Skip to main content

star trek - Why are transmissions in StarTrek sometimes real-time, but sometimes require significant time to reach the destination?


Watching TNG again I realized that some subspace transmissions are occurring in real-time, but some reports require significant time to be delivered.


The odd thing is that this doesn't seem to be related to distance. Is it just a tool used by the screen-writers, or is there some explanation?



Answer



Real World Answer:


The discrepancies are a series of continuity errors.


In-Setting Answer:


Several issues here.




  1. Relay stations have limited bandwidth.

  2. Subspace communications have limited range.

  3. Subspace communications have a known finite speed, TNG WF 9.9997

  4. Not all communications are the same distance.

  5. There are multiple bands.

  6. Weak signal strategems seem to work with subspace communications fairly normally.


We know about subspace communications relays because of a rather fun TNG episode (Aquiel). We see a relay station. Its role is discussed in episode, as well. Suffice it to say, it's a standard relay technique. Routing through a relay net takes some time, but often allows faster communications once the routing is established. As an example, it often takes several seconds to establish a route on the internet, but once established, the individual packets take a few dozens of milliseconds to travel that route. While the relay has a huge bandwith, it's presumable that those relays also have massive amounts of use.


We know that the individual communications have limited ranges because of both the inverse-square law, and the existence of subspace relay stations. We know the inverse square law applies because it is inherent to the nature of a wave in a 3-dimensional medium.



We know subspace communications have a finite speed because the episodes imply so, and the TNG Tech Manual says so (p. 111). There are times when it's taken significant lag to cover a certain distance in both directions. We also know that it travels in a wave.


We also see many of the communications with higher command being to local bases, not all the way back to SFHQ. Communications with the local base almost never show lag.


The various bands of subspace have different propagation speeds; Paris mentions this in at least one episode of Voyager. If maximum frequency correlates also to propagation speed, then the various bands also have different data rates.


We see and hear various radio-centric strategies for bosting long range communications, and they tend to match real-world radio modes... boosting signal power, moving out of the line of interference, multiple antenna interferometry, signal amplifiers, digital reconstruction. It's safe also to presume that frequency division of a digital signal can be used to make a borderline signal readable at range by sample averaging, albeit sacrificing bandwith.


It's safe to presume that this all adds up to being able to, in certain conditions, get a high-speed comm link, while in others, having to use slower and more relay-based bands for slower comm. We can also make a supposition that the relays pretty much always use the fastest bands from relay to relay.


It's not a large stretch to assume that the faster bands also require more energy; this would mean that the best communications are going to be, in most ship's cases, limited mostly by the ship and its nearest subspace relay.


Also note that communications lags really don't get noticed until they exceed 0.5 sec, since it's pretty typical for people to take over a second to begin to respond, and even a 1 sec delay isn't one that many people would notice in a conversation they are merely observing.


Fanon Notes


FASA's Star Trek RPG noted Subspace Radio at WF25 (which would be on the TOS/OCU scale).


The rec.arts.startrek.tech list's Warp Velocities FAQ (by Joshua Bell) lists WF9.9997 on the TNG/MCU scale, citing the TNG Tech Manual; that's ~198696 C, or roughly warp 58 on the old scale.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more