Underwater Mesh Network Covers South China Sea Oil and Gas Field Area

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announced on January 5 that its underwater mesh network in the South China Sea oil and gas field area has been completed and put into operation. The network covers approximately 12,000 square kilometers, consisting of 126 underwater communication nodes with a maximum communication depth of 3,000 meters.

The network employs hybrid acoustic-optical communication technology. For short-range communication within 200 meters, underwater optical communication provides bandwidth of 100Mbps; for longer distances, acoustic communication provides 50Kbps bandwidth. All nodes form a mesh topology where single node failure doesn't affect overall network connectivity.

CNOOC's IT department head stated the network's primary uses include real-time control of underwater robots, subsea equipment status monitoring, and marine environmental data collection. Previously, underwater robot control mainly relied on umbilical cables or pre-programmed autonomous operation with limited real-time communication capability.

The network was jointly built by Huawei Marine and the CAS Institute of Acoustics, with a total investment of approximately 470 million yuan. CNOOC plans to extend network coverage to Bohai and East China Sea oil and gas fields by end of 2029.