Additional $1.3 billion for defence communication network

[SpArK]

Additional $1.3 billion for defence communication network​

NEW DELHI: A proposal is being processed for a Rs.5,236 crore ($1.3 billion) exclusive pan-India optical fibre cable (OFC) for the defence forces to enable them to vacate the radio waves they currently occupy, parliament was informed Wednesday.

The allocation is in addition to the Rs.8,098 crore ($1.8 billion) that was approved for the defence forces' communication netwok in 2009, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

The communications and information technology is processing the proposal for the OFC network to be laid over 60,000 km to provide connectivity for 129 army, 162 air force and 33 navy stations.

"The alternative network will be implemented to facilitate vacation of spectrum by the defence services," Antony added.


Additional $1.3 billion for defence communication network - The Economic Times

 

[angeldemon_007]

Additional $1.3 billion for defence communication network

Isn't this the same one that BSNL is trying to set up since 2008-09 in response to MOD releasing 2G spectrum ?? WTF, its still not operational ??? It wasn't even like that BSNL was building everything. They were purchasing everything from Ericsson and just setting up the network and that too they couldn't do it ?? Its almost 3-4 years and may be even more. I hope media highlights this as much as they are highlighting other defence matters.

 

[Bl[i]tZ]

One great advantage of using optical fibre cable is that it adds another difficulty of having to physically attach listening device to the optical cable.

In wireless comm, everybody can listen to your encrypted traffic.

Even though its very difficult to break the encryption or the break time makes the message redundant, one more ring of security is always better.

 

[Boobytrap]

Somebody please tell me that it is going to be operational soon and not face the fates of new artillery guns.

 

[SQ8]

One great advantage of using optical fibre cable is that it adds another difficulty of having to physically attach listening device to the optical cable.

In wireless comm, everybody can listen to your encrypted traffic.

Even though its very difficult to break the encryption or the break time makes the message redundant, one more ring of security is always better.

Apparently a wireless optical fibre fault detector is already in the market..
Basically like those clamp on meters..
something like this.. except that it connects to a laptop and provides fault detection , Packet scanning.. etc.

point being.. it would stil require the fibre to be dug up, but no damage would be done to the fibre itself or cutting needed..
cutting that sets off alarms.

 

[Indian009]

Apparently a wireless optical fibre fault detector is already in the market..
Basically like those clamp on meters..
something like this.. except that it connects to a laptop and provides fault detection , Packet scanning.. etc.

point being.. it would stil require the fibre to be dug up, but no damage would be done to the fibre itself or cutting needed..
cutting that sets off alarms.

Yes you are right. But there are few extra things
1. Reduction in signal strength from Node to node cause alarm too so these type of meters are detected easily
2. Dedicated defence communication is always incrypted.

 

[angeldemon_007]

^^^
Thanx for this incite...

Yes you are right. But there are few extra things
1. Reduction in signal strength from Nod to nod cause alarm too so just unshething insulators and connecting meters won't work
2. Dedicated defence communication is always incrypted.

seems like there are communication students on this thread.

 

[Indian009]

^^^
Thanx for this incite...


seems like there are communication students on this thread.

Little extra knowledge never hurt somebody
And I am not a student but I like to learn new things

 

[Ajaxpaul]

It is better than the 1 billion annual payment to BS Air India.

 

[illusion8]

It is better than the 1 billion annual payment to BS Air India.

Air India is the Indian Flag ship carrier, and it supports thousands of jobs, but u r right better management is required.

 

[praveen007]

one more thing , these so called fault detectores cant read or observe the massage in the signal as it is incoded in polarised light source and them it required same polarisation angle and meterial used to form this encoded polarised light signal, and its a top secret of the army signit department, so its more secure then what most people think over here.

 

[SQ8]

Yes you are right. But there are few extra things
1. Reduction in signal strength from Node to node cause alarm too so these type of meters are detected easily
2. Dedicated defence communication is always incrypted.

Encryption is the greatest asset.
since fibre attenuation may not be that much to trigger an alarm.. since the similar ones for co-ax introduced last year dont create that drop in signal strength.

 

[Bl[i]tZ]

Apparently a wireless optical fibre fault detector is already in the market..
Basically like those clamp on meters..
something like this.. except that it connects to a laptop and provides fault detection , Packet scanning.. etc.

point being.. it would stil require the fibre to be dug up, but no damage would be done to the fibre itself or cutting needed..
cutting that sets off alarms.

Not that I know of the product you're talking about but IMO, to listen in you would need to put your photo detector in the path of the light (you'd have to make a cut in the fiber).

I think normal fault detection is done by putting a laser beam on one end and finding how much intensity, if at all, you'll be receiving at the other end.

Encryption is the greatest asset.

Oscar, NSA has computers that can make the break time we think in our part of the world to be years reduced to hours. Just check out the documentary on NSA.

Wired comm also segregates your comm from civilians. Its easy to setup wireless listening devices in an entire country and relay this info to dedicated computes to break the encryption.

Strategically putting listeners that physically touch the optical cable is a comparatively very difficult task, if at all doable.

 

[rishisankaran]

Apparently a wireless optical fibre fault detector is already in the market..
Basically like those clamp on meters..
something like this.. except that it connects to a laptop and provides fault detection , Packet scanning.. etc.

point being.. it would stil require the fibre to be dug up, but no damage would be done to the fibre itself or cutting needed..
cutting that sets off alarms.

While this fault detector could be used to diagnose the optical reflection errors, optical luminosity and wavelength related issues but it would be quite difficult for this piece of fault detector to demux(demultiplexing) the optical signals based on wavelength and translating it into digital packets.

Added to that would be another layer of complex encryption, so Ideally if you look at the OSI model this fault detector would perform diagnosis related functions within the boundaries of the physical layer in the OSI communication model and if you have to hack into the packets and extract a meaningful information out of it this specific device should actually extract information from the Transport, session and presentation layer which I really doubt it can.

Please note I'm using the OSI as the medium for interpretation as its the basic framework on which fiber optic or any other communication model would be based on.

So anybody who wants to understand the layers of communication in any communication model ( fiber optic, Packet switched, etc) can refer to the OSI (open system interconnection) model which explains what each layer is meant to do.

 

[Bl[i]tZ]

^ Optical fiber comm is a medium to carry the layer one abstract traffic for ethernet, which in this case is light.

If you were to use wireless comm, these would be electrical signals in some frequency.

The equipment to listen on to any type of layer 1 abstraction is readily available be it wired/wirlesss/optical. The complexity to decrypt the traffic at the application layer will also be similar to any wired or wireless comm link. This doesn't make it more difficult to listen to.

The only difference in case of an optical wire, you've two advantages.

1. Since its a physical link, you'll have to dig it up. (Even that's not a mighty task but definitely riskier than just sitting their with a wireless listening device)

2. To receive the light, which carries physical layer data, you might have to cut up the cable, which would probably decrease the intensity of light reaching the receiver and trip some alarm.