Engineering Console Overview

[Matt Wise]

I have created the attached document to help facilitate what panel controls and system readouts will be available on the engineering console for the simulator. This document has a brief explanation of all the systems involved and some explanation of what the controls do and what the readouts mean.

Please review this document and let me know of any additions, corrections, or deletions. I followed the Doc#04 Modelling the Enterprises Systems ver 1, TNG: Technical Manual, and Memory Alpha for the explanations. I really need some help on some aspects of this document. Everything in brackets and in red need more information for what those systems will do and what data and controls should be available.

Once the documents have been completed I will start to work on vector "sketches" of what each screen of the panel "could" look like and submit those for review and then we could use those as a guide. I won't start any development on the functionality of the panels until the simulator is a little bit more concrete.

[Peter Cotton]

I think this is going to be the most complex (and fun) of all of the bridge consoles to use.

 

Doc #04 has a first cut list of the engineering duties, but I think I need to take another stab at it. It should probably be split into system, sub-system (optional) and task. For example: The user might select Deuterium Tanks, then select Deuterium Cooling Coil #3 and then select repair.

 

This will be fairly manageable for a user interface point of view.

 

As for the anti-matter - there is a limited amount of anti-matter stored on board that is used for warp drive. As this depletes, then more can be manufactured?

 

Likewise we need to give design the power conduits. It is quite common in the show to re-route power, suggesting that the conduit system is at least singularly redundant (two possible paths between each node). We have also seen conduits overload (and explode) requiring repair before they are used again.

 

On Warp Cores. A dyne (Teradyne) is a measurement of force. I know they use it in the show but I cannot make it jive with the warp bubble used for warp speed. If they used it for sheer acceleration then it would work great (we could even change acceleration due to changing mass in the ship), however the warp bubble is measured in cochranes and does not relate. Any ideas on how we handle this discrepancy will be gratefully accepted.

 

This is going to be a massively complex panel, with many sub screens. I can see the operator entering the Bussard Collector screen and being presented with a multitude of options (which I like).

 

God job on the document, it provides an excellent discussion point.

 

[Matt Wise]

I just had a thought about the teradyne, this might help it jive: Maybe the teradyne is some how translated into how much force the warp bubble is emitting and not the power used to create it?

This is a stretch but I will look at the warp factor calculations and see if I can make them jive with the max teradyne output of a warp core.

I'm going to see if I can find the specs for a constitution , galaxy, and intrepid class starships, since they have different maximum warp factors, and try to develop a formula that will show you the maximum warp factor based on a warp cores teradyne rating.

If I can get that to work, then by knowing the teradyne output of the core we will know the warp factor, by knowing the warp factor we will know the teradyne output.

[Matt Wise]

As for antimatter, yes it can be created, but I have never heard the process discussed in Star Trek, but the theory exists and we could include it if needed, which I don't think we will for this reason:

A galaxy class ship at Warp 5 is using ~15 grams of matter/antimatter a minute. That equates to over 2 pounds a day and approximately 800 pounds a year if at a constant warp 5 for that time. So, unless we are going to be in the simulator for a year, this is a value that could be reset. Now, as far as making anitmatter, the bussard collectors can be configured, and are most commonly configured to collect hydrogen. Why is hydrogen important? Well, one the most common elements on a starship is deuterium (used in the matter/antimatter reaction of the warp core), which is an isotope of hydrogen. You can separate/make (I use make loosely since it is really already there) the deuterium from the regular hydrogen, one process is by water electrolysis. Also keep in mind that one of every 6500 Hydrogen atoms is already deuterium (1 neutron and 1 proton instead of 1 neutron and 0 protons).

The main idea in making antimatter is just getting enough energy in a collision to allow the particles to be made. If you get electrons going fast enough and throw them at a piece of material called a target, preferably made out of atoms that have a large atomic number, you will have a shower of electrons, positrons (anti-electrons) and photons.

A high-energy electron, when it comes near a nucleus, will feel the electric field of the charged nucleus, and be deflected in its path. The larger the charge of the nucleus, the more frequently this deflection will happen at large angles. When a fast electron is diverted from its straight-line path, it radiates some of its energy away as photons. High-energy photons, when they come near another nucleus, can spontaneously turn into an electron-positron pair (conserving charge and the "number of electrons", which both add to zero since a positron has positive charge and is an anti-electron). The second nucleus is there to exchange energy and momentum with, otherwise you cannot start with a photon (zero mass) and end up with two objects with mass and conserve energy and momentum.

If the electron and positron thus produced have enough energy, they can undergo scattering with more nuclei, radiate photons which can pair-produce more electrons and positrons, creating a whole "shower" of electrons, positrons, and photons. Positrons then can be separated away with magnets and collected in particle accelerators.

On Tuesday, June 25, 2013 10:34:43 PM UTC-4, Peter Cotton wrote:

[Matt Wise]

See what you think of this, it is rudimentary, but might work:

(currentWarpFactor / maxWarpFactor) * maxTeradyne = currentTeradyne

Short:
(cWF / mWF) * mTD = cTD

Example:

If you are currently traveling at warp 3:

(3 / 9.9) * 4,000 = 1,212.12 teradynes are being excerpted by the warp field.

To determine the power usage in Cochranes:
1 teradyne = ~1,000 Cochranes

Formula:
(cTD * 1,000) = currentCochranes
Warp 3 = 1,212,120 Cochranes (1.2 million Cochranes)

From the warp factor graph a Cochrane is equal to a megajoule.

Now to find some Tylenol!!

[Peter Cotton]

Awesome. I like you're thinking with regards to just scaling the Teradynes to match the warp factor, however the formula is a linear scale, whereas it appear that warp factor is exponential. 

In Doc#4, page 25 onward I describe the fuel usage of the Enterprise. In this I define the formula for Deuterium per hour as:

Cubic Meters per hour = 3 * Warp Speed ^ 2

or to put it another way:

= 3 * Warp Speed * Warp Speed

This gives us our exponential scale:

Warp 1 = 3 cubic meters per hour

Warp 2 = 12 cubic meters per second

Warp 3 = 36 cubic meters per second

Warp 4 = 48 cubic meters per second

Warp 5 = 75 cubic meters per second

Warp 6 = 108 cubic meters per second

Warp 7 = 147 cubic meters per second

Warp 8 = 192 cubic meters per second

Warp 9 = 243 cubic meters per second

This fits in well with the fact that the warp scale is also exponential.

On page 35 onward of Doc#04 I describe power generation. In this I use the formula for MegaWatts being produced by the warp core in any given second as:

cubic meters of deuterium per second * 204,000,000

or

Warp 1 = 170,000 MW

Warp 2 = 680,000 MW

Warp 3 = 2,040,000 MW

Warp 4 = 2,720,000 MW

Warp 5 = 4,250,000 MW

Warp 6 = 6,120,000 MW

Warp 7 = 8,330,000 MW

Warp 8 = 10,880,000 MW

Warp 9 = 13,770,000 MW

These are the stupendous amounts of power required to throw the ship through space and it explains why it is so difficult for the NX-01 project to advance from a Warp 4 ship to a Warp-5 one.

Now, to switch this around, what we are really saying is that in order to drive the ship at Warp 8 we need to produce 10,880,000 MW of power. Ships power is taken off this total (which will reduce the overall speed), and things like shields and lasers will take a huge amount of power off this value.

So to calculate the current warp speed of the ship we use the formula SQRT((MegaWatts * TotalWarpEngineEfficiency) / 17,000,000)

TotalWarpEngineEfficiency is 100% when the warp engine is undamaged.

So, if we produce 10,880,000 MW of power from teh warp core, say 100,000 MW goes to other ships systems first (life support, lights etc.) then we end up with:

Warp Speed = SQRT((10,780,000 * 100) / 17,000,000)

which gives us warp 7.96.

What I want to model is that if the captain uses a bit less power by shutting down systems, then this will increase the speed of the ships marginally.

It appears that the warp core is also used to power the shield and phasers which would also explain why they can't be used at warp.

[Matt Wise]

I have been literally running these calculations all day and still can't figure out how to make a teradyne flow with the power usage you have come up with. It might be something that we have to "assume", calculate the teradynes, calculate the power for that warp factor and that is the readout. We might not be able to come up with a real formula for this. One might have to be linear and one might have to be exponential. I'll keep trying to figure something out, but it might be something we have to "live" with.

[Peter Cotton]

There is a big mistake in my above calcs. When I give the warp calc as cubic metres per second of Deuterium,. that should say cubic metres per hour. Sorry about that.

If we say that 4,000 teradynes equals Warp 9.9, then Warp 9.9 would consume 294 cubic metres of deuterium per hour. This means the warp core would have to generate 16,603,333 MW of power.

If we say that 16,603,333 MW = 4,000 Teradynes, then we can easily calculate it out for every other speed. e.g. At warp 5 (4,250,000 MW) we would be producing (4,250,000 / 16,603,333) * 4000 = 1,023 Teradynes.

Does this work for you?

[Matt Wise]

Looks good to me.

I'll start looking at doc #4 again and try to figure out a system for the power conduits now.