Prediction of the unwinding performance of optical fiber cables by nonlinear dynamics analysis

Under harsh environments in which remote control is impossible, wire-guided control technology is effective for controlling distant underwater vehicles that serve mother ships in missions, such as exploration and installation. When the fiber is unwound from the spool, tension fluctuations occur in the fiber because of the relative velocity of the moving vehicles and unwinding velocity of the fiber. As a result, fiber cables exhibit complicated behaviors, become entangled, and may get cut In this study, a spool-like design for winding tens of kilometers of fiber cables is proposed by analyzing cable winding. The unwinding performance of the designed spool is estimated by performing nonlinear dynamics analysis of the nonlinear behavior and tension fluctuations observed during the unwinding of the fiber.