The Grid

The Grid is an interstellar communications network which links planetry computer networks, known as sub-grids, across Delta.

History

The Grid was initially formed as an interstellar extension of AtaNet, which was itself an extension of the Canthian WorldNet.

WorldNet

The WorldNet was originally created in GY-23-CA to link the small number of supercomputers that were being built across Canthia to assist in the reconstruction of the shattered planet. It was initially made up of wireless radio signals bounced from one small repeater station to another, augmented in some places by salvaged Arthian datapipes. The repeater stations were initially built in lines linking the computers, so that as few as possible were required. As resources became less scarce, and the number of computers increased, it soon became obvious that building new repeater stations whenever a new computer was constructed was not going to work in the long run. The Computer Science department at the recently established United University in Verja City was tasked with coming up with a solution.

After a year of research, a small team, lead by Professor Rjodnyrab, presented an extremely radical proposal to the Canthian High Council. They suggested that the surviving, Arthian underground datapipes should be added to, in order to create a planet spanning grid of cables. Their proposal called for a massive grid of 1 kilometre wide squares of data cable to be laid across the planets surface. At every crossing point a router would be placed. The idea was to create a network that could completely reroute a signal to avoid overused or damaged areas. The system would be almost impossible to completely destroy if attacked and could recover from losing 24 to 75% of it's infrastructure, depending on the actual nature and position of the damage. If a section of the network was severed from the rest it would be able to function on it's own. The system was also designed to be highly modular so that cables and routers could easily be repaired, replaced and upgraded.

To many people's surprise, including the team that proposed the idea, it was accepted by the council and, over the next five years, the 3 kilometre squared test network in Verja City was expanded to cover the entire planet, and named the WorldNet. The same system is still in use today on Canthia and most other Federation planets, although greatly upgraded and with the addition of data-hops(see below).

AtaNet

When Slast was repopulated and Slast City is rebuilt, a second WorldNet was built covering the moon's surface, and named SlastNet. SlastNet is completed and connected to WorldNet via Satellite in GY-150-CA. A ring of communication sattelites are placed in orbit around the planet and moon, a year later, designed to keep Atan and Canthia constant connection with each link backed up by at least 5 other satellites.

Over the next 150 years, colonies are established on several other moons, planets and asteroids throughout the Atan System, each with it's own network. To join them together a vast array of satellites are launched orbiting nearly every major heavenly body in the system. The network rivals the ground networks for robustness and, while slow, provide good quality connections to all the networks. It is named AtaNet.

Data-Gates

After the first successful application of the Wormhole Drive several major electronics research firms and university research teams begin a race to construct the first wormgate suitable for transferring data between networks. After two years of frantic research only two groups were left with potentially successful projects. The Slast R&D firm Acuon had developed a very low power pair of linked gates, which could be manufactured relatively cheaply and could safely reduce most distances by 77%. The Union University had built an incredibly complex wormhole hub system. Their system allowed two or more gates to be linked via a router that combine several wormholes into a singled multi-entranced star shape. The system allowed for extremely fast data transfer between many locations but was very expensive to set up.

The AtaNet Regulation Council decided to implement both ideas, setting up 5 of the wormhole hubs to connect the various networks spread around Atan and implementing the simpler system as datahops. Gate were added to one in every ten routers in each network, linking high use areas in order to improve speeds. The wormholes could be reconnected as traffic fluctuated .