Master's in Subsea Cable Engineering
This master's prepares you to plan, design, install and maintain subsea cable systems, both the fiber optic networks that carry global communications and the high-voltage cables that connect offshore wind farms and countries. You will cover route surveys, cable and repeater technology, laying operations, landing stations, fault repair, infrastructure protection and the legal, financial and project management side of cable projects.
Prior knowledge check
These are the skills this program gives you. Tick the ones you already master and we will tell you which part of the syllabus is for you.
You are starting from scratch in this subject. The program is designed precisely for that.
What is the Master's in Subsea Cable Engineering?
This master's prepares you to plan, design, install and maintain subsea cable systems, both the fiber optic networks that carry global communications and the high-voltage cables that connect offshore wind farms and countries. You will study system architecture, optical fibers, repeaters and branching units, power feeding equipment and cable armor classes; carry out desktop studies and marine surveys to define the route position list; follow cable ship operations, burial and shore-end landings; design cable landing stations; and locate, recover and repair faults at sea.
What sets this master's apart: telecom and power cables covered in a single program, including HVDC and HVAC links for offshore energy; the full life cycle of a cable, from desktop study and survey to laying, commissioning, repair and decommissioning; protection of critical infrastructure with AIS monitoring, distributed acoustic sensing and SMART cables; the legal, geopolitical and financial framework of cable projects; and a Final Project in which you design an integrated subsea cable system.
Program highlights
- Telecom and power: fiber optic systems and HVDC/HVAC cables in one program.
- Route engineering: desktop studies, geophysical and geotechnical surveys and the RPL.
- Installation at sea: cable ships, burial tools, shore-end operations and ROV support.
- Repair and maintenance: fault location, grappling, repair jointing and reburial.
- Critical infrastructure protection: AIS alerts, DAS sensing, SMART cables and hybrid threats.
- Final Project: the integrated design of a subsea cable system on a real or hypothetical route.
Syllabus of the Master's in Subsea Cable Engineering
11 modules. Select a module to see its content.
Fundamentals of Subsea Systems and Global Telecommunications Networks
- 1.1. History and evolution of subsea networks: from telegraph cables to space division multiplexing (SDM)
- 1.2. General architecture of a subsea cable system: dry plant (landing station) versus wet plant (submerged infrastructure)
- 1.3. Subsea network topologies: point to point, ring, branched (branching units) and mesh networks
- 1.4. Physical and mathematical principles of fiber optic transmission in abyssal environments
- 1.5. Business models and international consortia: private cables versus consortium cables
- 1.6. International regulatory framework: UNCLOS, exclusive economic zones (EEZ) and international waters
- 1.7. Rights of passage, environmental impact assessments and territorial permits
- 1.8. Standards of the ITU (ITU-T submarine recommendations) and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC)
- 1.9. Technology trends: petabit-scale cables and multicore fiber
- 1.10. Project cost analysis (CAPEX/OPEX) and cable life cycle analysis (25+ years)
Design, Optical Fiber Physics and Subsea Cable Technology
- 2.1. Types of subsea optical fiber: SMF, NZDSF, ultra-low loss (ULL) and large effective area (LEA)
- 2.2. Advanced transmission technologies: coherent optical communications and QAM/QPSK modulation
- 2.3. Submerged optical amplification: EDFA repeaters, Raman pumping and active branching units
- 2.4. Physical structure and armoring of the cable: fiber cores, copper or aluminum tubes, polyethylene layers and steel armor
- 2.5. Cable classes by depth: lightweight (LW), lightweight protected (LWP), single armor (SA) and double armor (DA)
- 2.6. Remote power feeding equipment (PFE) and high-voltage DC conductors
- 2.7. WSS (wavelength selective switching) branching units and dynamic add-drop multiplexing (submerged ROADM)
- 2.8. Tolerance to extreme hydrostatic pressure, hydrogen ingress in fibers and saltwater corrosion
- 2.9. High-power cables and electrical interconnection (HVDC subsea cables) for offshore wind farms
- 2.10. Laboratory testing and qualification of subsea components (tension, impact and pressure tests)
Oceanography, Marine Geology and Route Surveys (Desktop and Marine Surveys)
- 3.1. Applied physical oceanography: deep currents, tides, deep-water temperature and water density
- 3.2. Seabed geology and geomorphology: submarine canyons, mid-ocean ridges and tectonic trenches
- 3.3. Marine geohazards: continental slope landslides, earthquakes and volcanic activity
- 3.4. Desktop study (DTS): analysis of historical routes, fishing, anchorages and wrecks
- 3.5. Marine geophysical survey: multibeam bathymetry, sub-bottom profiler and side-scan sonar
- 3.6. Geotechnical survey: gravity and piston coring and cone penetration tests (CPT)
- 3.7. Final route mapping and definition of the route position list (RPL) with slack allowances
- 3.8. Assessing sediment dynamics and seabed mobility for long-term stability
- 3.9. Identifying and crossing existing infrastructure (other cables, oil and gas pipelines)
- 3.10. Marine GIS data processing and high-precision engineering charts
Subsea Cable Laying and Installation Operations
- 4.1. Architecture and specialized equipment of cable ships: cable tanks and reels
- 4.2. Deck machinery: cable tensioners (DOH, LBT, CWP) and tension control systems
- 4.3. Dynamic tension calculations during laying (cable laying dynamics) and real-time slack management
- 4.4. Preventive burial techniques: sea plows and jetting systems
- 4.5. Shore-end operations: direct landings, horizontal directional drilling (HDD) and articulated pipe
- 4.6. ROV and AUV operations to support, monitor and inspect the lay
- 4.7. Fiber and armor jointing and splicing on deck in changing sea conditions
- 4.8. Loading the cable from factory to ship: coiling procedures and pre-load testing
- 4.9. Operational safety at sea (HSE), weather and decision-making for stopping operations
- 4.10. Final acceptance tests at sea (post-installation testing and commissioning)
Cable Landing Stations (CLS) and Onshore Infrastructure
- 5.1. Siting and design criteria for the cable landing station (CLS): maritime access and terrestrial redundancy
- 5.2. Design of beach manholes (BMH) and underground ducts to the station
- 5.3. Power feeding infrastructure (PFE): high-voltage converters, ocean ground and electrodes
- 5.4. Submarine line terminal equipment (SLTE) and wavelength management
- 5.5. Climate control, uninterruptible power (UPS and generators) and fire protection in the CLS
- 5.6. Interconnection with terrestrial fiber networks (backhaul), data centers and internet exchange points (IXP)
- 5.7. Centralized network control and management systems (NMS and NOC)
- 5.8. Physical and logical cybersecurity of the cable landing station
- 5.9. End-to-end optical performance testing: subsea OTDR and C-band and L-band dispersion checks
- 5.10. Meeting resilience standards against natural disasters (tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes) in coastal areas
Maintenance, Repair and Subsea Fault Management
- 6.1. Main causes of cable faults: ship anchors, trawl nets, fish bites and geological events
- 6.2. Detecting and pinpointing faults from the station (coherent OTDR and insulation resistance tests)
- 6.3. Emergency response protocols and regional maintenance contracts (zone maintenance agreements)
- 6.4. Recovering damaged cables: grappling, cutting on the seabed and lifting to the surface
- 6.5. Repair jointing at sea (final repair joint) and deploying the repair bight
- 6.6. Reburying cables after repair with burial tools and ROVs
- 6.7. Preventive maintenance: monitoring electrical signals, fiber power degradation and early warnings
- 6.8. Managing spare cable and critical parts in strategic port depots
- 6.9. Estimating downtime (MTTR, mean time to repair) and calculating economic impact
- 6.10. Case studies: analysis of major historical cable cuts and traffic restoration strategies
Infrastructure Protection, Monitoring and SMART Cable Sensors
- 7.1. Passive protection strategies: target burial depth and reinforced armor
- 7.2. Active maritime traffic monitoring (AIS) with automatic alerts when vessels approach
- 7.3. Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) using the cable's own fiber
- 7.4. Monitoring vibration and temperature or strain deformation with integrated sensors (DTS/DTSS)
- 7.5. Concept and architecture of SMART cables (Science Monitoring and Reliable Telecommunications)
- 7.6. Integrating oceanographic and seismic sensors into repeaters for tsunami early warning
- 7.7. Coexistence agreements between the cable industry and fishing or extractive fleets
- 7.8. Managing claims for third-party damage and marine forensic investigation
- 7.9. Satellite surveillance and artificial intelligence for protecting critical subsea infrastructure
- 7.10. Defense protocols against sabotage, physical cyberattacks and hybrid threats to the global network
High-Voltage Subsea Cables (HVDC/HVAC) for Offshore Energy
- 8.1. Differences between telecommunications cables and subsea power transmission cables
- 8.2. High-voltage direct current (HVDC) versus alternating current (HVAC) over ocean distances
- 8.3. Power cable design: copper or aluminum conductors, XLPE insulation and semiconducting layers
- 8.4. Electrical interconnection between countries and connection of offshore wind farms
- 8.5. Floating and fixed offshore substations: the interface with the subsea cable
- 8.6. Heat dissipation in the seabed and current-carrying capacity (ampacity) calculations
- 8.7. Electromagnetic phenomena in water and mitigating the impact on marine wildlife
- 8.8. Installation and heavy burial techniques for large-diameter power cables
- 8.9. Partial discharge and high-voltage insulation testing in the marine environment
- 8.10. Global trends in interconnected offshore energy grids
Legal, Financial, Geopolitical and Project Management Aspects
- 9.1. Geopolitics of subsea cables: data sovereignty and competition between major powers
- 9.2. Financial structuring of cable projects: project finance, private equity and development funds
- 9.3. Drafting EPCI (engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning) and C&MA contracts
- 9.4. Risk management in capacity purchase agreements: indefeasible rights of use (IRU) and leases
- 9.5. Marine insurance for the transport, installation and operation of the wet plant
- 9.6. Negotiating rights of way and the use of public coastal and maritime land
- 9.7. Marine project management methodologies (PMI/PRINCE2) applied to subsea engineering
- 9.8. Managing main suppliers (system vendors, surveyors and cable ship operators)
- 9.9. Decommissioning, recycling and circular economy strategies for retired subsea cables
- 9.10. Independent technical audit (the owner's engineer role)
Safety, Environment and Coordination of Subsea Cable Operations
- 10.1. Safety on cable ships
- 10.2. Coordination with maritime traffic
- 10.3. Interaction with fishing and proximity agreements
- 10.4. Environmental impact assessment of cables
- 10.5. Protecting sensitive habitats
- 10.6. Crossing other subsea infrastructure
- 10.7. Managing unexploded ordnance (UXO)
- 10.8. Maritime permits and authorizations
- 10.9. Project quality management
- 10.10. Installation report and handover
Final Project
- 11.1. Selecting and justifying a real or hypothetical international telecom or power route
- 11.2. Carrying out the initial desktop study (DTS) with analysis of geological and human-made risks
- 11.3. Designing the optical or electrical architecture and selecting the cable, repeaters and terminal equipment
- 11.4. Defining the route position list (RPL) and the burial plan by depth section
- 11.5. Selecting the site of the cable landing station (CLS) and designing the beach manhole infrastructure
- 11.6. Preparing the installation operations plan: vessels, burial tools and operational schedule
- 11.7. Developing the environmental management plan, legal permits and risk mitigation strategies
- 11.8. Complete economic and financial model: CAPEX, OPEX, ROI and pricing structure
- 11.9. Writing the full technical report of the engineering project
- 11.10. Public presentation and oral defense of the technical project before a panel of industry experts
Duration and format of the Master's in Subsea Cable Engineering
It is 1,500 hours. Tell us how many you can study each week and we will tell you when you will really finish.
This is the pace at which most students finish. It fits well with the installment plan.
Academic leadership and faculty
The Navalis teaching team: working professionals who teach and supervise the programs.
Dr. Marina AlcoverAcademic Director and Head of Quality Assurance
Eng. Diego CifuentesSenior Lecturer in Naval Welding and Non-Destructive Testing; Head of QA/QC for Welded Joints
Capt. Javier Abaroa (MCA)Senior Lecturer in Ship Handling, Electronic Navigation (ECDIS/Radar/ARPA) and GMDSS; STCW Compliance and Bridge Resource Management Coordinator
Dr. Pau FerrerSenior Lecturer in Naval Architecture and Simulation; Director of the Hydrodynamics and CFD Laboratory
Dr. Nuria LlobregatSenior Lecturer in Marine Meteorology, SAR and Operational Safety; Navigation Risk Management Coordinator
Eng. Javier BañulsSenior Lecturer in Electrical Engineering, Automation and ETO Engineering; Electronic Integration and Engine Alarms Coordinator
Eng. Sofía MarquinaSenior Lecturer in Materials, Composites and Corrosion Protection; Coordinator of the Advanced Paints and Coatings Line
Eng. Tomás RieraSenior Lecturer in Propulsion, Alternative Energy and Hybrid Systems; Energy Performance and Vibration CoordinatorObjectives of the Master's in Subsea Cable Engineering
Career opportunities after the Master's in Subsea Cable Engineering
Questions about the Master's in Subsea Cable Engineering
Yes. Most modules focus on fiber optic telecommunications systems, and Module 8 is devoted to HVDC and HVAC power cables for offshore wind farms and international interconnections.
No. An engineering or technical background is advisable; the first module explains system architecture, network topologies, business models and the regulatory framework before moving into design and operations.
Yes. Module 3 covers desktop studies, multibeam bathymetry, sub-bottom profiling, side-scan sonar, coring and CPT tests, geohazards and the definition of the route position list (RPL).
Yes. Module 6 covers fault causes and location, maintenance agreements, grappling and recovery, repair jointing, reburial, spare management, MTTR and case studies of major cable cuts.
Yes. Module 7 covers passive protection, AIS monitoring, distributed acoustic sensing, SMART cables, coexistence with fishing, third-party damage claims and defense against sabotage and hybrid threats.
Through practical exercises and case studies in each module and a Final Project in which you design a complete subsea cable system, from desktop study and RPL to landing station, installation plan, permits and financial model, presented before a panel.
A Navalis Institute master's certificate and a technical portfolio built during the program, including the complete cable system design of your Final Project.
The master's is taught online, with live and recorded classes, and comprises 1500 hours of study across 11 modules of about 136 hours each, ending with a Final Project.
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Admission process
No waiting for a call back. If your documents are in order, you can enroll in the same session.
- Profile: aimed at telecommunications, electrical, civil, mechanical and naval engineers, professionals from offshore wind and oil and gas, environmental consultants, project managers and researchers; demonstrable professional experience in the subsea cable sector is also a valid route.
- Language: sufficient command of English to follow the classes and the technical documentation.
- Technical resources: a computer with a high-speed internet connection, software to view technical documents (PDF and CAD), a camera and a microphone for live sessions.
- Admission: online application, review of your profile and a short interview with the academic team.
- 01ApplicationYour details, background and documents.
- 02Instant reviewWe check that everything is complete and in order.
- 03EnrollmentChoose full payment or instalments and reserve your place.
Admission is provisional until the committee validates the documents provided. If you do not meet the requirements, the full amount is refunded.
Ask us before you enroll
Leave your details and admissions will write to you to answer any questions. If you are already sure, you can apply and pay in the same session.