Communication Unit

The communication unit (or comm. unit for short) is an advanced communication system. The 22XX variant is a very small device, about the size of a nickel and is typically implanted in the helmet/head of the reploid. It uses the reploid's own power system and has a fairly high drain of power given it's size.

The comm. unit was based off the original human cellular phone technology from the early 21st century. Initially the unit operated on the same sort of frequencies that the cellphones did, however this proved to have several problems. (See Limitations.) These were all huge concerns for those in need of this technology. As a result saw only limited usage until Thomas Light created a method for stronger shielding the frequencies. (Though this shielding was still not perfect…)

The old comm. units had significant limits… Most notably:

1. Their range was limited to within a mobile phone tower (roughly 5-10 kilometers).
2. They were susceptible to jamming by enemies by flooding the frequency.
3. The further from a tower they were, the larger the energy usage.
4. The further from a tower, the worse the signal got (and the worse the quality was.)
5. These frequencies could be very easily tapped into by knowledgeable people.
6. And the further the caller was from the callee, the more time there was between getting the message.

Since the technology was introduced in early 20XX, there had been plenty of time to advance the technology. But unfortunately due to the mass use of cellphones, the range of frequencies that can carry signals was highly limited. This mean there was little room to actually advance the technology. The radio frequencies that were conventionally used for communication were mostly consumed. (Even ended up requiring the frequencies used by TV stations to broadcast TV over the airwaves ended up getting repurposed.)

The largest breakthrough came many years later with the creation of reploids and the first maverick outbreaks. Maverick hunters needed a new method to talk, gather info and communicate over long distances at high speeds without delay in communication or signal breakdown. The old comm. units were insufficient at best. So they began to look into new methods. Eventually they settled on creating a proprietary satellite system that transmitted on the extremely high micro-wave to infrared length (often called Terahertz). They repurposed dozens of formerly decommissioned satellites that were still floating in space and pressed them into service broadcasting the new frequencies. Most of these frequencies were reserved for Hunter use though some got allocated for secure government lines. Generally, civilians do not use the new frequencies and so Hunter communications are undisturbed even when civilian communication systems are brought down due to high traffic (like in times of emergency).

They also adapted old walkie-talkie technology to allow short range communication between squad members (either whole squad at a time or individual members). (A feature not present in earlier comm units.) Though in the new advancement they made changes to the system to allow multiple to talk at once without blocking the whole line. They accomplished this by having each communication device connect to each other (much like a router) to allow simultaneous sending and receiving. (Rather than a walkie-talkies 1 channel send/receive method.) Though the range for this type of communication is limited to about 2 kilometers.

With the new advancements, it makes it that much more difficult for mavericks to tap into Hunter communications or even jam them. (It is still possible, but it takes a tremendous amount of power and when attempted it becomes extremely visible to Hunter HQ's detection.) Though even if they managed to jam the communication to the Hunter base, to jam the communication between each other is that much tougher still (without knowing what frequencies the hunters are using) because the short range system can draw on any open frequency from radio wave to infrared and hunters can change them on the fly.