GOING BEYOND THE LIMITS OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is CERN’s biggest particle accelerator. The LHC is located in a 3.5m diameter circular tunnel with a length of 27km, about 100 meters underground in France and Switzerland. It is probably the most complicated and most expensive scientific experiment man has ever attempted. It’s big, it’s exciting, it’s incredibly high-tech.
CERN contracted the Group to supply and install optical fibre cables in and around the LHC. The key factor which led CERN to choose us was the flexibility and cost effectiveness of our JN micro-duct technology. This innovative cabling system allows for miniaturization of the network, using smaller diameter cables installed in smaller diameter (micro-)ducts. With JN technology, microcables can be blown up to 3.4km in one go at speeds of 100 meters per minute or more. This technology also enables new cables to be added to an existing micro-duct structure, or quickly replace any damaged by radiation.
In 2006, CERN honoured our efforts and results by awarding us a Golden Hadron. This award recognizes suppliers who not only meet CERN’s requirements but also exceed the contractual obligations.
We installed approximately 1500km of optical fibre cables in the tunnel alone. These convey the enormous quantity of data generated by the experiments to the supercomputers, as well as regular data communication. In addition to the telecom cables, we are also the supplier of other cabling at the CERN premises. It would be hard to find a more fitting testimony to our technological, production and project management capabilities.
Image courtesy ATLAS experiment © CERN
