Using VDSL2 over copper in the vertical string

The described system can be used in a sub-marine Very Large Volume neutrino Telescope where data are transported from Optical Modules (OM), arranged in vertical strings, into the on-shore data acquisition system using copper twisted pairs for the short runs and fiber optics for the long distance connection. All data communication, timing and timing calibration between the Shore Station and the OMs as well as the distribution of power is done via a single Master Module (MM) in the vertical string. VDSL2 provides more than 100 Mbps bandwidth via a single copper twisted pair to transport all the data from an OM to the MM. The same twisted pair is also used to transport power and timing to the OM. A single channel of the long distance fiber optical Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) system provides the data communication from a MM to the Shore Station. Reliability is a design issue; a large part of the system uses common infrastructure. Each vertical string has two separate paths to the Shore Station via separate junction boxes. Destructive single point failures in the common infrastructure divide the system into two parts, but each part is independently fully functional.