I'm having a hard time finding a cost for buying optimized software. I believe that coding the optimization has an interval of a month and it's my understanding that once that's done you'll still be patching it every couple months (week interval there).

Out of curiosity, what was the net worth of those 11 drones and their (mobile?) launch facility?

They were Dobermans with Fichetti Security 600s, IIRC. The player started with them, and had them loaded into a van that they were using.

The assumption then is that every device is on a different frequency.
I do not think that this is a very good assumption.

I suppose each connection could be negotiated on a defined baseline frequency and then would set up on a slightly altered frequency to avoid signal interference. But that would require a single device to be able to broadcast simultaneously on [Subscription]# frequencies.

Wouldn't that be better handled by a Data request, and the automatic Mesh Networking protocols of the wifi matrix?

It is a mistake to even try to think about how smart jammers supposedly work.

Smart Jammers work by being smarter than the people that are trying to use the equipment that's being jammed.

I already explained how they work above.

You said they run on magic. And then there was a whole pedantic thing without a conclusion. Good times on Dumpshock, hehe.

They do run on magic. Technology so advanced it is like magic to us. In other words we just can't yet comprehend how it works, so no point arguing about how it works.

OK current day FAA etc use RADAR only as ground approach only. Long range is done by the airframe having a continuously active IFF transponder, that tells the FAA everything about the airframe, ie speed, altitude etc. Military Airframes can turn their IFF off and other nice tricks. I know this because in the days in the USN while my ship was tied to a pier in Long Beach Naval Ship Yard (LBNSY) my new RADAR/IFF system was jammed LAX. Took them two weeks to locate us.

Usage of High Powered RADAR in urban areas is a major No No, as when the "Sea Gull Cooker"'s interlock was defeated and it rotated at full power ie 1+ Megawatts, in Great Lakes, Ill. The resulting damage was extensive to say the least, the "Sea Gull Cooker" was removed after that.

Yes the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System(BMEWS) RADAR that can be used to track objects are space can do it, but look at the "Dead Zone" in front or around one.

One futuristic item lacking is LADAR units.

As for drones roaming around in Air Space, a simple IFF interrogation will determine what if anything is done to said drone. Usage of Gas Lift Drones gives the ability to "look down" into Air Space, most RADARs are not much bothered with by air pollution.

Typically a low to medium power RADAR would constantly scan the Air Space, any thing detected it is IFF interrogated. Any IFF issues cause the usage of focused High powered RADAR/LADAR units being used to gather more detailed target information.

And Yes SR4A ECM/EW are magic, due they can jam only using software not hardware like in Real Life. Yes I loved the SR3 rules for EW/ECM but that is what I did in the USN so I had a Leg Up on understanding the rules.

Smart EW/ECM of today can adjust very quickly to changing frequencies etc. Avoiding jamming friendly RADAR's requires some solid communications/networking between the jammer and the RADAR's.

For a flying drone one would need something like the Spoof Chip for vehicles to get around IFF interrogations.

Jesus, Karoline, that *exactly* what I said.

meh. all i can tell you is what the books say, and the books tell me that targeting sensors for ground vehicle weapons have signal 7 (and i somehow doubt they're talking about wireless communications range), and flight radar/dedicated ground surveillance radar have signal 8. presumably shadowrun radars also work by magic, since last i heard it doesn't rain cooked pigeons near airports in shadowrun.

I know

Interesting RAWnista, that is exactly what the RAW says. Signal=Wireless/RADAR/Etc

Nah, not quite. It means it negates a signal X. The amount it negates drops by 1 every 5m (Making alot less useful than I'd imagine a jammer should really be... stupid running on magic), so a signal 8 jammer only has a range of 40m, and is only really effective within the first couple dozen meters.

Agreed EW/ECM work by magic and reduce range by magic. But the rest of the devices use the RAW Signal Range.

Oh, missed that we were talking about sensors now. Yeah, sensors run on signal range. That makes the sensor have a range of 100km right? Of course what it doesn't tell you is what level of resolution we're talking about. Doesn't a flight radar have a 'there is a big blip of something' grade resolution?

http://www.sandia.gov/radar/rtv.html
http://www.sandia.gov/radar/lynx.html
http://www.f-111.net/CarloKopp/gps.htm
^^^
The above links have some decent images of 1 ft and finer resolution.

UnRAW the lower the frequency of the radio/radar the greater the range, lower the resolution, higher the frequency the shorter the range but greater resolution. Most search RADAR's only see a blip ie lower frequency but can provide important information ie speed, range, altitude etc.

Here's what Seattle 2072 says on the matter. Like always, it's up to a GM to decide what to use and what not to use, but if a player is getting too heavy on his drones and ruining other people's fun, then it's pretty obvious what needs doing.

Transcript follows:


Naturally this is talking about 4 srs planes, but drones show up on those scans just the same. Just the radar has less dice to find it, and considerably less dice for a microdrones.