“MOB…Mobility Obstruction Barrier”

In this post, I want to examine a device and technique that nanotroopers use to exercise position and mobility control over moving objects, like enemy soldiers or prisoners. 

It’s called MOB.  And it is a part of the normal kit for any ANAD Detachment.  Every nanotrooper carries a MOB canister.  Let’s take a closer look at this essential piece of mission gear.

Physical Description:

A Mobility Obstruction Barrier is a dense swarm of specially configured nano-robotic elements designed to link into a tight, programmable, semi-autonomous mesh-like barrier.  MOB systems can be used to enclose almost any desired area or volume, from fractions of an inch to kilometers in diameter.  There are practical limits to how well extremely large MOB nets can be deployed and controlled.  But, as an example, in one of The Tales of the Quantum Corps, an effort is made to design a MOB net for an entire island, to quarantine one of the bad guys. 

MOB nets are stored and deployed from canisters.  Un-deployed, MOB is just a few bots hiding out in some kind of containment vessel inside the canister.  The canister contains the containment capsule and all communications elements needed to command and control the MOB bots.  It also contains a baseline amount of atom feedstock, so that when MOB is deployed, it has something to work with. 

The canister has controls on a small thumbpad at the top for initializing, priming and discharging the bots.  Configuration templates are preloaded and because the MOB master bot does not normally have a huge processor, it’s limited in how many different configs it can store.  Here’s one depiction of an individual MOB bot configured to link up with its brothers. 

Capabilities:

MOB systems have some unique capabilities.  As the name suggests, the primary purposes of MOB are to immobilize recalcitrant personnel and to enclose and/or protect specified areas and volumes. 

One of the more interesting capabilities of a MOB system comes from the nature of what it is...a big swarm of nanobots.  Like any ANAD-style nanobot, MOB bots can assume many different configurations, though (as mentioned), their processors don’t match that of a true combat-capable ANAD.  MOB nets are programmable, meaning they can be changed in config on the fly, while in use.  Their immobilizing effects are likewise programmable.  MOB systems can form any kind of barrier from a loose netting to a tightly constricting cocoon-like enclosure.  They can be programmed to literally squeeze the life out of a contained target, or to apply pressure in graded steps, depending on selected parameters…like how hard the target tries to escape.  In other words, the degree of immobilization can be programmed.

MOB systems are also semi-autonomous.  This means that once discharged, the MOB master bots can travel stealthily on propulsors with a small force of obstruction bots, reach its intended target, then replicate at maximum rate and envelope the target in a matter of a few minutes.  The MOB system can be designed to stun, or detain its target in a programmable fashion while the mesh is forming, even up to rendering the target unconscious (though this is rare and requires specially configured MOB masters). 

A special MOB configuration called Clampdown is used when absolute immobility or restraint is required.  When this configuration is selected, the MOB master executes the command and envelopes the target in a highly restrictive, tightly compressed mesh, making it difficult for the poor souls affected even to breathe.  The Clampdown can actually kill if the pressure isn’t reduced after a period of time.

Tactical Employment:

All nanotroopers carry MOB canisters and all are trained in the use, deployment and release of MOB nets in tactical situations. 

A typical use of MOB systems would be to restrain and immobilize enemy combatants who have either been defeated in battle and surrendered or who cannot be assaulted in any other way.  The stealthy and autonomous nature of MOB allows it to be used for surprise effect, even for deception operations, to distract an enemy force from the main line of engagement.

MOB systems are sometimes used against enemy bot swarms, but remember that MOB bots normally have limited processor, limited maneuvering, and very limited effector complements.  Thus they are typically used to engage non-nanobotic targets, like human beings, dangerous animals, runaway vehicles, etc, that can’t fight back at the atomic level.  Using a MOB system to try and engage a fully-capable ANAD combat nanobot is like trying to stop a charging tiger with a spoon.  It doesn’t work. 

One tactic that Quantum Corps has developed is the ability to gang multiple MOB discharges into one larger restraining mesh.  This takes some preliminary programming, for one MOB swarm to accept and interlink with another, but it can be done.  Gang MOB can be used to secure especially large targets, or enclose larger than normal areas or volumes. 

Because MOB systems are barebones yet semi-autonomous ANAD swarms, they can also be configured and programmed to discharge at a set time interval, even multiple time intervals.  Let’s say you’re a commander of an ANAD platoon.  You suspect a house you’re reconnoitering contains some very bad people but you don’t have time or manpower to stake out the place and catch any baddies trying to escape.  Deploy one of more MOB masters into position and program them to deploy on sensing a human-size mass and heat load.  When the baddies open the door and try to escape, or even leave quietly, blam!  MOB drops on top of them and they’re caught.  In this case, MOB was deployed, but replication and containment were set to execute on a given sensor input(s).

Neat, huh?  Your own autonomous, semi-intelligent jail cell.  And it fits inside a canister too.

The next blog post for QC Times will come on August 1, 2016.  This post will cover another piece of mission gear that nanotroopers always carry…camou-fog….programmable swarms that scoop and manipulate photons in such a way as to make you and your buddies invisible or at least blend you into the background.

See you in August.

Phil B.

“How Do You Build an ANAD?”

For this month, we’re going to look at the details of actually building and initializing an Autonomous Nanoscale Assembler/Disassembler or ANAD system.  For ease of explanation, I’ve put this process in a list of steps, each of which I’ll expand on.  It’s also appropriate to recall here that among other things, ANAD is a weapon system, designed to combat really small enemies.

Here’s the list:

Phase I  Construction

1.  The Core

            a.  Main memory – multiple zettabytes of storage for data and instructions

b.  Working memory – RAM memory for all the many operations that ANAD has to perform

c.  Buffers – software in memory that couples ANAD’s processor with the brain of the nanotrooper.  All sensory inputs from ANAD have to be buffered before a human brain can make sense of them

d.  Config translator – software that takes trooper commands for ANAD to assume a specific configuration and translates them into ANAD-compatible instructions…i.e., move this effector ten degrees and rotate twenty degrees, etc

e.  Quantum processor – the CPU; a quantum computer with extremely fast execution speed; able to use qubits to execute multiple instructions in parallel like the human brain. Provides ANAD 1.0 with approximate cognitive capacity of a five-year old.

2.  Main Platform and Actuator Mast – the structural foundation of the ANAD system with a narrow column or mast to which most actuators and effectors are joined, with articulating multiple degree of freedom axes.

3.  Power Cells (picowatt) – ANAD power cells are powered by nuclear fission of long-lived radionuclide elements, essentially a radioisotope thermoelectric generator.  Power output is in picowatts (trillionths of a watt).  

4.  Propulsors

a.  Normal (flagellar screws) – whiplike propellers for maneuvering ANAD in confined spaces, where precision is required.  Similar to bacterial flagella.

            b.  Quantum wave – ANAD has the capability to propel itself even if it has lost its entire actuator mast and all normal propulsors.  This can occur during a ‘quantum collapse’ maneuver, where ANAD sloughs everything but its core.  Quantum wave propulsion makes use of extremely rapid entanglement state changes, which heat the surrounding medium, generating a propulsive wave, like a surfer, on which ANAD can travel for short distances.  Often used as an escape maneuver.

5.  Sensors and Actuators (generally self explanatory)

            a.  Pyridine probes

            b.  Carbene grabbers

            c.  Enzymatic knife

            d.  Hydrogen abstractors

            e.  Bond disrupters

            f.  Fullerene grapples

            g.  Ribosomal systems

            h.  Photon lens

6.  Connection and Bonding – all elements have to work together, sensing target atoms and molecules and communicating what they sense to the core.

Phase II:  Animation – this phase involves powering up, energizing and initializing an ANAD system in a systematic manner.

1.  Lay-in triggers – triggers are the starting points, literally effector starting coordinates, for replication and all configuration changes

2.  Seed growth medium – ANAD requires some kind of feedstock in order to replicate.  Config changes don’t need this, but any replication cycle requires the config translator to be ‘primed’ to sense and accept a variety of feedstock atoms.  This is done by exposing the config engine to the types of atoms it is likely to encounter.

3.  Base replication  - these steps are followed to ensure that ANAD can perform a basic replication cycle, i.e., ANAD can copy and reproduce itself accurately. All facets of the rep cycle are exercised and ANAD’s response is analyzed at each step.

            a.  Transmission

            b.  Reception

            c.  Execution

            d.  Examine memory

4.  Learn-in comm centers  - this involves activating and testing each communication channel that ANAD uses…, bandwidth constraints, test messages, etc. 

            a.  Acoustic

            b.  EM

            c.  ELF

            d.  Quantum coupler

            e.  Voice synthesis and response

5.  Activate sensor algorithms and substrates – involves priming all sensor channels with test data and examining and analyzing ANAD’s response.  Because ANAD has quantum capabilities, it has sensors which can perform a lot of analysis on sensor data before it ever gets to the CPU.

6.  Basic operations – this is the process of exercising and testing ANAD in a variety of simple operations

            a.  Launch and recovery in containment

            b.  Disassembly of simple structures

            c.  Assembly of simple structures

            d.  3-axis (non-swarm) config changes

            e.  Elementary swarm operations

            f.  Controlled replication

            g.  Combat replication

Phase III: Unit Readiness

1.  Load tactical config templates and verify – tests ANAD’s ability to accept and execute tactically relevant configurations needed to perform its many missions.

2.  Combat swarm operations – demonstrates ANAD’s ability to replicate a swarm of like assemblers of any given size in a tactically useful timeframe and conduct single swarm maneuvers

3.  Demonstrate small-unit tactics – here ANAD operates as a swarm with a human unit and coordinates and synchronizes operations with human nanotoopers.

4.  Program and control systems integration/verification – verifies that ANAD master bot and replicant swarms can be effectively controlled and responds properly to control inputs.

5.  Response checks – tests and validates ANAD’s response to all tactical commands in a warfighting environment, with jamming, environmental stresses, etc.

6.  Exercise all inhibits and constraint checks – final check on all fail-safe, fail-operational and redundancy systems.  Ensures ANAD responds to all overrides and safety commands.

7.  Verify all final configs – re-loads and verifies accuracy and executability of mission configurations needed for anticipated tactical scenarios, conflicts and adversaries.

8.  READY!  Now you know how to build, setup and test an Autonomous Nanoscale Assembler/Disassembler. 

Hopefully, the end result looks something like this…

In the next post to Quantum Corps Times, we’ll learn more about how Mobility Obstruction Barrier (MOB) systems work and just what you can do with them.

See you on July 1.

Phil B.

“HERF”

In my December 2014 post to Quantum Corps Times, I made this statement about Quantum Corps weapons:

All Detachments carry High-Energy Radio Frequency weapons which are particularly effective against enemy swarms.  Known as HERF, these radio frequency weapons degrade, disperse and destroy enemy swarms by slamming the bot clouds with waves of rf energy.  Although it has often been said that the best defense against a swarm is another swarm, HERF can make quick work of enemy swarms by punching holes in their formations.  HERF guns come in a variety of sizes, are battery or power cell operated and thus must be re-charged.  They are operated by the DPS ratings in the Detachment (Defense and Protective Systems specialists).

 

HERF sounds like someone’s name but it’s a critical piece of mission gear for nanotroopers.  Let’s look more closely at this weapon.

Parts and Components

1. Generator/capacitor bank – HERF weapons have to generate waveforms and inject a lot of energy into these waveforms.  The output of a HERF device is radio-frequency waves, with a lot of power behind them.
2. Converter-coupler – the converter takes the raw output of the generator and changes it into proper waveforms for coupling onto target.  HERF weapons are somewhat selectable in their effects (more on this later).  Coupling onto the target means the waveform and effect selected is designed to achieve what you want to achieve…usually shattering a formation of nanobots into French fries.
3. Beam Focuser-Collimator – any pulse of EM radiation needs to be focused, so as to put maximum energy on the target.  Moreover, environmental effects can attenuate that energy.  The BFC does what its name suggests…shapes the waveform into a fist that can punch through any environment and deliver a knockout blow.
4. Sighting Scopes – HERF weapons are often used against swarms.  How do you sight on a swarm of nanobot elements…things you can’t see?  You sight for the effects such bots have on their surroundings: thermal effects, acoustic effects, electromagnetic effects, evidence of a hell of lot of atomic bond breaking.  Swarms grab atoms to maintain structure.  The Sighting System looks for these effects.  The atomgrabber with a HERF carbine can select any of these modes for sighting. 
5. Trigger assembly – this is payoff part.  The trigger assembly discharges the waveform, with maximum power behind it, properly targeted on the objective.  The beam focuser works with the trigger assembly to generate wide-area (spray) effects, narrow-field effects, and anything in between.  And like Star Trek phasers, you can set the thing on stun.
6. Power cell – the HERF power cell is a small turbine that works off infinitesimal chunks of periodic-table elements like americium…in other words, through decay of radioisotope material and the heat given off from that decay.  The generator-capacitor has thermocouples that take this heat and concentrates it for burst mode and to make sure the power cell can deliver the punch needed to generate and let fly rf waves to shatter nanobot swarms. 
7. Sensor mast – every HERF weapon has a sensor mast for detecting and homing on the bad guys and also alerting and providing caution and warning indications to the trooper about weapon status and the environment around it.  The sensor mast looks for acoustic, thermal and EM effects that show nanobotic activity is near.  It also operates as a guidance system to home the weapon to achieve maximum effect on the target, according to the effects mode selected by the trooper.
    
   Basic Operation

1. Auto beam – automatic discharge with selected effects and intensity; normal mode of operation; can be triggered by sensor indications
2. Single pulse – single discharge, again selectable
3. Multi pulse – multiple discharges, up to 20 sequential bursts in any selectable effect or intensity
4. Stun field / active denial – waveforms shaped for non-lethal discharge, selectable up to “render unconscious”.  Available in auto, single or multiple burst.
5. Heat effects / thermoblast – waveform and power selected for primarily heat or thermal coupling onto target.  Enough energy deposited to create catastrophic damage
6. Visual burst / starburst – waveform selected to damage optics, or blind human targets.  Extremely bright burst mode, selectable in intensity, up to “permanent damage to visual field,” or “optical burnout.”
    
   Limitations

1. Blooming – plasma breakdown in atmosphere can cause HERF wavefront to de-focus and disperse energy into the atmosphere.
2. Beam dispersal due to evaporated material at the target – creates an ablation cloud.  Measures to defeat include inducing a shock wave to create shock effects in the target and oscillating the wave frequency to work against the ablation cloud.
3. Absorption – atmospheric effects can attenuate beam energy and power
4. Lack of Indirect Fire – HERF is mainly line of sight, so targets not in the line of sight are difficult to hit or effect.
5. Countermeasures (coatings, active dispersal, etc) – Coatings and active dispersal techniques can blunt or attenuate wavefront effects.
6. It’s an area weapon – HERF is best used against a target that spans an area of square meters or larger, i.e., large swarms.  Not particularly useful for precision fire or effects. 
    
    
   Tactics

1. Anti-swarm measures (frontal vs envelopment vs barrage assault) – HERF tactics can be employed in a variety of assault configurations.  These include frontal (slam ‘em head-on), envelopment (a flanking maneuver coming from either or both sides) and barrage (throw everything at a swarm, cease fire, then do it again…shock frequency can make it difficult for a swarm to reconstitute).
2. Can be used like artillery to prepare the battlefield – HERF barrages can be used to ‘carpet-bomb’ a battlefield ahead of an operation, to sanitize the zone of any swarms that may be lurking or masquerading as other structures
3. Delayed burst – tactical situations sometimes require this to draw out swarms hiding or masquerading or in concealed locations.  Delay time is selectable, usually up to several days.
4. Reflection versus direct shots – HERF is a line of sight weapon but with reflecting shields, can be made to turn corners and smash targets not in LOS.  The reflectors have to be installed or emplaced ahead of time, possibly only moments ahead.
5. Diversions, feints and concealments – HERF can be used to feint an attack along one vector, to draw an enemy out, then turned to concentrate fire in another direction.  HERF can be used as part of a diversionary attack, to draw swarms away from the real axis of attack, though this is rare.
    
   These are just some of the details regarding High Energy Radio Frequency weapons. No nanotrooper squad would ever go into action without these weapons.  They are an essential piece of equipment for surviving and winning on the new battlefield of atoms and molecules and nanobotic swarms. 
    
   The next post, on June 1, will cover what it takes to build or regenerate an ANAD system.
    
   See you in June.   PB