3.0 Starfleet Technology Overview

The exploratory capability of today's Starfleet vessels has surpassed the expectations of Federation science, providing answers to questions held for decades. New warp capabilities, undreamed of not so long ago, have not only taken us farther into the stars but have also opened the door for a wide array of spin-off technologies that have vastly improved virtually every facet of Federation life.

Computer memory systems, medical technology, deflector and defense arrays, phaser systems, transporter and fabricator capabilities, and terraforming and colonization techniques have taken great leaps in only the past few decades. Information retrieval is now possible at speeds beyond that of light—gone is the once familiar computer statement “Working...” as databank after databank was searched for information. Near instantaneous responses are now commonplace throughout Starfleet's vast computer network.

The sarium krellide power system, now in use in all Starfleet hand-held equipment and weapons systems, has replaced the dilithium/transtator technologies of days past. Greater reliability and duration between power charging periods have improved the flexibility and field time of devices so equipped and has often proven to be the difference in the success of colonization and landing expeditions.

The standard Starfleet communicator is no longer the familiar, hand-held flip-open device still in use in some of the more distant reaches of Federation space. A simplified unit, worn as an insignia on the uniform breast and activated by a gentle tapping, now provides personnel with greater communications range and continual transporter lock capability.

The Federation transporter, the mainstay of planetary exploration, has enjoyed many refinements over the past several years and is now able to serve in capacities unknown not long ago. Range has been increased somewhat, as has the system's ability to beam personnel and objects through greater thicknesses of solid matter (such as rock, if transporting to underground colonies). However, perhaps the greatest advancement has been the addition of a proven biofilter system which prevents known unwanted, dangerous disease organisms from being inadvertently brought aboard ship following landing party exploration.

The standard Federation tricorder has enjoyed recent refinement into a truly invaluable tool, both for landing party/away team and shipboard use. With more than seven times the internal memory and wider data access than the previous unit, it has become a renaissance device. Detachable mission module peripherals, added to the head of the basic tricorder unit, instantly specialize the device into one of several possible computer/sensor arrays. With a simple module addition, the unit can become a geological laboratory, a stellar analysis reader, a medical diagnostic unit programmed for up to 14 humanoid/carbon-based life forms, a meteorological weather center, or any one of several other optional data-gathering devices. A hand-held remote sensor unit, carried in a recess in the tricorder's forwardmost section, adds even greater flexibility and allows specific sensor analysis to the molecular level.

The Personal Access Display Device (PADD) serves as a portable computer terminal and is generally used only aboard ship or within Starfleet facilities. Tied into the main shipboard computer system, the PADD provides immediate access to visual display data and serves as a channel for both storage and retrieval of databank information. Datafeed control is accomplished through combined vocal commands and manual manipulation of a series of touch-strips on the PADD's upper surface.

Personal phaser technology has led to the development of new units, which function at a higher efficiency rate yet remain cooler during operation. This is due in part to the advanced sarium krellide power sources now commonly used, which generate only 41 percent of the waste heat common to dilithium/transtator systems.

The new phaser science has led Starfleet away from the combination units of earlier days, wherein a low-powered Phaser I unit snapped into a larger power pack unit creating a high output Phaser III rifle unit. Today, Phasers I, II, and III are wholly self-contained and provide a wide range of defensive and tool-use options. Sixteen power levels are available to the more powerful Phaser III units, ranging from light neural stun to an explosive disintegration option. Phaser II can be set up to level 16, but with a 33-percent smaller power reserve. Phaser I can be programmed for power levels one through eight, ranging from light neural stun to the vaporization of humanoid life forms of Terran size and mass.

Phaser I is smaller than its earlier silver and black counterpart, the initial design introduced following the original advent of phaser technology. It delivers beam energy intensity roughly equivalent to that once found in the original Phaser II.

Two versions of Phaser II have been utilized in recent years, both being approximately the same size and configuration. The newer of the two holds an edge in power efficiency, although both styles are still in use by Federation colonies and Starfleet vessels.

Phaser III is a long-range rifle with an increased power reserve capacity. It features a flip-up sight for long-distance targeting and has proven useful as a tool for emergency geological excavation.

Ship-mounted phaser systems have also taken a dramatic turn in configuration and capability. No longer are phaser banks limited to paired, rotating beam emitters placed along the fore/aft and port/starboard axes of vessel primary and secondary hulls. In use for the first time on Starfleet's new Galaxy Class vessels are linear phaser array clusters, aligned in emission strips which traverse varied sections of the ship's outer hull. These Type X (Ten) phased array emitter units offer a far more efficient and variable beam weapon defense than previous designs could possibly have provided, and make possible a more rapid adjustment and a much broader range of beam frequency harmonics. These linear phaser clusters, because of their minimal hardpoint requirements and direct sensor ranging, can be placed at almost any point on a starship's hull and allow full-hemisphere firing arc targeting.