Long Range, Low Technology Communication

Within these parameters, two basic types of systems are allowed: an alphabetical scheme in which each discrete signal refers to a Roman letter, or an logogramic scheme, in which each signal refers to an idea or short phrase.

The Team

	Andrew Worley - Receiver
	Chris Hom - Sender

The System

In lieu of an alphabet-based communication scheme, our team opted for a phrase-based system. We felt an alphabetic system would be too prone to interference and signal loss ("noise") given the conditions of the event.

The system itself involves the use of a 6 x 6 grid, with each collumn/row assigned a color. To designate a specific phrase, the Sender determines which two colors match it's coordinates (for example, "This Is My Boomstick" would be Green left, Blue right) and then holds aloft a pair of poles with the necessary colors attatched. The Receiver then observes the colors, and locates the appropriate phrase on the grid. The Reciever then holds a single bare pole aloft to indicate proper receipt of message.

		right hand
		yellow	red	blue	green	orange	pink
left hand
	yellow	Yes	No/Not	Maybe	I	You	We
	red	They	Are	And	Or	Some	All
	blue	If	Then	Food	Drink	Class	Booze
	green	I Love Scotch	Medic	This Is My Boomstick	Need	Want	KHAAAN!!!
	orange	Eat	Hot	Cold	Him	Her	It
	pink	Rock'n' Roll	Inter-webs	See	Hear	On	Under

In addition to the array of phrases designated by specific colors, a white pole indicates the start of a message, a black pole indicates the end of a message, and one of each indicates end of communications.

From the end of the Receiver, a single stationary pole indicates acknowledgement, while two waved poles indicates confusion.

The Results

the gear	pre-mission breifing	Chris says 'hot'	Andrew doesn't get it	Chris says 'drink'

copyright 2006 Andrew Worley