Name: Photonic Particle Accelerometer (PPA), “Pepper” Description: A clunky handheld device equipped with projector-antennae, a screen to display readings, and dials and buttons as controls. When active, it emits a glowing cone of photonic hardlight particles from the end that tilts up and down. Abilities: -Measures disturbances within the area of the cone, allowing for the detection of invisible or intangible entities, such as phase matter beings and flux constructs, but also those disguised with cloaking technology. The measurements usually appear as a sine wave on the screen, though more sophisticated models are more radar-like. Conditional Abilities: -Can be used as a poor torch. -Can be used as a very poor cuilometer, measuring the change in disturbance between ECF levels. This is most useful for catching sudden spikes, but regardless provides no actual reading or numbers in any capacity beyond what the device can display. -By incorporating anomalous materials into the design, a PPA could potentially be upgraded to better read phase matter or anomalous disturbances. This has not been widely explored and will require individual research. Limitations: -Imprecise. The device isn't equipped to take detailed readings, with the most basic of models simply communicating that there is a disturbance, but not where. To gain more precise readings, two modes of adjustment are included in most models: the width of the field, and the height of the vertical tilting. -Unreliable. Disturbances are measured indiscriminately, and thus factors such as wind or physical beings can interfere with readings. To avoid this, a device can be calibrated to filter out the passive disturbances in an area. Calibration usually takes a few seconds but can take up to a minute if the device is of a particularly cheap or poor make. -Power needs. The device typically runs on polymer batteries, with each battery powering the device for one hour of continuous usage. Alternative models enable power to be supplemented with a hand crank addition, but this comes at the cost of requiring faux hardlight to be used instead of photonic hardlight, which necessitates a larger device that must be held in two hands instead of one. Conditional Limitations: -Psions do not read differently to non-psions unless they are strongly controlling anomalous flow, such as when inspiring flux. How does it work: The device works by projecting miniscule particles of hardlight inside of a gentle ZPEM field, powerful enough to hold them in a defined area, but without restricting their movement within. Any disturbances to the particles within the field are measured and output onto the screen, including those from strong manipulations of anomalous flow or slight interaction with phase matter. Flavour text: It's difficult to trace one true origin for this manner of device, it has seemingly been invented and re-invented by a variety of groups, such as military organisations, aspiring ghost hunters, and sometimes esoteric cabals dealing with forces from the beyond - real or imagined. Regardless of its source, the design has remained well-entrenched and popular over the decades of its existence, with little room for improvement available in the realm of Fringe tech. Referenced Technologies: https://lore.galactic-citizen.com/en/technology/materials/nanomaterials/hardlight https://lore.galactic-citizen.com/en/technology/power/zero_point_energy https://lore.galactic-citizen.com/en/technology/power/polymer Attainability: Open Tags: [Civilian] Category: Tools
