Examples of SW sensor superiority?

[GeneralPlankton]

Hey guys,

I'm having a discussion with some Trekkies on a message board, and one of them said thatST sensor tech is superior to that of SW. He even used some examples from one of the episodes about scanning over a light year away, and sector scanning with a ten LY radius. Now, I'm aware from the show that their sensors seem to have trouble scanning stuff in subspace (lots of quotes provided from the canon database on Mike's site), but I am wondering what are very good examples in the SW universe that trumps this? Anything specific from the novels? I'll assume that SW sensors are more advanced, being a galactic civilisation where the tech has been around for tens of thousands of years.

[the atom]

If you're going into the situation looking for a desired result then you're doing it all wrong.

[Mask-999]

Well to be honest, most of the Star Wars books I read tend not to focus on sensors, but rather how big your gun is compared to the other guy's gun (not that it's a bad thing) but they do go into much less detail regarding sensors.

[Prometheus Unbound]

Depends on what type of sensors you're talking about and what makes them better? Range? Spectrum of stuff they can see? Power consumption? How detailed can they see stuff? What can block them?


10 / 20 light years is about the most they can do for an "instant" scan - but they won't be able to pick out individual atoms at that range, I don't think.

In orbit they can pick up a little bit of platinum on an entire planet (Angel One, TNG)

In a Voyager episode they've scanned DNA molecules and found a bar code encoded on an atom before and could zoom in and read it (can't remember what stupid episode that was).

Transporters can scan stuff on the quantum level.

Oh, no doubt, on page 89 of some book something means Star Wars is better in every way :p but Trek sensors are hardly "bad".

[Batman]

I'd say Trek actually has a considerable edge in the short range 'let's look at what you're made of' department. Even tricorders, nevermind ship sensors can give you an incredibly detailed analysis on pretty much anything (except when the plot says they can't of course). Leia and Chewie were able to fool Imperial lifesign sensors by hiding next to a bakery in DFR.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Tricorders can even tell you what a species DNA looks like from a short scan (witness Insurrection when Crusher realises the Terrible Truth (TM) about the Son'a).

[Boeing 757]

Trek may have an advantage in the sensor ranges of their ships. In "Scorprion" Voyager scanned and found a planet suitable for life 40 lightyears away--without delay. To my knowledge I have never heard of a Wars ship being able to scan for a distance of more than several lighthours, as per the ROTS ICS. Though as far as greatest shown range is concerned, SW trumps in that field with the Ex-Gal-4 detecting an asteroid entering the SW Galaxy, over a distance of several thousand lightyears--in real time IIRC.

[Sinon]

Tricorders can even tell you what a species DNA looks like from a short scan (witness Insurrection when Crusher realises the Terrible Truth (TM) about the Son'a).

Are you sure that is what is happening? The Tricorder could just be giving a probability based on Body Composition and Organ Placement.



As for the maximum range of a Star Treks Sensors 5% of 1 lightyear for a “instant scan”. (If I remember correctly it has been awhile since I did the math)

[Baffalo]

Trek may have an advantage in the sensor ranges of their ships. In "Scorprion" Voyager scanned and found a planet suitable for life 40 lightyears away--without delay. To my knowledge I have never heard of a Wars ship being able to scan for a distance of more than several lighthours, as per the ROTS ICS. Though as far as greatest shown range is concerned, SW trumps in that field with the Ex-Gal-4 detecting an asteroid entering the SW Galaxy, over a distance of several thousand lightyears--in real time IIRC.

Wasn't the Ex-Gal-4 an extremely dedicated sensor array through? It wasn't moving, it was sitting calmly on a planet focused towards the edge of the galaxy. Not saying that's a bad thing, just that they might have trouble with broader scans than Trek, but that's just me.

I'm having trouble finding it but wasn't there an extremely long-range sensor array the Cardassians deployed? I'm curious about it given that it was used for intelligence gathering and whatnot. IIRC it had a vastly superior range even for the Federation.

Oh and of course, I almost forgot the Crystal Gravfield Trap which can detect the subtle changes in gravity caused by ships. Sure, the Federation can probably scan for gravitational (and temporal and quantum and bio-organic-quantum-gravi-electro-magneticized-techno-nano-atomic) distortion from 15 lightyears without trying too hard, but still I think it deserves a mention.

And yes, I totally made up that long word. Maybe I can get hired on to do a remake of Voyager!

[Eternal_Freedom]

Tricorders can even tell you what a species DNA looks like from a short scan (witness Insurrection when Crusher realises the Terrible Truth (TM) about the Son'a).

Are you sure that is what is happening? The Tricorder could just be giving a probability based on Body Composition and Organ Placement.

Crusher explicitly says to Picard when showing him the scan:
CRUSHER: "Captain, take a look at this med-scan. His DNa profile."
PICARD: "How can that be possible?"

Emphasis mine.

[Baffalo]

Crusher explicitly says to Picard when showing him the scan:
CRUSHER: "Captain, take a look at this med-scan. His DNa profile."
PICARD: "How can that be possible?"

Emphasis mine.

I'm not disputing your quote, Eternal Freedom, I'm just going to point to a few things in the show I found during my investigation.

In DS9: The Passenger, Julian Bashir states "Ah, yes, well... tricorders, very accurate with living people, not so accurate with dead ones. We learned that in first year medical school." So either the So'na was merely unconscious, or Dr. Crusher forgot that the tricorder isn't very accurate against dead tissue.

Now, even if you discount DS9 due to different writers, within TNG itself, it is stated in TNG: Genesis and TNG: All Good Things... that the medical tricorder is no substitute for specialized equipment found in sickbay. Sure, there might have been advancements in the tricorders since then, but if the tricorder can do detailed genetic scans and study the body, then there should be no need for advanced, specialized equipment within sickbay.