South Korean company SK Telecom Co. announced on Monday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Nokia to commercialize wired AI network technology using fiber optic sensing.

Fiber sensing is a technology that detects various environmental factors that can affect fiber optic cables in wired networks. When data is transmitted over fiber optic cables, the cable changes sensitively depending on the environment.

It can detect damage to the wired network or shocks in the environment.

The two companies plan to detect sudden events such as earthquakes, strong winds, heavy rains, ocean currents and cable breaks due to nearby construction sites and stabilize the wired network in advance.

Their goal is to achieve first domestic commercialization this year by collecting machine learning-based demonstration data on SK Telecom’s commercial network.

Fiber optic sensor technology is suitable for advanced applications because it can leverage existing wired network infrastructure for data learning without the need for additional devices.

Unlike some existing wired network monitoring technologies that have limitations on the distance they can cover, fiber optic measurement has no distance limitations, allowing it to be quickly applied to large backbone networks.

SK Telecom plans to introduce fiber optic sensors throughout the nationwide cable network and establish an intelligent preventive response system to minimize damage caused by cable cuts at construction sites.

This is intended to avoid service interruptions caused by unexpected incidents and to ensure uninterrupted service.

Write to Seung-Woo Lee at [email protected]