A sensor was a generic term for any device that scanned, recorded or otherwise observed bodies around it, be it people, stellar bodies or other starships. Sensors were operated by the sciences division aboard starships, and were used to detect details that were not readily visible or otherwise not made apparent by other measuring instruments. They varied in size from hand-held to starbase-sized arrays.
Older starships had monitor rooms where operators sifted through sensor data for information required by the command staff, in cooperation with the library computer's automation. (TOSS #36 "Manual Operation")
By the 24th century sensor automation was sophisticated enough to perform a planetary survey from a runabout with one human operator. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Sensors were usually installed on starships in pallets. (RIS Bouteina: "The Departure")
Astrometrics labs were usually built in areas where easy access to long-range sensors was needed. (VOY: "Revulsion", "Message in a Bottle", "Endgame", "Year of Hell" et al.)
Types of sensors[]
- Subspace highway detector
- Tricorder
External links[]
- Sensor article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.
- Sensor article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.