Civilization101Blueprint

Signals

Telegraph and radio.

Computing Levels 4–5 2 steps written
4
Level 4 · Engine · 1 of 2 in this track

Telegraph

t4-telegraph Guide ×3Sheet

Telegraph

Make information travel faster than people.

Needs first: Acids (Materials), Machine tools and precision (Tools), Batteries: from the voltaic pile to the lead-acid cell (Energy)

Unlocks RadioCitizen services and the front counter · SocietyReserves and the price level · EconomyThe press, and who gets to speak · KnowledgeNetworks · Computing
5
Level 5 · Current · 2 of 2 in this track

Radio

Unlocks Electronics: amplification and switching · ComputingNetworks · ComputingModern ships and small craft · Transport

Everything in this track

Every guide, build, reference sheet and book reached from the steps above.

Field guides

Level 5
The electromagnetic spectrum

Radio, heat, light, ultraviolet and X-rays are one thing at different wavelengths: what each band does, and the radio bands by name.

 Level 6
Computer science

What can be computed and how fast, how signals carry information without error, how secrets are kept, and how machines learn from data: each result with what it lets you do and who first found it.

 Level 6
Electronics and computer hardware

From a relay to a stored-program computer: what makes a switch compute, diodes and transistors, logic, memory, the processor, and how chips are made, each with the numbers that decide it.

 Level 3
Physics

Force, energy, heat, light, electricity, relativity and the atom: the laws every engine, wire and lens obeys, each with what it lets you do and who first found it.

Reference sheets

Drawn overview sheets, each with its corrections printed under it. They orient; they are never the thing you identify from.

The principle and a worked example (an echo after 10 µs means 1.5 km), the four measurements (range, bearing, speed, size), how aircraft, drones, birds, rain, ships, vehicles, terrain and trees reflect, four kinds of radar, a Raspberry Pi build around a 24 or 10.5 GHz Doppler module, an example screen, uses, ways to improve range, and limits and safety.
Radar: what it detects, and a simple Doppler build On: The electromagnetic spectrum: Radio bands

Books and archives

Other tracks in Communication & Computing

Electronics and computing