Talk:DRADIS/Archive 1

It is stated that DRADIS stands for 'Direction RAnge and DIStance'.

Should it not be 'Direction RAnge Detection and Identification System' This still has the acronym DRADIS?

I'd be happy to see a source for this term; I'd rather not make it up if RDM has the acronym down. He's normally not into this inane level of techno-fanboy detail, so we'll have to see. Better to keep this one to what we know. Spencerian 15:54, 23 Aug 2005 (EDT)0

Agreed, FWIW. --Peter Farago 17:43, 23 Aug 2005 (EDT):

We need a definite and official source for what this term means. Personally, I don't believe that it is well defined, if at all. -- Joe Beaudoin 20:30, 23 Aug 2005 (EDT)

"Range" and "Distance" are indeed redundant in their most common sense, but in space, a system like this would be pretty much pointless if it didn't provide directional information in two axes, as well as the distance. Even without a useful expansion of the acronym, it should be abundantly clear that these would be the three values present in the reading for a single DRADIS contact. -- Cmr

Indeed, Gaeta has given three-value coordinates when it's been relevant — in Act of Contrition and Resistance.

Just an interesting note - Bearing and Carom are clearly not measured in degrees. We've seen bearings up to 881 (Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down) and caroms up 552 (Flight of the Phoenix). --Peter Farago 14:38, 5 January 2006 (EST)

"Range" and "distance" are still synonyms in 3 dimensions. Yes, there are 3 numbers for spherical coordinates, but 2 of them are direction; the other one is range (and distance, since they're the same thing). --CalculatinAvatar 23:29, 5 January 2006 (EST)

I understood your point the first time, and wasn't trying to contradict it. --Peter Farago 23:39, 5 January 2006 (EST)