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Are communications jammers common in the Star Wars universe?



During the speeder bike chase in Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywaker instructs Leia to jam the communications of the Imperial Scout Troopers they are chasing/being chased by.


The jammer seems to be activated by a simple switch, which strikes as odd. Is communications jamming such a common function of a speeder bike such that it needs a prominent, easy to reach control?


The explanation I've come up with is that the Empire enforces control by preventing the general populace from spreading information quickly. Comms jammers are routinely installed in all Imperial vehicles and equipment, much like cameras and RFID technology come in a lot of electronic devices in our world.


So, does communication jamming technology appear a lot in Star Wars – both movies and extended universe? Does the theory hold up?



Answer



The technology is extremely common in the Expanded Universe. Jamming technology is used, not just by the Rebels and Imperials but also by smugglers, in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. Han Solo and Lando Calrissian come up with a low-tech way to jam Imperial communications in Vision of the Future, and Thrawn successfully jams a Trade Federation task force's communications while still working for his native Chiss in Outbound Flight. And that is merely Timothy Zahn's work.


Communications jamming, as well as eavesdropping, is consistently shown to be very common in the Star Wars EU. As Han and Lando show in Vision of the Future, it would seem that jamming communications is not especially difficult, and therefore it's very common. Even Centrepoint Station, a space station that pre-dates the invention of artificial gravity without the need for rotation, is shown to possess communications-jamming capabilities in The Corellian Trilogy. It is obviously a side-effect of the Star Wars hypercomm technology that it is very easy to jam.


As for the theory, I couldn't tell you. Communications technology has never been very well-explored in Star Wars lore, with the slight exception of The Corellian Trilogy. Even then, the jamming was referred to as a "brute force technology," which even the technologically-illiterate Human League could pull off, provided they had a strong enough power-source. Repulsor and hyperdrive technology is much better examined. Without a knowledge of how Star Wars communications actually work, I couldn't possibly guess at how well the theory behind jamming it holds up.


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