From: jwindley%asylum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Jay Windley)
Subject: Re: Enterprises's Shields (TNG) are Worthless
Date: 28 Aug 92 16:07:34 MDT
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept

singley@helix.nih.gov (Erick D. Singley) writes:
>Likewise, one might say- why do Rom. ships still have cloaking. After 80 years
>(and an ST orig gen. episode where they steal part of a cloaking device)
>wouldn't they be able to break through by now?
>Sure, but technologies change and leap-frog one another.

This subject is always popular.  There is evidence that the Federation
has cloaking technology, or at least understands it, but that they
don't use it for political reasons.

There is also evidence that they don't have cloaking technology.

J.M. Dillard's novelization of ST6:TUC implies quite clearly that USS
ENTERPRISE has a cloaking device, and she offers explanations for why
it wasn't used in ENTERPRISE's romp into Klingon territory.

My personal feeling is that just as there is more than one way to
skin a cat, there is more than one way to cloak a ship.  My evidence
is the fact that in the recent episode where Geordi and Ro are "out of
phase," the Romulans were working on a new method of cloaking.

The conclusion:  The Federation has knowledge of cloaking technology,
but does not use it for political reasons.  It cannot penetrate the
Romulan cloaks because the Romulans are more advanced in this area.

Actually, Dillard has a wonderful explanation for detecting cloaked
ships.  She says that it is possible to detect cloaked ships, but the
equipment necessary to do so is too delicate and too large to be
effectively carried on a starship.  This would explain why the
Klingons couldn't just cloak, surround earth, do us all in, and escape
without detection -- the Federation has such detection equipment in
place around its strategic assets.

>A mirrored egg looking shield might be a little extreme, they do need
>SOME sort of radiation to get through (well... a partially mirrored
>egg then..)  else all that wonderful scientific stuff has nothing to
>look at) :)

I should probably clarify this.  Since the shields oscillate,
modulate, or what have you, at very fast rates, the windows which
allow sensor and communications emissions to pass would not be visible
to the naked eye.  It's like watching a fluorescent light fixture --
you know it's oscillating between "on" and "off" states, but it does
so too fast for you to see.  You perceive continuous light.

Now presume the shields reflect the entire EM spectrum, as well as
solid particles.  If you were to look at a shielded ship with the
naked eye, you wouldn't see the windows in coverage, you'd just see
something reflecting the entire EM spectrum (but you're only seeing
visible light) back at you.

The shape is negotiable.  I just thought an egg shape was appropriate
based on how we've seen energy deflected from the shields.
--------------------------------+---------------------------------------
Jay Windley                     | jwindley@asylum.cs.utah.edu
Department of Computer Science  +---------------------------------------
Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City   | Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech