Re: [GZG] The Great Premeasuring Monkey Dance

On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 11:02 AM, Tom B <kaladorn@gmail.com> wrote:
> Richard said:
> "In FT, it is perfectly reasonable for a measurement to be taken from
a
> ship to anything on the table for each firecon mounted.......This
makes
> smaller ships chasing each other through asteroid swarms a bit
interesting--
> do I trust my eyeballing,  or measure the distance to the object that
I hope
> to fly by."
>
> --------
>
> Problem: Do unarmed civilian ships that lack fire control radar smack
into
> asteroids? Wouldn't asteroid belt racers (or other fast civilian ships
that
> don't NEED firecons) be able to see things anyway?
>
>

The typical solution is to not fly merchant ships through asteroid
swarms.  Just flying in from outside the ecliptic will avoid all but
severe erratic orbits, which never occur in swarms.  For the rare
situation where maneuvering through an asteroid swarm is a must, there
are vessel traffic services to provide the needed precise navigation
information.

As for running through aseroid swarms, any ship that intentionally
passes celestial objects at small multiples of a ship length, while
travelling at a high relative velocity, is NOT included among the
ships that do not need firecons.

There is a very large difference between knowing something is there
and knowing exactly where it is.  The sensors that search for stuff
are deliberately vague in both bearing and range.  The reasons are
pretty simple-- scan time and power.  Getting a good range requires a
shorter pulse train, but that short pulse train has illuminate the
object with enough energy to get a measurable return, so higher range
resolution requires more power.  Better bearing resolution requires a
narrower pattern, but the antenna must be pointed at the object long
enough to detect it, so it takes longer to search the surrounding
space.	What generates errors in both range and bearing is that the
antenna is being continuously steered.	The purpose of search sensors
is not to exactly locate an object, but to vector in other platforms,
or cue up the tracking sensors.

The track while scan feature of phased array radars is actually
interrupting the scan on a regular basis to update tracking
information and then going back to the scan.  That TWS is not quite as
good as advertised is hinted by the fact that vessels equipped with
phased array radars still mount dedicated tracking radars.

The efficacy of search sensors in FT is proven by the fact that it
requires special circumstances for anything present in the area not to
be featured on the map.
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