On Fri, 15 Nov 2002 03:01:24 -0500, Benjamin Goldberg
<goldbb2@earthlink.net> wrote:

I was afraid it might not be clear. What I meant was that he had
gotten into their tactical communications network. Their
communications system. Which no doubt would be encrypted not only
electronically, but probably on a loop of frequecies set up in some
fiendish pattern that could only come from the mind of a Romanova. =)

The Jet probably got an earful of it during the battle and it's had
plenty of time to analyze the pattern and crack it (and you know it'd
have it or acess to equipment that could, it would be foolish not to). 

This assumes that such equipment exists or even *could* exist.

To re-assemble a signal that's scattered over multiple frequencies, I
can imagine being possible (though that may be only because I know
*nothing* about that field of science).  But I have a fair knowledge of
crypto, and I can say quite fairly that decrypting that assembled signal
would be quite beyond his, or anyone's, capabilities.

Speaking as someone who has worked with frequency-hopping radio
communications systems at various points in his career (in this case,
wireless data networks), I can say that this is a lot MORE difficult
than it sounds, not easier.

There are essentially two reasons frequency-hopping radio systems are
used.  First, they are largely interference-immune, much more so than
direct-sequence equipment, though they have less bandwidth in the same
frequency range than DS.  The second is security.

It's not as easy to break into a frequency-hopping system as simply
searching for the pattern of frequency changes.  There is a random
element involved that if you don't know intimately the equipment that
is being used in the frequency-hopping network, you're NOT going to
get into it.  For most frequency-hopping systems (at least, the ones
I've worked with, which were entirely civilian in application... I
would assume the military-grade equipment used by the Knight Sabers
would be MORE secure!), the number of possible combinations that can
be used to generate the frequency-hopping pattern is staggering.  If
you had days on end of continuous monitoring of their communications,
I *might* believe that would provide enough data to determine their
hopping pattern.  In all likelihood, you would need months to years.

When you consider that the Knight Sabers probably CHANGE their
frequency-hopping pattern on a regular basis (every mission, I would
say), it goes from incredibly unlikely to simply impossible.

I'll also add this:  It's Nene Romanova's JOB with the Knight Sabers
to *prevent* someone from getting into their communications.  Their
lives are completely dependent on this.  I can't speak for BGC2040's
Nene, because I absolutely loathe BGC2040, but if she's even half as
competent as her OAV counterpart, NOBODY is getting into the Knight
Sabers' tactical net this easily.  Not Sparks, not GENOM, not anybody.
Not at anything near the same tech level, anyway.

Then the suit's com system simply had to catch up to the saber's
com system.  Any suggestions on how to make it clearer?

Say that Sparks is using his McGuffin device to do the decryption, and
it will be a bit clearer to your readers that you acknowledge that he's
doing the impossible for the sake of advancing the plot.

I have to agree here.  I understand the need for plot devices
sometimes in writing... and I've *used* this plot device before... but
that was BEFORE I started working with RF on a daily basis and learned
better.  I'm not going to tell you how to write your story, because
that's your place... but if you want this to be realistic, you're
going to need to find a new plot device.

I hope this didn't come off as harsh, because I didn't mean it to be.

Stormwalker

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