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RC Submarine Lays Fiber Through Sewers In Italy

Francesco Fondi writes "An Italian Company is using RC scale model submarines to lay fiber through Milan's sewage system. The RC submarine used is the Neptune SB-1, produced by Taiwanese company Thunder Tiger. It costs ca $600 in US hobby shops." In Italian, but the pictures speak for themselves.

86 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. No Shit? by Elvis77 · · Score: 5, Funny

    No Shit?

    --

    The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed (SK)
    1. Re:No Shit? by sakdoctor · · Score: 2, Informative
    2. Re:No Shit? by Kneo24 · · Score: 1

      No, because if we do, shit will hit the fan.

    3. Re:No Shit? by yiantsbro · · Score: 1

      This is once where their jobs will be easier if I just don't give a shit.

    4. Re:No Shit? by peragrin · · Score: 1

      If a shit submarine hits a fan your in much deeper shit than you should be to start with.

      Though does morpheous's hovercraft count as a shit traveling submarine?

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    5. Re:No Shit? by tomhudson · · Score: 2, Funny

      Shitty Internet Connection (TM)

      Feeling flush?

      NetCrap Confirms Italian Internet service is shittiest.

      Italian Internet service - new get your pr0n with Smell-O-Rama; special non-virtual downloads for those into scat!

      Customer: My internet is backed up!
      CSR: Have you tried Imodium?

      Customer: My internet is intermittent.
      CSR: You're out of balance upstream/downstream. Now that you have fiber in your sewer, you need more fiber in your diet.

    6. Re:No Shit? by Sulphur · · Score: 1

      What started this train of thought? Could it be some of those "where the sun doesn't shine" remarks? Why people go to college : So that when something mystifies them, then can say "my goodness, isn't that incredible" instead of "No Shit?"

  2. Guerilla Net by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I always thought that would be a good way to construct a community driven "Guerilla Net", that flouted the laws that seek to control our communications systems.

    The other idea was to build solar powered WiFi meshing routers and attach strong magnets to them. A radio controlled helicopter would then be used to attach them to inaccessible places on high metallic structures, where they would be very difficult to remove.

    1. Re:Guerilla Net by Sobrique · · Score: 1

      Hmm, how big a solar panel would you need to run your wi-fi router? I'd have thought they drew at least enough power to make them hard to run off solar...
      But otherwise I really like that idea. Maybe you could so some kind of low power repeater type router, designed specifically for this application.

    2. Re:Guerilla Net by corsec67 · · Score: 1

      10 watts is "hard to do?"

      A 10 watt solar panel is about 1 square foot.

      --
      If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
    3. Re:Guerilla Net by agentgonzo · · Score: 1

      During the day, under sunny conditions maybe. How about at night, or when it's raining. For that, you need batteries to cover the power outage and significantly larger solar cells to account for the charge and losses

    4. Re:Guerilla Net by Demonantis · · Score: 1

      Magnets are used everywhere that technology is present. All speakers require a magnet to operate. Computers even need magnets to focus CD-ROM lasers and move hdd heads. Magnets are pretty nifty things when used correctly.

    5. Re:Guerilla Net by Sir_Lewk · · Score: 1

      If the shit got thick enough to warrent a guerilla network of this complexity then I'd say you should be happy enough with something that only works during the day, it'd surely be an improvement.

      --
      "linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
  3. Re:In other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Meanwhile, after the french heard of the situation, the french army secured rubber padding to their weapons so they will retain their value if dropped in an attempt to surrender.

    No longer will they have to run the disclaimer in the ad for surplus guns for sale, "never been fired but dropped at least once".

  4. Re:In other news by mrmeval · · Score: 3, Informative
    --
    I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
  5. Sewers? by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 1

    There was an article about this sort of thing in Raleigh the other day.
    Here's the link:
    http://news14.com/Default.aspx?ArID=611427

    1. Re:Sewers? by JoshDM · · Score: 1

      And here is a blog article explaining that horrible thing, though I don't believe it's a worm cluster.

  6. Come on it's just laying cable in the sewers. by antifoidulus · · Score: 2, Funny

    How many of us cannot say the same? Esp. after all-you-can-eat night down at the Burrito King.

  7. You'll probably by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...get a shit connection. There, I said it.

  8. Load of Crap... by T-Bucket · · Score: 2, Funny

    A sewer submarine? That's a load of crap...

  9. An Italian Italian company? by DiamondGeezer · · Score: 1

    IS that like Italian^2? More Italian than Italians? Able to leap across piazzas in a single bound?

    --
    Tubby or not tubby. Fat is the question
    1. Re:An Italian Italian company? by Thanshin · · Score: 2, Funny

      Their pizzas are spherical.

  10. Fiber in the sewer systems? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Of course, the other way to get more fibre in the system bran muffins.

  11. understandable by sumdumass · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This makes sense, I have been using RC 4wheel drive cars to run cable under craw spaces and in some cases, across long stretches of drop ceilings for a couple of years now. The great thing is that I can deduct toys from my taxes.

    1. Re:understandable by bitt3n · · Score: 1

      This makes sense, I have been using RC 4wheel drive cars to run cable under craw spaces and in some cases, across long stretches of drop ceilings for a couple of years now. The great thing is that I can deduct toys from my taxes.

      This makes sense, I have been using "RC 4wheel drive cars" as a simple search string for auditing tax returns for years now.

    2. Re:understandable by yogibaer · · Score: 1

      Interesting Idea. How do you handle the drag? Doesn't pulling a couple of meters of fiber (or worse: copper) require quite a lot of power? How do you navigate?.

    3. Re:understandable by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Informative

      Guys have been doing this for ages, it doesn't take much pull for straight runs. You can get pretty cheap R/C tanks at Radio Shack pretty often, which are quite good for this particular purpose in terms of price:performance ratio. The simple truth though is that today's R/C cars are fucking pissed off. I've got a rally car (saloon with the suspension raised) that makes 28 MPH. The Six-C NiCD pack regularly gets hotter than you want to hold. Actually, as an AWD car with low CG but high clearance and limited slip diffs, it might be an idea cable puller :)

      You can't navigate if you can't see, there are numerous tiny video transmitters which will run off of ~6V, commonly available inside R/C cars or trivial to add with a 4AA pack. But if you can see the thing you can just tape a Mag-Lite to it.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:understandable by DrgnDancer · · Score: 1

      How is it not a valid expense. He's using it the way he claims on his taxes, he's just ALSO playing with it. They make little specialist RC robots to do this, those are way more expensive. For a small shop this a pretty good option.

      --
      I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
    5. Re:understandable by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      Most of the cars can handle the drag on one or two cables until you start around corners. Mounting a spool of nylon string to the rear of it will allow you to pull the cables through after you run a path.

      As for as navigating, usually you can get a visual on it. The visual however may be dropping a camera down a hole, or attaching one to the car itself. You can find RC cars with live feed cams already attached if your not worried about quality. I actually took on of them apart and attached the camera and transmitter to another car that was a little smaller but had more power. You can also get high end RC cams and transmitters with real time feeds.

  12. Great.. by FrostedWheat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Even mutant turtles get better broadband than me.

    1. Re:Great.. by MarkRose · · Score: 1

      Yes, but the connection is useless for remote administration: they only get a half shell.

      --
      Be relentless!
  13. Surely that should have been "lays cable"? by kenevel · · Score: 2, Funny

    geddit?

  14. In soviet Italy... by migla · · Score: 5, Funny

    In soviet Italy, the crap is full of internet.

    --
    Some of my favourite people are from th US; Vonnegut, Chomsky, Bill Hicks.
  15. Slashdotted by jimallison86 · · Score: 5, Informative
    1. Re:Slashdotted by solevita · · Score: 2, Funny

      it seems to be slashdotted

      I'm sure there's going to be a lot of band jokes coming about "blocked tubes" and the like.

    2. Re:Slashdotted by Tweenk · · Score: 1

      Italians are sick people. The girl making out with an RC car is... interesting.

      --
      Those who would give up liberty to obtain working drivers, deserve neither liberty nor working drivers.
    3. Re:Slashdotted by DinDaddy · · Score: 1

      LOL. Which one? There were two on the page.

  16. Mirror? by Any+Web+Loco · · Score: 1

    Anyone got a mirror? I'm trying to ready this at work and WenSense is blocking it (swimsuits or something...)

  17. Italian by TheLink · · Score: 1

    > In Italian, but the pictures speak for themselves.

    Yeah the pictures are probably doing a lot of hand waving and gesticulating.

    And right now they're apparently screaming about "slashdot" while doing so.

    --
    1. Re:Italian by m2f2 · · Score: 1

      Sewers... internet connections... Wait... I might have guessed earlier where are you /.ing from. Maybe better check that those fibers are well insulated before such crap leaches in.

  18. Translation by Toy+G · · Score: 4, Informative

    Quick translation...

    ** Neptune, the radio-controlled submarine from Sabattinicars, lays ADSL cables in sewers

    The July issue of Focus magazine contains an interesting piece on the use of Thunder TigerNeptune submarine (distributed in Italy by SabattiniCars) to lay ADSL cables through the sewage network. Cristoforo Massari, a physicist employed by the council of Milan, remarks that this system makes it possible to reach any building or house without any excavating effort, saving a lot of money. And to think that someone still argues that modelmaking is a useless hobby! [sic]

    --
    -- Let's go Viridian.
  19. So... by pandrijeczko · · Score: 1

    ... if "urine" Italy, you will get faster Internet - though I wonder if that means the ISP have bigger "logs".

    And I don't envy the guy who has to clean the R/C submarines afterwards, either!

    --
    Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
    1. Re:So... by Corporate+Troll · · Score: 1

      I don't envy the guy who has to clean the R/C submarines afterwards, either!

      I'd put it in a container with water for a few hours or so... Add in a bit disinfectant, perhaps.

      The thing is submersible, after all ;-)

    2. Re:So... by maxume · · Score: 1

      Also, simply avoid licking it.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  20. Does this remind anyone of Google TiSP? by jonaskoelker · · Score: 1

    I think the Italians might ask Google about what they learned when they did it:

    http://www.google.com/tisp/

    I especially like this one:

    http://www.google.com/tisp/images/tisp_diagram.gif

  21. Please tag this story "it" by Spacezilla · · Score: 4, Funny

    Please tag this story "it", so it's easier to find other stories about Italy later.

    1. Re:Please tag this story "it" by Toy+G · · Score: 1

      You joke, but think how much money would Italy make if only they'd remove restrictions for their TLD registrations... apart from obvious IT companies, there would be a rush for sentences, like "justfix.it" or "letsprint.it" etc...

      But no, we are italllians, we don't need no money, we have the sun! pizza! gangsters! Ferrari! mandolins! etc etc ... so to buy a .it you need to live/have a company in Italy.

      --
      -- Let's go Viridian.
    2. Re:Please tag this story "it" by Cobra_666 · · Score: 1
    3. Re:Please tag this story "it" by Corporate+Troll · · Score: 1

      So create a company that buys .it domains and rents them out to foreign companies...

    4. Re:Please tag this story "it" by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 1

      So create a company that buys .it domains and rents them out to foreign companies...

      Or just say fuck.it and move on...

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
  22. 5M depth and 2km/h, says the spec by Kupfernigk · · Score: 2, Funny

    I want one. No, I want two. Not to lay cables through sewers, just to scare our local canoeists senseless, as a payback for all the times they've steered straight under my bow and scared the shit out of me.

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
  23. I think the word you're looking for... by jonaskoelker · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm sure there's going to be a lot of band jokes coming about "blocked tubes" and the like.

    Instead of traffic congestion, we will have traffic constipation.

  24. Cant load it by parcanman · · Score: 1

    I can't connect, it says "error establishing database connection", I'm gonna guess this is another instance of a server overloading thanks to the amount of people connecting from a link on slashdot. Maybe once there's a few more new stories posted, people will stop looking at this one for long enough for me to load the images.

    --
    Why lie when you can just make up stuff and claim it to be true?
    1. Re:Cant load it by frenchbedroom · · Score: 1

      You must be new here.

  25. NOT A TOY! by Fotograf · · Score: 2, Informative

    RC is not a toy! it is, like a eco friendly stuff. with some 14V LiPo+brushless engine they could lay even undersea cable at 50mph!

    --
    God's gift to chicks
  26. Laying Cables... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Shouldn't that read "RC Submarine Lays Cable Through Sewers In Italy?".

  27. Movie sequel idea by codeButcher · · Score: 1

    All I can say is that Phillipe "The Mouse" Gaston must be careful not to get entangled in those cables, or get embroiled in a fight with one of the subs, next time he escapes via sewers. (OK, OK, so my geography and history sux, but the facts should never subtract from a good Hollywood story.)

    --
    Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
  28. RC Sub Promo Video by spamtacular · · Score: 2, Informative

    Youtube Promo Video for Thunder-Tiger's Neptune -- shows the insides as well as some shots of it doing it's thing...

  29. Terminator 5: The Elimination by hyades1 · · Score: 1

    A whole generation of new "It Came From The Sewer" urban legends is spawning in the dark even as we speak.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  30. Cable repair guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's all fun and games until the cable breaks and someone has to swim in there and fix it.

  31. Re:Terminator 5: The Elimination by badfish99 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Let's hope it doesn't meet one of these

  32. Re:Slashdot brings them to their knees? by caveymon · · Score: 1

    The site appears to be down... is Slashdot evolving into a DDOS trigger?

    you must be new here

  33. poor little Italian hobby company webserver by funkboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    didn't stand a chance against a slashdotting...

  34. Not all that uncommon to us RC by pyster · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A guy I worked with (same company, different market) used to use an RC car to run pull string to run cat5, fiber, coax, whatever. Its not all that uncommon. Some of you might be surprised to know that they sell a cross bow with a fishing reel for running cable also.

    What surprises me is that the sub can negotiate the sewer with all that shit in there. You would think the prop would have issues.

    1. Re:Not all that uncommon to us RC by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Don't they have cats where you come from? Or small children - I was once volunteered for this task - thanks a bunch, dad!

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  35. In Italian? by blind+biker · · Score: 1

    It says "Database Error" - that's English!

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  36. Pictures speak for themselves by durin · · Score: 1

    Obviously, since many of the pictures (on the rest of the page) contain pretty girls :)

    --
    Why, yes! I AM new here.
  37. Rotting fiber? by MobyDisk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How do they keep the fiber from rotting? Sewers contain all sorts of household chemicals, in addition to biological waste.

    1. Re:Rotting fiber? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      I guess they're relying on the fact that it should be very diluted - for each person who pours some paint thinner down the drain, 100 other people are putting water and bio-waste down the toilet/sink/shower drain.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  38. Other Toilet ISPs by miller60 · · Score: 4, Informative

    This recalls Google's Toilet ISP April Fool's prank. But there was actually a broadband-via-sewer called CityNet, which raised $375 million back in 2001. It also used robots to run the cabling. This story recaps that initiative, and can serve as topical reading while TFA is Slashdotted.

  39. similar idea by ei4anb · · Score: 2, Insightful
    A few years ago thieves stole several kilometers of rope from newly layed pipes alongside a road near where I lived. The ropes were to be used to pull cables through the pipes using openings every 100 meters. The company was on the point of digging up the roadside to relay the pipes when a local farmer explained that he had a trained ferret that he used for such work on his farm.

    The ferret pulled string through the pipes and that was used to pull rope which then was used to pull the cables through. I have heard that the same trick was used in the 1800's for telegraph cables.

    1. Re:similar idea by RJFerret · · Score: 1

      Yes, this my first thought too when I saw this article.

      More referenced in Wikipedia: "Event organizers in London used ferrets to run TV and sound cables for both the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer, and for the 'Party in the Park' concert held in Greenwich Park on Millennium Eve. One ferret, Freddie, was even registered as an electrician's assistant with the New Zealand Electrical Workers Union."

      You don't really need to train them, they naturally are burrowing animals, many owners have some flexible drier vent tubing for their ferrets to run through. (And you need to "ferret proof" your home for holes under cabinets or in walls they might crawl in to.)

      (Not to be off topic, but the easiest way to get pictures of fast moving ferrets is to focus the camera on a tube's exit as that's pretty much the only time you can know exactly where a ferret will be!)

    2. Re:similar idea by sponga · · Score: 1

      Early on in my construction career we used to constantly see electricians using this method to run lines.

      They tie a piece of plastic bag on the end of a piece of string and stand on the other end with a vaccum, the plastic bag acts like a parachute and pulls it all the way through the piping in a matter of seconds.

      Anyways this is done all of America and I even saw something on 'This Old House' when they had to do it in old sewer line.

      The one I liked is where they inserted this tube of epoxy like material; once they get the tube in there they insert the gel it expands the old sewer line and once finished the epoxy that has expanded to make the line even wider will harden to provide a perfectly sealed tube. So now you have a brand new sewer line inside of an old brick one that is perfectly sealed for another 60-100 years, I will take that story over pulling copper through sewer lines.

      A quick search for 'laying fiber in sewer lines' in Google turns up dozens of better articles than this one paragraph wonder and pretty drawn pic. No video of this thing in action or field results? Sounds like snake oil to me and some wasted man hours trying to use this thing in real world situations.

      This pic can never go wrong once you mention the sewer system and IT.
      http://www.dslreports.com/r0/download/1306297~fde4d620918f10bdf0c9bc3069b26be1/New%20Fiber.jpg

      US Patent 6584252 - Method and system for providing fiber optic cable to end users
      http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6584252/description.html

      Here is a listing for contractors who do this stuff with all different types of toys in America.
      http://www.magicyellow.com/category/Utility_Contractors/Cities.html

      The British are the ones who apparently everyone has been watching for awhile.

      Wheres the Journalisim around here, a pretty picture and one paragraph article is pretty weak. Speaking as a contractor who works with Civil Engineer I cannot see this little sub being very practical in the going through some of the obstacles in a sewer and them spending more time unclogging it. The first thing I do when surveying a job is to estimate the costs of it and decide what tools I will need to accomplish this task.

      Hell some of the machies I have seen some contractors and Verizon service guys bring out are atleast 150+ pounds to do the job and have the strength to pull it.
        I liked the ones where the boring guys have a little rfid signal at the end of a drill and he stands in the street with this probe that detects the depth of the probe and can guide the operators drill bit in the right direction/depth. No digging up the streets and just have to make sure you don't run right into water pipes or electrical.

  40. The submarine by DragonTHC · · Score: 1
    --
    They're using their grammar skills there.
  41. Radio Controlled Submarine by gwjgwj · · Score: 1

    Radio controlled - under water?

  42. Max 5 meters depth quoted by Kupfernigk · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yes. Sea water is a lot more conductive than fresh water, so it blocks radio (except VLF...) more efficiently. Fresh water - well, put it like this, does your cell phone work when it's raining?

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
    1. Re:Max 5 meters depth quoted by gwjgwj · · Score: 1

      See Figure 3 in this paper.

  43. Not sure that I agree with you by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    He appears to be stacking his cabinet. In other countries, they are just corrupt friends on the take. But in italy, they are putting ppl in that are fun to be taken. All in all, I think that I prefer his, since he is in the open about it. Heck, the man always has a good women behind and beside him.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  44. Another mafia construction scandal looming ... by Swoopy · · Score: 1

    All those charges for piping and nothing being there underground at all.
    And now, the jig will be up for them when the robot discovers there are no sewers there!

  45. Re:thanks for the link by DinDaddy · · Score: 1

    It pinches it off.

  46. One thing I've wondered about fiber-in-sewer by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    What happens when you need to call Roto-Rooter?

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  47. Same idea - more expensive solution in the UK.... by Quietlife2k · · Score: 1
  48. Pictures DO speak for themselves by crypTeX · · Score: 1

    Maybe it was targeted advertising, but I wanted to learn more about the RC trucks being advertised in the side-panels. They were slightly obscured by the "model".

  49. sub*marine* is a misnomer by Alain+Williams · · Score: 1

    It is not diving into the sea, so marine is not right. Subpiss or subturd might be a better name for the craft.

  50. Blue Men there first by vaporland · · Score: 1

    In the original Blue Man Group presentation, "Tubes", there was an analogy made between the Internet and the sewer system, and it really was a "series of tubes". Maybe this show inspired Alaska Senator Ted Stevens' analogy.

    --
    Ask Me About... The 80's!
  51. obligatory Dilbert by Kvasio · · Score: 1