Warp signature A warp signature was a detectable neutrino emission produced by warp - driven starship s . Determined by the alignment of a vessel ' s warp coil s , a warp signature was unique to an individual ship , a fact which could make locating a specific vessel much easier if the warp signature was already known . ( ; ) Some species ' vessels produced a unique warp signature , making it easier to identify a vessel as originating from that species . Hirogen vessels , for example , generated dicyclic warp signatures . ( ) Overview . On April 5 2063 , a Vulcan ship conducting a survey mission in the Sol system detected the warp signature from the " Phoenix " , Earth ' s first warp - capable vessel . Deciding to investigate , the Vulcans landed and made First Contact with the vessel ' s pilot , Zefram Cochrane . ( ) In 2153 , the Tellarite bounty hunter Skalaar , who had abducted Captain Archer with the intention of delivering him to the Klingon s , utilized a beacon orbiting a G - type star to generate a warp signature identical to his own ship , in order to throw the crew of off his trail . ( ) In 2154 , Captain Archer was able to identify Degra ' s ship by analyzing the vessel ' s warp signature . ( ) Later that year , the Vulcan s used unmanned probe s to generate false warp signatures in the vicinity of Paan Mokar , a Class - D planetoid which they had previously given up to the Andorian s , in an attempt to misdirect the Andorians into believing that the Vulcans were preparing to retake Paan Mokar , when , in actuality , they were planning to invade Andoria . ( ) The same year , while " Enterprise " was attempting to locate a group of Augment s in Klingon space , Commander Tucker was able to realign " Enterprise " s warp coils to reproduce the warp signature of a Klingon battle cruiser , in order to safely travel through the area . ( ) In 2371 , upon stealing the , Thomas Riker had a Maquis vessel send out a fake warp signature identical to the " Defiant " s , in order to deceive the Cardassian s into believing that he was mounting an attack in the Almatha sector . Commander Sisko , however , was able to uncover Riker ' s deception , when he noticed that the signature ' s phase variance and subspace harmonic s did not match the " Defiant " s . ( ) In 2373 , after having taken over the body of crewmember Kes , the Delta Quadrant warlord Tierna stole a shuttlecraft , and successfully suppressed its warp signature by remodulating the plasma injectors . ( ) Later that year , Michael Eddington , former Starfleet officer - turned Maquis leader , utilized an unmanned probe to send out neutrino emissions , faking a warp signature , in order to evade Captain Sisko on the " Defiant " . ( ) After having traveled back in time from 2373 to 2063 to stop a Borg plot to avert First Contact between Human s and Vulcans , the crew of the was able to obscure the ship ' s warp signature using the moon ' s gravitational field , thereby remaining undetected by the Vulcan ship . ( ) Later in 2373 , the Dominion generated a series of false warp signatures to lead the combined Federation - Klingon fleet at Deep Space 9 to believe that an armada of Jem ' Hadar vessels was about to mount an attack on the station . It was later discovered , however , that it was a Dominion ruse to maneuver the fleet to Deep Space 9 , and then destroy the Bajoran sun , in an attempt to wipe out both fleets in one move . ( ) Also that year , Benjamin Sisko and Michael Eddington evaded several Dominion ships in the Badlands by plotting a spiral course around a plasma filament , dissipating their runabout ' s warp signature . ( ) In 2374 , the crew of a Jem ' Hadar fighter was able to mask their warp signature from the crew of the " Defiant " , by approaching from the anterior angle of a subspace compression anomaly which the " Defiant " crew was studying . ( ) In 2376 , as part of their plan to steal a Borg transwarp coil with which to shorten their journey back to the Alpha Quadrant , the crew of the used a shuttlecraft as a diversion while they boarded a Borg sphere . As the Borg did not initially appear to view the shuttle as a valuable target , Captain Janeway ordered the energy output of the shuttle ' s warp profile increased , an act which led the Borg to detect its warp signature and assimilate it . ( ) Later that year , during the Federation ' s attempt to re - take the Chin ' toka system from the Dominion , the crew of the " Defiant " managed to use their deflector array to imprint a Federation warp signature on a subspace power generator which was supplying energy to a series of orbital weapon platform s , causing the platforms to fire on their own source of power . ( ) Also that year , Leucon and Yifay , parents of Icheb , an adolescent Borg drone liberated from the Collective by the " Voyager " crew , utilized a Brunali transport vessel designed to emit a false warp signature as bait for the Borg . Utilizing this signature , which was designed to penetrate subspace and make it appear as if the vessel were traveling at warp 9 . 8 , they planned to let the Collective re - assimilate Icheb , whose genetic structure had been designed to produce a pathogen deadly to the Borg . ( ) In 2378 , The Doctor played " The Blue Danube " waltz in one of his recitals . When he and Captain Janeway were abducted by renegades from the Hierarchy , The Doctor altered a recording of the waltz so that it would sound out of tune . By performing a Fourier analysis , Seven of Nine found that The Doctor had modified the harmonics of the piece to imitate a warp signature , allowing " Voyager " to track their captors ' ship . ( )