{"id":1264,"date":"2020-04-21T12:44:23","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T10:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/omegacyberspace.com\/?page_id=1264"},"modified":"2026-04-29T15:08:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:08:46","slug":"communication","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/omegacyberspace.com\/?page_id=1264","title":{"rendered":"Communication"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ship Communication<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Communication is always important, even more so in space where the ship is completely isolated from the rest of civilisation. Communication takes place both between the ship and a base (called external communication), and within the ship (internal communication). External communication is done over subspace. How this works is decribed here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

> Internal communication<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On a starship, internal communication is done in two ways: wired and wireless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wired communication<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Wired communication is used only for communicating between two rooms, usually only in case of emergencies or when you don’t know which officer is on duty at the department. In the architecture of the wired communication network, areas of the ship are divided in clusters that are all connected to the central communications hub (CCH). If the CCH becomes unavailable for whatever reason, systems within a cluster can still communicate. This redundancy in the communication system is designed to help maintain communication under the most dire circumstances. An example of a cluster is the Engineering section, which contains (among others) the Singularity Core, Stabilisors, and Coolant Control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wireless communication<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Wireless communication is achieved using radiofrequency transmitters that are embedded into a badge: the ‘combadge’. Tapping the combadge opens a communications channel to the central computer, which then determines who the recipient should be, dependent on the commands of the wearer. The recipient always hears everything that is said after the channel is opened. There is a few-second delay to be expected when awaiting a reply, as the computer first needs to determine who to send the message to and then play it back to the recipient. There are, in principle, three cases how the wearer can determine who the recipient should be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • The wearer only says the name of the recipient: “Lieutenant Smith, what is your status?”. The recipient, Lieutenant Smith, must in this case guess from the voice of the sender who they are. In general, then, this use case is not recommended.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The wearer first says their own name and then the name of the recipient: “Commander Joe to Lieutenant Smith, what is your status?”. The recipient, Lieutenant Smith, now knows that it is Commander Joe that is requesting the status update. This is the recommended use of the combadge.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The wearer doesn’t say any name: “What time is it?”. Since there is no recipient mentioned, the computer assumes that the message is intended for it and will attempt to respond to the request. In general, it is safer to use the first case in this case: “Computer, what time is it?”. This helps to prevent ambiguities. Unlike in some works of science fiction, the computer is not always listening. To have the computer ready to respond at all times would require the installation of microphones throughout the ship (compromising the crew’s privacy), and there are many cases in which it remains ambiguous whether a conversation is directed at the computer. Therefore, the only way to make requests to the computer is by opening a communication channel by tapping the combadge.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    To reply, the recipient must first tap their combadge to confirm the channel. This is done to protect the privacy of the recipient and to give control over what is said to them. Tapping the badge twice closes the channel immediately. This behaviour can be overwritten by opening an emergency channel. This is done by the wearer tapping the badge three times. The recipient is notified that they are talking over an emergency channel. Usage of the emergency channel includes cases when the wearer can suspect that the recipient is conscious, but immobilised and, therefore, unable to tap their badge to confirm the channel. While engaging in any conversation, the channel can be closed by one of the conversationalists tapping their badge once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Ship Communication Communication is always important, even more so in space where the ship is completely isolated from the rest of civilisation. Communication takes place both between the ship and a base (called external communication), and within the ship (internal communication). External communication is done over subspace. How this works is decribed here. > Internal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1105,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullwidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1264","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omegacyberspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omegacyberspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omegacyberspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omegacyberspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omegacyberspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/omegacyberspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1676,"href":"https:\/\/omegacyberspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1264\/revisions\/1676"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omegacyberspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omegacyberspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}