General Communication (2370-Present)

Created by Captain Tobias Naros on Sat Apr 7th, 2012 @ 3:44am

General Communication Devices Used Between 2370 and the Present

Main Viewscreen (2370s-Present) A viewscreen (or main viewer) is an audio/visual device used as early as the twenty-second century aboard starships, space stations, and planetary facilities to display various types of imagery from sensor data to communication signals. Viewscreens generally consist of a large screen located on the bridge of a starship (or operations center of a space station or starbase) and have been an almost universal facet of space exploration surviving well into even the twenty-ninth century. They typically display images of the area immediately around or in front of a starship, but could provide views from all directions as well as call up data from the library computer. Viewscreen technology has played an essential role in ship-to-ship communication, allowing face-to-face conferencing if so desired, by utilizing subspace and other communications systems. Intra-ship communications were also possible, through the main viewer was rarely used for this function. By the year 2371, most starships were equipped with viewscreens which also employed holographic technology. These viewscreens differed from previous designs in that a hologrid was present behind the displayed image. When damaged or deactivated, a hologrid much like that in the ship's holodeck appeared on the bulkhead. -- Memory Alpha

Holo-Communicator (2373-Present) The holo-communicator was a new advance in Federation communications technology in the twenty-fourth century. It allowed two parties to converse as if in the same room by sending holograms of each other courtesy of projects installed in the floor. Holo-communicators were first deployed by Starfleet in 2373 on the bridges of starships as well as in the operation centers of other Starfleet installations. Limited field testing of the device (most notably aboard Deep Space Nine and the USS Defiant) revealed several limitations to holographic communications technology which Starfleet Command felt at the time outweighed the benefits. It was not until the conclusion of the Dominion War and the return of the USS Voyager that holographic technology was revisted. By 2387, a new form of holo-communicator began limited field testing to determine whether or not it presented a viable alternative to existing long-range communication technology. -- Memory Alpha