DRADIS: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:47, 25 October 2013

For the Original Series counterpart, see Scanner.

Operations

DRADIS ("Direction, RAnge, and DIStance") is a highly sensitive detection, identification, navigation and tracking system used to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, weapons ordinance, celestial bodies, and terrain.

DRADIS is a central component of the navigation computer, and defensive and offensive weapons systems, especially on Colonial warships that do not have windows or portholes of any kind that would allow an outside view of the vessel. Without it, the warship is blind. It is the first line of defense after enemy contact is made, alerting warship crews to any incoming danger, such as nuclear (which triggers the ship's Radiological Alarm) (TRS: "33", "The Captain's Hand") or conventional ordnance (TRS: "He That Believeth In Me"), and any objects that might pose a collision risk ("CBDR" - Closing Bearing, Decreasing Range) (TRS: "Pegasus").

Limitations and Interference

DRADIS systems are often subject to various sources of interference, and clutter. These can come from excessive contacts or naturally occurring objects such as nebulas, EM interference, star clusters, pulsars, and binary stars. There isn't much an operator can do to eliminate these sources, and must do the best they can given the circumstances. However, DRADIS systems can still eliminate these sources enough to detect objects at closer ranges (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II"). DRADIS operators can also "turn off" various sources of clutter, for example, excessive or uninteresting contacts can be toned down to simply an icon on the screen, allowing more important contacts, such as a ship's Combat Air Patrol, to be highlighted with its speed, direction, and transponder ID.

Cylon DRADIS

The Cylons also employ DRADIS on their spacecraft, however, in what capacity is not known. No visual representation of the Cylon DRADIS exists, as the corresponding tracking data appears to be uploaded directly into the consciousnesses of the Cylons in charge of command and control via the Baseship datastream (TRS: "The Ties That Bind").

References

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-__NOTOC__
+:''For the [[Original Series]] counterpart, see [[scanner|Scanner]].''
-[[Image:Dradisscreen.jpg|thumb|A typical DRADIS read-out]]
+[[Image:DRADIS Closeup.jpg|thumb|A DRADIS screen displays numerous friendly and hostile contacts.]]
-'''DRADIS''' is a highly sensitive detection, identification, navigation and tracking system, analogous in function to [[Wikipedia:Radar|radar]]<ref>In "[[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]]", some viewers believed that [[Kara Thrace|Starbuck]] said, "The decoy ships will jump into the enemy star system at extreme ''radar'' range from the Cylon asteroid." The use of "radar" would be a [[Continuity errors (RDM)|continuity error]] as official sources confirmed that "radar" does not exist in the Re-imagined Series.  Others believed that actress [[Katee Sackhoff]] said "extreme ''Raider'' range", the range of the Raiders from the Cylon base, and the word was slurred so that it sounded vaguely like "radar".  The matter was put to rest when Battlestar Wiki [[Battlestar Wiki:Official Communiques/Archive1#.22Radar.22_gaffe_in_.22The_Hand_of_God.22.3F|asked]] the writer of this episode, [[Bradley Thompson]], who confirmed that the line in the script was "...extreme ''Viper''  range...". The final line must have been looped in during post-production without his input (probably to keep from spoiling the plot). Thompson confirmed that the final line sounded like "Raider".</ref>, used aboard Colonial spacecraft.
+=== Operations ===
+'''DRADIS''' ("'''D'''irection, '''RA'''nge, and '''DIS'''tance") is a highly sensitive detection, identification, navigation and tracking system used to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, weapons ordinance, celestial bodies, and terrain.
-DRADIS can be used in stationary configurations as well on ships. A group of [[Cylon Centurion]]s are able to jury-rig a DRADIS assembly from their [[Heavy Raider]] into a stationary tracking array in an attempt to eliminate any [[SAR]] missions from ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]'' ([[TRS]]: "[[Fragged]]").
+DRADIS is a central component of the navigation computer, and defensive and offensive weapons systems, especially on Colonial warships that do not have windows or portholes of any kind that would allow an outside view of the vessel. Without it, the warship is blind. It is the first line of defense after enemy contact is made, alerting warship crews to any incoming danger, such as nuclear (which triggers the ship's Radiological Alarm) ([[TRS]]: "[[33]]", "[[The Captain's Hand]]") or conventional ordnance ([[TRS]]: "[[He That Believeth In Me]]"), and any objects that might pose a collision risk ("CBDR" - '''C'''losing '''B'''earing, '''D'''ecreasing '''R'''ange) ([[TRS]]: "[[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]]").
-A "DRADIS contact" is an object or objects detected by DRADIS. Contacts are typically identified by cross-referencing with an [[IFF]] system (in the case of ships) or an astronomical database (in the instance of planets or other celestial bodies).
+=== Limitations and Interference ===
+[[Image:DRADIS Interference.jpg|thumb|A DRADIS screen is knocked out by an external source of interference.]]
+DRADIS systems are often subject to various sources of interference, and clutter. These can come from excessive contacts or naturally occurring objects such as nebulas, EM interference, star clusters, pulsars, and binary stars. There isn't much an operator can do to eliminate these sources, and must do the best they can given the circumstances. However, DRADIS systems can still eliminate these sources enough to detect objects at closer ranges ([[TRS]]: "[[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]"). DRADIS operators can also "turn off" various sources of clutter, for example, excessive or uninteresting contacts can be toned down to simply an icon on the screen, allowing more important contacts, such as a ship's [[CAP|Combat Air Patrol]], to be highlighted with its speed, direction, and transponder ID.
-The symbols used on Colonial DRADIS displays for the representation of [[battlestar (RDM)|battlestars]], [[Raptor|Raptors]], and [[Viper (RDM)|Vipers]] are visible in the picture to the right.
+=== Cylon DRADIS ===
-[[Image:Dradissymbol pegasus.JPG|thumb|DRADIS symbology for various Colonial Fleet units ([[TRS]]: "[[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]])"]]
+The [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] also employ DRADIS on their spacecraft, however, in what capacity is not known. No visual representation of the Cylon DRADIS exists, as the corresponding tracking data appears to be uploaded directly into the consciousnesses of the Cylons in charge of command and control via the Baseship [[datastream]] ([[TRS]]: "[[The Ties That Bind]]").
-[[Image:radalm_217_1080i.jpg|thumb|DRADIS warning of radiological materials ([[The Captain's Hand]])]] DRADIS is also used to report [[radiological alarm]]s.
+<div style="clear:both;"></div>
-DRADIS is likely a central component of the [[Computers|navigation computer]] on Colonial ships such as battlestars, as they do not navigate in [[sublight]] mode by visual means. ''Galactica's'' tactical and navigation data is displayed on a series of screens that form the [[DRADIS console]], suspended above the [[CIC]]'s Command and Control console.
-The DRADIS can be blinded by external sources of electromagnetic radiation such as artificial radiation by [[EMP|EMP generators]] ([[TRS]]: [[Miniseries]]), nuclear detonations ([[TRS]]: "[[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]]", "[[Razor]]"), [[w:Pulsars|pulsars]] ([[TRS]]: "[[Sacrifice]]"), [[Passage (star cluster)|star clusters]] and [[w:Binary star|binary stars]] ([[TRS]]: "[[The Passage]]", "[[The Captain's Hand]]"), or other phenomenona such as the nebula around [[New Caprica]] ([[TRS]]: "[[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I]]").
-Carbon composites absorb and diffuse DRADIS scans, rending any vehicle comprised of such material largely invisible ([[Flight of the Phoenix]]).  Conversely, false positive contacts can be induced through electronic interference or malfunction, producing contacts that either misrepresent their actual configuration or do not actually exist.   In the case of the latter, such false positives are referred to as "ghosts" ([[TRS]]: "[[Exodus, Part II]]", "[[The Oath]]").
-== Sourcing of the term ==
-The "'''D'''irection, '''RA'''nge, and '''DIS'''tance" breakdown of the acronym "DRADIS" was listed in an early manuscript of the first half of the [[Miniseries]]. Since some major elements of this script were changed (such as Kobol being the sole home of the Colonies, and not separate worlds) in comparison to the completed teleplay, canonical use of this breakdown should be taken with some skepticism.
-There is some evidence to suggest that the original breakdown is the canonical version. In "[[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]", [[Crashdown]] performs a DRADIS sweep of [[Kobol (RDM)|Kobol]]. The aerial survey is later presented to the [[Laura Roslin|President]]. For a brief moment, as Roslin takes the survey image out of [[Billy Keikeya]]'s hand, the DRADIS information printed on the image is visible. The letters on the image are clear and are as follows:
-:Aerial Survey
-:'''D.''' 41376
-:'''Ra.''' 145.8
-:'''Dis.''' 43.5
-The letters represent numerical values. While this is not conclusive evidence, it is consistent with the original manuscript definition.
-==Notes==
-*The [[Battlestar Galactica (TOS)|Original Series]] counterpart to DRADIS is simply referred to as the [[scanner]].
-*The [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] also employ DRADIS on their spacecraft.  No visual representation of the Cylon DRADIS exists, as the corresponding tracking data appears to be uploaded directly into the consciousnesses of the Cylons in charge of command and control via the Baseship [[datastream]] ([[TRS]]: "[[The Ties That Bind]]").
 ==See Also==