Alternative Methods for Communication

[Satiar]

I'm currently under commission to edit and improve a Sci-Fi book (this includes cleaning up the writing, editing the plot and closing plot holes, and making the technical aspects of the book make sense).

I've become stuck at a method of communication for the Earth military, under the following circumstances:

The extraterrestrial threat has developed technology that eliminates all "wireless" forms of communication, covering everything from guided missiles to cell-phones (or the futuristic equivalent). This leaves me with the problem of developing a way for the Military to still function, and I'm at a loss of how they would do that.

The human tech level is in the lower areas, with sub-light speeds and laser/kinetic weapons. I've managed to overhaul military tactics and tech to fit with the lack of "wireless", but I've run into a brick wall with the communication factor. How would the Military communicate ship-to-ship or base-to-base with the mentioned restrictions in place?

If anyone has any suggestions about how to solve this problem, I would be very grateful.

Thank you for reading!

[Imperial528]

Low-powered directed lasers aimed at a light sensor, transmitting through binary pulses using lasers of a low and a high wavelength. If laser weapons work fine, this should too.

[Batman]

Um-no? Weapons yield lasers are a whole different ball game than com lasers. If all wireless communications is out, so are com lasers.
Of course, that raises the question of wether or not we are talking all wireless communications. As in everything that isn't using wires, as opposed to the standard means of wireless communications, which usually means the radio band and thereabouts.
If it IS all wireless communication, you're screwed. Even flag signals are covered by that. Hell shouting is. Messenger pigeons are. Couriers are out.
If it is, as I very much suspect, intended to mean 'no radio', we indeed should look into laser comlinks for a start.

[Imperial528]

I was saying that whatever blocks comm lasers would obviously hinder laser weapons.

[Batman]

I was saying that whatever blocks comm lasers would obviously hinder laser weapons.

Why? Even assuming it is a real world effect and not something technobabble, it could easily be something that would render a maybe-KW com laser useless yet hardly bother a MW and up weapon laser.

[Satiar]

The intent is, as far as I can tell, for it to be all conventional means of "radio" communication. Line of sight and typical sound waves aren't effected, but it's essentially a jamming system for all radios, phones and the like.

I'm liking the laser idea. It solves the extraterrestrial combat, at least, though a further explanation of how it could work would be appreciated.

On the ground, however, only thing rattling in the old brain is smoke signals and Robin Hood-esque signal arrows....certainly not what I want to go with.

[Imperial528]

True enough, I will concede that point then.

[keen320]

What about physical messengers? Before radio communications, they were pretty much the only halfway reliable way for armies in the field to communicate. Several sci-fi franchises with no FTL comm use FTL "courier ships" to communicate over interstellar distances. It could also make for great dramatic tension and suspense. As in, will the crucial order that could decide the battle get through, or will someone literally "shoot the messenger?" (yes I know that isn't funny)

On the ground, however, only thing rattling in the old brain is smoke signals and Robin Hood-esque signal arrows....certainly not what I want to go with.

Maybe you could use a message capsule, with digital storage? Or maybe fire something trailing a wire to communicate point to point? Of course, both present problems related to enemy interception, but so does wireless. A bigger problem is unreliability. Also, it has to be more believable than this:

[Broomstick]

On the ground, however, only thing rattling in the old brain is smoke signals and Robin Hood-esque signal arrows....certainly not what I want to go with.

Here are a few:

1) Light signals with mirrors. This goes back thousands of years.
2) Signal fires. Similar concept and age. Like smoke signals, but visible at night
3) Telegraphs, with the signal sent over physical wires.
4) Physical couriers. That could be humans, or animals trained to carry messages.
5) Semaphore - basically waving signal flags or the like around to convey information. Popular for a long time with navies the world over.

Mix and match as much as you want.

[B5B7]

A couple of things one can do is to give the individual commanders a high level of autonomy coupled with a large array of programmed commands - so as to reduce the amount of signalling required.
Another method is to have a large list of standard orders - each tied to a particular time - so that when a signal is sent at a particular time it corresponds with a specific matched instruction. That way the signal flare or whatever doesn't have to carry any information, the signal itself is the message.

[Feil]

Pulsed wide-band radio, using Morse or Binary. Essentially radio flashbulbs. Power draw will be enormous, data transfer rate will be abysmal, and both range and portability will suffer, but it'll do the job. One could use other bands, too, but low frequencies are better at getting past barriers like vegetation, fog, clouds, etc.

When you have line of sight, laser works.

Unless they can render any medium opaque to frequencies of light, in which case we're screwed, because they can just turn off the sun and wait for us to surrender.

[Satiar]

When you're talking about "power draw", does that mean anything to people with combat oriented hand-held lasers?

And no, no turning off the sun.....unless I've really missed something in reading the manuscript.

Thanks for the info guys, I've gotten a few good ideas from here! And no one pulled out any calculus on me yet either....

[Mr. Tickle]

How about a mix up of old and new tech? Carrier pigeons could only carry limited information in the past but with the size of memory sticks you can get these days it would be perfectly feasible to use them to carry terrabytes of information at pretty darn fast speeds. (Not sure what the biggest flash drives but a quick google search suggests they can be 256gb now)

[Jawawithagun]

When you have line of sight, laser works.

Satellite-relayed laser?

[Glimmervoid]

How about a mix up of old and new tech? Carrier pigeons could only carry limited information in the past but with the size of memory sticks you can get these days it would be perfectly feasible to use them to carry terrabytes of information at pretty darn fast speeds. (Not sure what the biggest flash drives but a quick google search suggests they can be 256gb now)

There's a Experimental Protocol for this. RFC 2549: IP over Avian Carriers with Quality of Service. True, it was an April fools joke, but I still cited it as a references in some of my Computing Science coursework at University.

[Zixinus]

The extraterrestrial threat has developed technology that eliminates all "wireless" forms of communication, covering everything from guided missiles to cell-phones (or the futuristic equivalent). This leaves me with the problem of developing a way for the Military to still function, and I'm at a loss of how they would do that.

Flares, wires (during Stalingrad in WW2, Russian communications soldiers didn't have radio, so they had to lead wires trough the battlefield, there is even a Call of Duty level about it), whistles, gestures. Flags can be used as well, especially with Navy ships. I have seen pipe-lights in military stores (donnu whether

The "lasers giving signals in binary" is a fancy way of saying "using morse code with light", ie, a time-honored (if limited) way of communications.

There are rounds in weapon that are designed to leave a trail of light as they fly. This is used for training, but can be used as a method of communication (such as marking a target).

Of course, if used suddenly, it is a mayor, mayor issue because there is a big information chain that is suddenly now very broken. Effectivelly, anyone not connected is a rouge element and not part of the fighting force. That is a mayor problem.

[Satiar]

Working off the suggestions here, I'm having to consider the "high degree of unit autonomy" factor. Are there real world examples (as modern as possible) that deal with this? Seeing several cases of this in a modern, information heavy military would be very helpful.

[Broomstick]

You know all those bugle riffs? Reveille, mail call, to arms, taps/sunset... they're military communications. Alternative noisemakers that accomplish the same thing include drums, bagpipes, fifes, and really anything that makes a loud, penetrating noise. Such sound signals can be relayed just as visual signals can. Militaries used this method for millennia, you know.

Here's a wiki list of common bugle calls that also mentions/references other systems to get you started.

[Batman]

Since we are apparently talking only 'no radio and related communications' I'd go with comm lasers. They're a proven technology, hard to detect, data throughput is decent even with today's technology and their only drawbacks are the need for line-of-sight and atmospheric dispersal (if that), both of which can be worked around by using relays.

[Jawawithagun]

The "lasers giving signals in binary" is a fancy way of saying "using morse code with light", ie, a time-honored (if limited) way of communications.

Considering ALL digital communication can be called "fancy morse code" what's your point? We manage quite well with those limitations.

[RedImperator]

I don't think you'd have to resort to telegraph; as long as you're running wires, you can run phone lines or fiber optic cable and get much better bandwidth.

Comm lasers, however, are probably your best bet. Speed of light and all that, and you can do a lot more than send Morse code with them. In relatively secure territory, you could use relay towers or satellites to send signals over the horizon; in space, obviously, there isn't any horizon to worry about.

[folti78]

Using good quality cable and proper encoding/modulation techniques, you can cram more data* into a pair of copper. Using multiple frequency bands on the same cable raises the cable's bandwidth too(example: ADSL), at the cost of decreasing distance between relay stations. Same is true for optical cables.

As for line of sight communications, microwave radio links has been used since the 1950s, especially by telcos. So it's not an unknown territory.

Flares, wires (during Stalingrad in WW2, Russian communications soldiers didn't have radio, so they had to lead wires trough the battlefield, there is even a Call of Duty level about it), whistles, gestures.

Telegraph, telephone or telex wires deployed either by walking soliders from a backpack drum or by vehicle was a long staple of military field communications. Although I don't think better equipped military still have them.

[Shroom Man 777]

I wonder how communications using x-rays or gamma-radiation would work. X-rays wouldn't be LOS, they'd pass through walls!