Adamist Sensor Arrays

Overview

Without the necessary sensors suites an Adamist ship would be completely blind, and therefore helpless. After a ZTT jump has been performed an Adamist ship will deploy several suites of sensors, enabling the captain to navigate and if necessary fight.

There are many different types of sensor suites available, each set performing one of a whole host of varied tasks. Every Adamist ship must poses a basic set of sensor suites in order for it to navigate and perform successful ZTT jumps. Although this article could not hope to cover all the thousands of different sensor  types that are  commercially available within the confederation, the main types, and their functions are listed below. 

A picture of some of the more common sensor package types can be seen on the right.

Star Tracker Arrays

After a ship has made a successful ZTT jump, one of  the first things the captain must do is pinpoint the ships exact location. Without an accurate fix of the ships exact position, the captain will be unable to plot a course and vector correction for the next jump destination. The position of the craft must be fixed very accurately, otherwise the next ZTT jump could put them  wildly off course.  To pin-point the position of the ship to the accuracy demanded by a ZTT jump involves the deployment and use of one or more Star Tracker arrays.

After the ship has completed a ZTT jump the Star Trackers are deployed from their stowed positions beneath the hull. These devices are shaped like a squat mushroom and poses a complicated set of lenses and sensors that are positioned beneath a protective polarized dome cover.  The collective purpose of these devices is to accurately identify and catalogue the nearby stars. To successfully identify  the stars, their brightness, spectrum and  other features are measured and recorded by the Star Trackers. By cross-referencing the observed stars with a comprehensive database held in the onboard computers, the exact position of the ship can be ascertained. 

Although it is possible to pinpoint a ships location with only one Star Tracker array, the deployment of several will greatly increase the speed at which an accurate fix of the ships location can be made.

Civilian Grade Sensors

By far the most common form of sensor suite deployed by Adamist starships are those that fall into the the category of Civilian sensors. There are numerous types of civilian sensors commercially available within the confederation that perform a huge number of varied  tasks.  A typical suite of civilian sensors will enable an Adamist starship to observe and make sense of it's surroundings and as a result they form the eyes and ears of Adamist starships. 

The deployed sensor packages can and do contain many different instruments, but common elements include :-

• Electro Magnetic Sensors
• High Definition Cameras
• Telescopes
• Wide Field Cameras
• Radiation Detectors
• Video Cameras
• and many more

The combination of these elements allow the Adamist starship to gather information from the surrounding space environment.  Without these sensor suites the ship would be effectively blind, with no way to navigate or make sense of it's surroundings. 

The sensor packages themselves are extended from hull, on the end of long telescopic booms. A typical Adamist starship will normally poses a number of different sensor suites positioned  strategically around the hull, giving the ship complete 360 degree vision in all three dimensions. 

Civilian sensors are very sensitive but are also very fragile, and as a result they can easily become damaged / destroyed in combat, or when the ship is under heavy acceleration.  When in a situation like this, the sensor packages are withdrawn into their stowed positions beneath the hull

Military Sensors

When in combat and under heavy acceleration, an Adamist starship must deploy and use Military Grade sensors. Without these an Adamist ship would soon become destroyed or crippled. Military Grade sensors differ greatly from their civilian cousins and are fine-tuned and optimized to scan and sense the types of information needed whilst in combat.

Military grade sensor packages are squat mushroom shaped arrays that are extended from the hull before combat commences. Unlike civilian sensors suites, military suites are very robust and able to withstand the high acceleration that is often found in combat.  Military sensor suites are not as versatile as civilian ones but they are essential if the ship wishes to survive a combat situation. 

Military sensor packages are linked to the combat systems of an Adamist starship and are able to feed targeting and tracking data directly to the onboard combat programs and computers. A starships combat wasp launchers and gun arrays are also linked to the sensors, enabling the starship captain to make best use of the tactical situation and take appropriate action.  The quality and number of military sensors suites available is a very important part of survivability whilst in combat, and can be a deciding factor to the outcome.

Custom Packages

Although the vast majority of sensors currently in use within the confederation fall in to the three categories listed above, some ships are equipped with  custom packages tailored to performing a specific task. Science vessels are often equipped with extremely sensitive sensor packages made "to-spec" to accomplish whatever task or research the ship is currently performing. Sometimes Adamist starships are hired by companies or governments to perform a specific job that requires either a custom sensor package to be installed, or the existing ones to be modified.