Cloaking Device

Technology Data
Name	Cloaking Device
Type	Cloak
Introduced	2266
Affiliation	Romulan/Klingon/Federation
TechStatus	Star Trek Canon / Special Approval
Contributor	{{{contributor}}}

Overview

A cloaking device is an energy screen generator used to render an object (typically, a space vehicle) invisible to the eye and to most sensor systems. This is accomplished by gravitational lensing, the creation of a distorted image of an object when it's light is focused by gravity.

In the case of a cloaking device, the light is focused so that the object's index of refraction (the phase velocity of radiation in free space divided by the phase velocity of the same radiation in a specified medium) matches its surroundings, making the object transparent.

Cloaking a ship requires precisely balancing the radiative emissions from the warp drive nacelles, dissipating all electromagnetic radiation, gravitational fields and other energy emissions emanating from the ship, and distorting space in such a way that electromagnetic radiation and energy emissions are directed around the ship through subspace at velocities faster than light.

Technical Specifications

Off-axis warp field controllers balance the radiative emissions from the warp drive nacelles. This is necessary because the power source must be in phase with the cloaking device. These devices are used on warp-capable ships without cloaking devices, as well as warp-capable ships with cloaking devices, because they increase the engine operating effeciency. If any one of these controllers are misaligned or in some way damaged it would produce a polarized, magnetic distortion, detectable by other ship's sensors. When a cloaked ship is traveling faster than light in warp, the fact that the ship is moving so quickly makes it difficult to pin-point the location of a ship even if one of the controllers are in some way damaged or misaligned.

Components

The Nullifier Cores dissipate all electromagnetic radiation and other energy emissions produced by the ship and it's crew. This is done by remodulating the energy signiture to have the appearence of background energy, as well as reducing the apparent output. The amount of energy required by the nullifier cores to mask a certain amount of energy is not directly proportional to the amount of energy to be masked.

For increasingly larger amounts of energy to be masked, the amount of energy required by the nullifier cores to mask that energy becomes ever closer to being equal the amount of energy to be masked. Providing shielding against the entire electromagnetic spectrum is energy-costly, but necessary if a ship is within close proximity. However, if there are no ships within the immediate vicinity, then the nullifier cores are capable of dissipating electromagnetic radiation on the wavelengths that would only be detectable on long-range scanners, ignoring the wavelengths detectable on only short-range scanners. Another necessary function of the nullifier cores is to create a null area of gravity between the ship and the cloaking field. So that any gravity coming from the ship does not interfere with the cloaking field, or be detected by a gravimetric distortion mapping scanner on another ship.

Cloaking Generator Coils use a coherent graviton emission to distort space so that incident electromagnetic radiation and other forms of energy are directed around the ship through subspace at velocities faster than light, making the appearance that the light or energy never left it's original course. One of the main parts of a cloaking generator coil is a graviton polarity source generator.

Graviton Polarity Source Generators create a highly focused spatial distortion which directs the course of the energy and light. The graviton polarity sources in each generator feed into subspace field distortion amplifiers that are phase-synchronized with each other by a network of small conduits that allow field bleed for gravitational stability between the graviton polarity sources. These conduits are equipped with tetryon compositors, to prevent a build-up of tetryons in the conduits, which would decrease the operating efficiency and eventually significantly damage the subspace field distortion amplifiers.

The flux energy output is directed and focused by a series of Subspace Field Generator Coils, according to the energy dispersal pattern. The energy dispersal pattern, or the energy transformational matrix, is the way in which the energy and light is directed around the ship. The actual subspace field generator coils are similar to warp field coils, but they create a multi-layered field in the space around the ship, not also within it. The propulsive, asymmetrical, peristaltic field distortion propels the energy faster than light. This compensates for the extra distance that the energy has to travel around the ship before returning to it's original course, and any redshift or blueshift caused by the Doppler effect, or a gravitational field.

Cloaking Device Interface and Dedicated Computer Ssystems. The cloaking generator coils are controlled by special purpose, or dedicated, computers designed to perform this specific task. They are extremely fast computers that contain a complex arrays of processors each designed to perform a specific function. These computers must handle huge databases, and perform complex mathematical operations in order to provide an accurate energy dispersal pattern. Input data is provided for the computers by a network of refractometers placed on the hull of the ship. The more refractometers placed on the hull of the ship, the more effective the energy dispersal pattern. The only limiting factor is the speed of the computers, which must provide a realtime energy dispersal pattern to effectively cloak the ship. These computer are completely seperate from the computers that perform other ship functions, because they are limited to the specific function built into them.

Magnetic Constriction Coils create a localized magnetic waveguide plane for the energy to pass through in subspace, which ensures proper alignment of the energy when the ship is in warp. If a ship was using the magnetic constriction coils while not in warp, an active magnetic interferometry scanner could detect the use of the coils.

All of the parts of the cloaking generator coils are powered by plasma coils. These coils must all have an identical energy frequency. This is accomplished by a plasma buffer. If there is no plasma buffer, then the cloaking generator coils could easily be disrupted, by something like an ionic pulse.

If a ship had the ability to generate enough energy to to maintain the cloaking device as well as defensive shields, the nullifier cores could neither mask all of the erergy required to accomplish this, nor the interference created by defensive shields. In addition, the spatial distortions created by defensive shields would mean that the shield itself would have to exist within the cloaking field, and the larger the cloaking field is, the more energy is required to generate it. These reasons completely eliminate the possibility of using defensive shields.

When a starship's cloaking device is active, several ship's systems operate under special protocols to minimize the interference of the cloaking device.

If the cloaking generator coils distorted space so that all incident electromagnetic radiation and other forms of energy were directed around the ship, then the sensor systems could not gather any data. As a result, the cloaking generator coils create frequency windows to allow specific wavelengths to pass through the cloaking field at certain times. This limits the gathering of many types of scientific and tactical data, but is adequate for most situations. Active scanners may not be used while the cloaking device is operating.

Although the transporter system could be tuned to the same frequency as the cloaking device, the gravitational distortions usually prevent usage of the transporter system.

Phased energy weapons make use of the rapid nadion effect. This is very disruptive to the cloaking device's plasma coils, even with a plasma buffer, and therefore cannot be used. If a cloaked ship did use their phasers, the beam would be bent off course and hit the ship at a diametric point and angle. In addition, the nullifier cores would attempt to dissipate the phaser beam and remodulate its energy signiture to give the appearence of background emmisions. The cloaking field would most likely collapse, causing powerful gravitational waves. However, it is possible for a phaser to penetrate the cloak from the outside if it is tuned to the frequency of a window opened in the cloak for sensory input.

Warp drive operation is considerably affected by the cloaking device. The geometry of the warp field must be significantly altered because of the spatial distortions created by the cloaking device. Warp drive control software works in parallel with the cloaking generator coil's dedicated computer to minimize the effect on both systems. The translational field interaction between the cloaking device and the warp drive is somewhat chaotic, creating potentially catastrophic effects. Such as a spontaneous field collapse of the warp field or subspace compression. This is why subspace listening posts are an efficient way of tracking cloaked ships.

It is possible to open an interference window in a finely tuned cloak, so that a photon torpedo will pass through, as opposed to being bent off course or even crushed by the gravitational distortion. This interference window is generated by, at the moment of firing, a cloaking generator coil to operate on a different frequency than the other cloaking generator coils. This is accomplished by temporarily disconnecting the plasma coil powering the cloaking generator coil for the area where the torpedo will leave the cloaking field from the plasma buffer. The translational field interaction between the cloaking generator coils causes a gap to open in the cloak. The calculations that are necessary to allow the ship to properly cloak after the launch of the torpedo are very complex. As a result, there is a lag in firing, the length of which depends on the speed of the cloaking generator coil's dedicated computer.

Because the navigational deflector dish radiates significant amounts of both subspace and electromagnetic radiation, it cannot be used when cloaked without an extremely powerful network of nullifier cores, which would consume a considerable amount of energy. Instead of this, a variant of the transporter system is used. This device converts the micrometeorite particulates to energy, lets the energy be directed around the ship as with all of the other light and energy, and then converts the energy back to matter. This method is only used when a ship is in very close proximity. Otherwise the magnetic constriction coils are tuned with the cloaking generator coils to reflect interstellar gases and micrometeoroid particulates. This method is more energy effecient than the method using a variant of the transporter system.