Sensors and Scanners
Sensors
Passive detection and analysis devices. Through various means,
sensors pick up emitted energies. Sensors can be used to detect and
analyze a variety of energies including light, electromagnetic and
radioactive emissions, heat, sound, and vibration whether naturally
emitted by the target or emitted in the course of communication, combat,
or maneuvering. They can be designed to work in a variety of mediums
including air, water, and vacuum. Sensors can be designed to detect the
presence of specific molecules. They generally consist of a sensitive
surface (the "sensor") which reacts predictably to the presence
of the material or energy in question. The sensor is generally connected
to a relatively complex biocomputer system that formats the sensor input
and feeds it to a master sensing computer which combines sensor input
from a series of sensor networks and presents it in a useable form.
Scanners are completely passive, in that they do not themselves emit
energy, and do not help or hinder the ability of others to detect or
lock onto the sensing ship. There will be a time delay involved between
the emission by the target and the reception of the sensor (light
travels at the speed of light, sound travels at the speed of sound). In some
cases this time delay can actually be used to calculate information like distance
and relative speed. In
other cases, it is just an annoying time delay.
The Manifold
Gravity Wave Net is a passive detection scheme which detects
massive objects through the distortion waves and gravite decay
their motion and interaction with other massive objects
naturally causes in the Manifold dimension. The Wave Net
consists of a huge, parabolic metal mesh net over which a
quantum field is projected. A Collegial Encephalon of the SIN
interprets the fluctuations in the quantum field. Wave nets are
directional and often built in arrays with parabolic nets built
back-to-back and in 90 degree rotations to cover 360 detection
in all directions. The Wave Net Array is suspended physically or
gravitically within a dedicated chamber in a starship and has
been one of the chief passive sensors used in starships since
mid-Archaic times.
Scanners
Active detection and analysis devices. Scanners will generally
consist of an emitter, which creates and directs some form of energy,
and a sensor network designed to detect and analyze the emitted energy.
Many of these scanners can also be used passively as sensors by not
using the emitter portion of the network. A variety of emitters are in
common use including, radiowave, laser, microwave, x-ray, tachyon, and
neutrino emitters. Sensors may use a variety of means to
detect the emitted particles, including the calculation of echo
times, Doppler shift of reflected waves, and topographic displacement
mapping. There is a time delay involving the broadcast and reception of
the scanner signal based on the speed the signal travels and the
distance to the target. This delay may be critical in the calculation of
distance information or this delay may simply be part of the "fog
of war".
The tachyon has been of chief importance
in active scanning schemes since the inception of the first Contained
Entangled Swarm sensors appeared in
mid-Ancient times. The
original Contained Entangled Tachyon Swarm, Geomatic Mapper (CETS-GM)
systems began by generating pairs of tachyons which share a quantum
entanglement. One tachyon from each pair is maintained in a complex
quantum labyrinth which cycles the swarms of contained tachyons. The
quantum labyrinth is monitored and interpreted by a dedicated Collegial
Encephalon from the SIN. The matching tachyons of the tangled pair are
emitted outward from the ship in spherical waves and the tachyons in the
wave interact with the matter they encounter as the sphere expands. The
Contained tachyon responds in kind and the Congenial Encephalon
evaluates its quantum state to build a crude physical 3D map based on
relative molecular densities.
In late Archaic times, Contained
Entangled Tachryenne Swarm, Spectrum Analyzer (CETS-SPAN) systems began
to augment and replace the older CETS-GM systems. The system used
rotated tachyons, generating entangled pairs of tachryennes and
super-saturating their Blind dimension with energy. One of each pair is
maintained in a complex quantum labyrinth which cycles the swarms of
contained tachyons. The tachryennes are monitored by a dedicated and
very advanced Collegial Encephalon from the SIN. The uncontained
tachryennes from the entangled pairs can be emitted loosely in spherical
waves or densely directed in focused quantum beams. The tachryennes
interact with the matter they encounter and can be physically observed
like the old CETS-GM system but also emit energy from their
super-saturated Blind dimension into the Tangible and Manifold
dimensions. By observing the quantum states and energy discharges of the
contained tachryennes, the SIN Encephalon is able to build a very
complicated and detailed 3-dimensional map of the matter encountered by
the emitted tachryennes including information on densities,
compositions, states, and densities.
Contained
entangled swarm systems are more detailed and accurate closer to
the emitter. The tachyons are created at the emitter at the cost
of a certain amount of energy. The more energy an emitter
expends to create a tachyon, the slower and more long-lived it
will be. The tachyons lose energy and speed up the farther they
travel from the ship. At a critical distance, their energy drops
near zero and their speed approaches infinity and both of the
entangled tachyons blink out of existence.
Sensing Intelligence Network
The Intelligence Network is a sophisticated biocomputer or set of
Congenial Encephalons which
co-ordinates all the information coming from sensor and scanner
sub-networks. It is responsible for translating the raw data into
numbers, pictures, and representations which sentient lifeforms can
interpret. The SIN also has extensive databasing capabilities, storing
and manipulating data over time. It receives a variety of signals
simultaneously which have been broadcast, received, and emitted from
varying distances at varying times. It constantly runs probability
scenarios which will attempt to pinpoint most-likely and all-possible
locations for various sources. The data can be used to anticipate both
combat and navigational scenarios. It will store everything it detects and
filter out background noise and non-essential information in order to
provide the user with the most topical information possible. It will,
essentially, ignore the radio emissions of a distant star in order to
focus on calculations regarding the radio transmissions of the enemy
battleship. The sensor officer can control the filters used to maximize
the availability of the most pertinent information at the most critical
time. The SIN will feed the weapons officer and systems information on
the most-likely and all-possible locations of all targets. At distance,
where the propagation time of light and radio waves is significant, it is often necessary to fire weapons in spread patterns or sweeps since
the precise location of a target will be unknown. The SIN helps predict
the placement of potential targets but cannot replace an experienced
gunner with good "gut feelings".
Communications
Probes
Because of the time delays involved in sensing and responding to
enemies over vast distances, most ships that are "localized",
that is not actively traveling by means of Skip Drive, String Drive, or
Wormhole, will maintain a network of automated reconnaissance
probes, manned combat patrols, and localized UFog that perform
localized sensor sweeps and beam back directly pertinent tactical
information via tightly coupled tachyon beams. Both probes and combat
patrols may carry appropriate armament to deal with smaller, localized
threats.
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