[TML] A little tinkering with Lasers

[Glenn M. Goffin]

>From: shadow at shadowgard.com

> On 23 Aug 2007 at 9:46, Glenn M. Goffin wrote:
> 
> Meson communicators don't have much impact on communications
>in a star system.  Theoretically you could talk to a ship on the
other
> side of a planet, but you have to know exactly where it is, so
> you need some kind of sensor link, so you might as well use laser
or 
>maser comm through the link.  You have the same time lag as
> laser or radio.

shadow at shadowgard.com replied:

>Uh, no. The lag time is a lot lower because the radio/laser link
> has to go "around" the planet (likely adding 50 to 100 percent to
the
> lag time) while the mesons take the straight line path.

gmgoffin at yahoo.com replied:

> The time it takes light to go, say, 10,000 km is essentially zero. 
> 100% of essentially zero is still essentially zero, and two times
> essentially zero is essentially zero.

shadow at shadowgard.com replied:

>Actually it's *not* essentially zero. Otherwise you wouldn't notice 
>the lag time on a satellite link compared with a cable across the 
>seafloor.
>
>Don't forget that the lower the orbit the two ships are in, the 
>*farther* out a relay has to be to be able to see both of them.

gmgoffin at yahoo.com now replies:

You're right that there is indeed a barely noticeable time lag for
satellite communications. Is that caused by distance or by copying
and rebroadcasting the signal?

In any event, the point is moot, isn't it?  Each meson communicator
has to know where the other is for communications to take place.
Ships in orbit on opposite sides of a planet have to rely on relays
to find each other.  The time lag caused by using sensor relays is
the same as the time lag caused by using communications relays.

gmgoffin at yahoo.com had written:

> I wasn't talking about time lag in the context of orbital
> communications.  I was talking about the time lag in intrasystem
> communications.  Messages from a meson communicator take just as
> long to travel from, for example, one planet to another, as
messages
> from a laser communicator.  I was referring to that sameness of
time
> lag.

shadow at shadowgard.com replied:

>I was responding to the *specific* situation mentioned of using
meson
>comms between two ship on oppodsite sides of a planet versus EM
>comms thru a relay "past" the planet.

I suppose I could have been more clear.  The comment about time lag
does come immediately after the ship-planet-ship example, but was
really referring to the first sentence of the paragraph.  Sorry to
have confused you.

--Glenn


       
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