Notice of Award to acquire a number of Underwater Custom Cable Neutrino Detectors from MacArtney Underwater Technology located in Denmark.
Background:
- The Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE) is a large-scale astrophysical neutrino
detector. The detector is composed of several moored observatories (mooring lines or
‘strings’) arranged in clusters. Each moored observatory will host 20 instruments to
collect data or for calibration purposes. The instrument itself will contain between 8 and
16 optical photosensors to measure incident light induced by charged particle events, as
well as bioluminescence light. The first phase is under construction, with the first string
being deployed spring 2026 and the subsequent (3) strings beginning construction.
- The ‘string’ is primarily composed of a power and communications cable that makes up
the backbone of the detector - it connects directly to our data-taking and calibration
instruments and provides structural support for all instruments during deployment and
operations in the harsh underwater environment. This proprietary subsea cable was
developed over a 3 year design and development process with MacArtney Underwater
Technology, (Denmark).
- MacArtney is a leader in the field of underwater technology and systems, including >10
years of experience working on oceanic neutrino experiments.
Data consistency and compatibility:
- All P-ONE development has been undertaken to work with the existing MacArtney string
cable infrastructure - from deployment to data-taking, all parts of the experiment
interact with or rely on this detector system. It is a central and critical piece of equipment
Revised 18 July 2025
for the detector and project. Modifications to the cable system would affect all parts of
the detector, requiring at minimum additional testing for consistency and compatibility,
but possibly rework and redesign.
Operational efficiency:
- This additional work from testing and possible rework and redesign would require large
amounts of time and effort from many people across the collaboration.
- Our established working relationship with MacArtney has been a strength of the project,
resulting in efficient communication with the company for any issues or other discussion.
Cost avoidance:
- The P-ONE collaboration has already invested $1 million into engineering work with
MacArtney over the past 3 years of work and collaboration. Working with another
company at this point would incur huge start-up costs to reach a comparable stage of
design maturity.
- In addition, the testing and rework would result in other increased costs (labour,
knock-on effects) due to these delays and opportunity cost and introduce both project
risks and schedule impact.
- The cable system is a critical and long-lead-time part of the detector - the time-intensive
competitive bid process would also generate delays to the project as a whole.
Schedule impact:
- The existing design that is the result of all previous work took three years to reach
maturity. Using a different vendor now would create large schedule uncertainties that
put the CFI funded project into jeopardy since CFI projects have well defined end dates
that would be unlikely to be met without using the existing MacArtney design.
