH SDG TARGETS: TOWARDS a COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK

The achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is of paramount importance “for the peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future” (United Nations, 2015; Økland, 2015). Important changes are needed in order to achieve these goals, and infrastructure projects (IP) are critical to facilitate these changes at local and global levels, across health, energy, education, transport, communication and other critical infrastructure needs. However, a gap exists in understanding how SDGs are applied below the global-national levels. In order to increase global and local impact of infrastructure investments, an improved understanding is needed at organisational and infrastructure project levels. In this context, the purpose of this research study is firstly to build on a comprehensive literature review to investigate the existing UN SDG targets in relation to IP, and secondly, to lay a foundation for a comprehensive framework to structure research systematically in this field. This approach can help further our understanding of the topic, thereby providing an important contribution for regulators, policymakers, academia and practitioners on how to align IP to SDGs objectives. This will deliver increased value from infrastructure investments and enable the project management community to generate local impact on global issues, for ‘people and the planet, now and in the future’.

PLATFORM LOGIC AND THE INFRASTRUCTURAL POWER OF TECH GIANTS

While Alphabet, Facebook, and Microsoft are mostly associated with online services and mobile applications, they now constitute important actors of the global communication infrastructure, as witnessed by their important investments in data centers, subsea cables, telecommunication networks, and non-terrestrial connectivity (such as drones, balloons, or satellites). Beyond these spectacular (and sometimes hypothetical) projects, this paper details how these tech companies are already changing the ways communication networks are managed. It shows that they become a dominant force shaping global connectivity by leveraging the platform logic that granted them their initial success in the web economy, and adapting it to communication infrastructures. Based on interviews with industry experts and network engineers, document analysis, and site visits, this paper offers a model to analyse this platformization of communication infrastructures: it consists of disaggregating existing networks components, inserting a platform which acts as new integrator, and making networks modular and programmable. This model extends scholarship on the platformization of social and economic life and shows how the same platform logic is at the center of the infrastructural expansion of tech giants and at the source of the power they gain over global connectivity.

‘Everywhere Surveillance’: Global Surveillance Regimes as Techno-Securitization

ABSTRACTThe Snowden leaks revealed how surveillance agencies conduct surveillance along all geographical scales, from the global to the local. A close look at National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance infrastructures demonstrates how these infrastructures have expanded globally. This expansion is based on technological advances, collaborations between domestic and foreign agencies and ambiguous liaisons between public and private actors.The emergence of global surveillance has to be seen in the context of the increasing techno-securitization of societies that has made surveillance technologies a key technique of government. State-led efforts to secure societies against global threats such as terrorism have turned everyone into a potential threat and therefore into a target of surveillance technologies.Hence, analyses need to take into account the globality of modern surveillance and give global surveillance a face and a name. Inspired by Derek Gregory’s conceptualization of ‘everywhere war’, the here introduced notion of ‘everywhere surveillance’ provides a theoretical concept suitable for the study of global surveillance regimes. The concept allows for the analysis of complex surveillance apparatuses in all their intricacies, ruptures and interconnections and it allows for the study of the socio-technological and geographical characteristics and implications of global surveillance.‘Everywhere surveillance’, the drawing together of heterogeneous, interoperable surveillance artefacts allows for surveillance to be carried out potentially everywhere and against everyone. This in turn is made possible by the capability of surveillance technologies to integrate global communication infrastructures. In the broader environment of techno-securitization the key characteristics of ‘everywhere surveillance’ lie in its globality, the production of heterogeneous geographies of surveillance, the blurring of lines between combatants and civilians as well as an alarming decline in transparency and accountability.

ПРАВОВІ МЕХАНІЗМИ УПРАВЛІННЯ КРИТИЧНОЮ ІНФОРМАЦІЙНОЮ ІНФРАСТРУКТУРОЮ УКРАЇНИ

ПРАВОВІ МЕХАНІЗМИ УПРАВЛІННЯ КРИТИЧНОЮ ІНФОРМАЦІЙНОЮ ІНФРАСТРУКТУРОЮ УКРАЇНИ

Cross-AS (X-AS) Internet topology mapping

The global communication infrastructure of the Internet is formed by tens of thousands of Autonomous Systems (ASes) connecting various organizations and individuals together. In the last two decades researchers have developed many techniques to infer the topology of individual ASes as well as the whole Internet at the interface, router, subnet, point of presence and AS levels. In this study we extend the AS level Internet topology maps by introducing cross-AS (X-AS) topology maps. X-AS maps capture both ASes and cross connections between the ASes observed at the network layer. We propose a set of techniques to infer X-AS topology maps by employing datasets obtained through common tools such as traceroute, ping and BGP data collectors. X-AS maps allow us to go beyond the simple AS level graphs and abstract the topology of the Internet as a multigraph supporting multiple connections among the ASes. We verify the proof of concept using several research and commercial networks and investigate various features of the Internet’s X-AS map and its multigraph representation. We believe that X-AS Internet topology maps will allow us to (i) gain further insight into the structural and operational characteristics of the Internet; (ii) enhance current and future IP stack protocols; (iii) optimize networking infrastructures; and (iv) improve synthetic network generators and simulation tools.

Toward a political ecology of infrastructure standards: Or, how to think about ships, waterways, sediment, and communities together

Scholars have shown that technical standards play an important role in building global transportation and communication infrastructures, but the environmental standardization efforts associated with infrastructures have received far less attention. Combining scholarship from transportation geography, political ecology, and science and technology studies, we show how global connection is made, maintained, and contested through environmental management practices pegged to infrastructure standards. The Panama Canal expansion, completed in 2016, is a revealing illustration. The expansion has established the New Panamax shipping standard: the maximum allowable dimensions for vessels passing through the canal’s massive new locks. The standard has become a benchmark for port modernization and channel deepening projects along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States and beyond. Because the maximum underwater depth, or draft, of ships transiting the new locks is much deeper than before (50 rather than 39.5 feet), geographically dispersed governments, firms, and port authorities have scrambled to reach that standard in hopes of attracting New Panamax ships and associated revenue streams. As this case shows, global transportation depends on the expensive, ecologically destabilizing, and often-contested practices of dredging and disposing of large volumes of sediment and organic matter. By showing how shipping networks and situated politics converge around infrastructure standards, we foreground the uneven environmental burdens and benefits of transportation.