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star trek - Why is a person's location exclusively tied to their communicator?



In Star Trek it is frequently seen that when a crew member wants to avoid being tracked, they'll leave their communicator somewhere (quarters, corridor etc) which throws the computer and ship's security off their trail.


However, the entire interior of the ship is under constant surveillance by the internal sensors. Barring damage to the ship or sensors, or some space phenomenon causing radiation X to create interference, why aren't these internal sensors able to continue tracking every person on board regardless of where their comm-badge is? In the worst case, they should be able deduce who the errant individual is by simple subtraction: "I can see where all the other comm-badges are, so subtract them and the remaining life form must be the person I am looking for." But this never seems to be done either.


Is Star Fleet security really so inept or is there some other limitation in play that is never mentioned?



Answer



Internal sensors have been used like that several times:



  • ENT 4x09, Kir'Shara, Lieutenant Reed tried and was unable to locate the Vulcan bio-signs of Soval.

  • TNG 5x06, The Game, when the affected crew find Wesley Crusher by tracking the heat signature from his body.

  • TNG 7x15, Lower Decks, one of the ensigns used internal sensors to find a lost puppy.



Additionally, not everyone is going to have a combadge - Federation combadges are for Starfleet personnel only (Bajorans have their own design), which makes tracking someone without one a lot more difficult. Especially on Deep Space Nine, where the vast majority of the inhabitants don't have their own combadges.


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