The ship U.S.S. Voyager : Computers, page 1

The main computer core, which runs through decks 10, 11 and 12, forms the heart of Voyager's computer system. There is an auxiliary computer core which runs through decks 6 and 7.

Location diagram (excerpt from the bridge's master situation display) (pop-up window, 81Kb).

Each computer core incorporates a series of miniature subspace field generators which creates a symmetrical (non-propulsive) field distortion of at least 3,350 millicochranes within the FTL (faster-than-light) core elements, and this permits the transmission and processing of optical data within the core at rates far exceeding light-speed. Core elements are based on FTL nanoprocessor units arranged into optical transtator clusters of 1,024 segments. In turn, clusters are grouped into processing modules composed of 256 clusters controlled by a bank of 16 isolinear chips. Each core comprises seven primary and three upper levels, each level containing an average of four modules. The cores are tied into the ship's optical data network (ODN) by means of a series of MJLs (micron junction links) which bridge the subspace boundary layer. There is an extensive network of quadritronic optical subprocessors distributed throughout the ship which augments the computer cores in that they improve system response time by distributing system load and provide a measure of redundancy in the event of major system failure. Within the habitable area of Voyager, they are usually located near main corridor junctions to allow easy maintenance and repair access. These subprocessors do not employ FTL (faster-than-light) elements. Each subprocessor is linked into the optical data network and most also have a dedicated optical link to the main computer core. It is very likely these subprocessors that Voyager relies on whilst having to conserve power in the Void [#161 The Void]. Almost every control panel and terminal on Voyager is linked to a subprocessor or directly into the ODN. Each active panel is continually polled by LCARS at regular intervals so that the local subprocessor and/or the main computer core is informed of all keyboard or verbal inputs. Each polling enquiry is followed by a short compressed datastream which provides panel update information and includes any requested visual or audio information for panel output.
[#6 The Cloud]

The computer core is mentioned by Torres to Crewman Jonas in [#36 Investigations]: "Mike, we're going into the computer core to look over the magnetic constrictor circuitry."

The main computer processor's specifications are as follows: Simultaneous access to 47 million data channels, transluminal processing, i.e. FTL-speed (faster than light), at 575 trillion calculations per nanosecond, and operational temperature margins from 10 degrees Kelvin to 1790 degrees Kelvin. Processing is vastly speeded up by the use of bio-neural gel packs, a feature which was first introduced to Starfleet's Intrepid-class ships. The ship's database is capable of receiving 20 billion gigaquads of information downloaded into it (by an alien entity in [Twisted]), and therefore the total capacity of the ship's database, logically, is far greater than that. The main computer processor as installed by Tau on his planet. [#79 Concerning Flight]

[#79 Concerning Flight] On Stardate 51386 an alien called Tau stole it and other items from Voyager, using a high-energy transport beam designed to locate and remove objects of technological value. An alien informed Chakotay that Tau had stolen the device and it had made Tau a rich man. Janeway, aided by the holocharacter Leonardo da Vinci, located the stolen computer processor and it was beamed back to Voyager. Part or all of a computer processor was lost or stolen in late 2374 during Voyager's encounter after the Kyrian terrorist leader Tedran transported onto the ship with a small boarding party. It appears on display in the Museum of Kyrian Heritage some 700 years later - picture.

The Detailed Interior Ship's Tour contains pictures and descriptions of LCARS control interfaces e.g. the tactical/security station, the ops station.

The computer functions utilise bioneural circuitry, an advanced system featured first on Intrepid-class ships. This advanced computer technology uses synthetic neural cells for data processing. Bioneural circuitry can organise and process complex information faster and more efficiently than traditional optical processors, and bioneural gel-packs, components of the bio-neural circuitry, supplement Voyager's ODN (optical data network). Lt. Stadi tells Tom Paris in [#1 and #2 Caretaker]: "The gel packs on Voyager contain bioneural cells that organise information more efficiently and speed up response time." Because Voyager (and other Intrepid-class starships) has bio-neural fibres in its systems, their discovery in the remains of a console on board a damaged Kazon-Nistrim ship provided proof that someone on Voyager had secretly given Starfleet technology to the Kazon [#11 State of Flux], as Torres explains: "The pattern buffer relays are clearly composed of bioneural fibres. No other Federation ship would have them. Somebody on board Voyager gave them what they needed."

[#16 Learning Curve] Click for a described drawing of a bio-neural gel-pack. Full-size 111Kb.

A bio-neural gel-pack, a component of the bio-neural circuitry, consists of a flexible, liquid-tight package containing synthetic neural cells in an gelatinous organic medium. The gel-packs are designed for convenient management of bio-neural circuitry, and can be easily swapped out as needed. Voyager initially carried 47 replacement gel packs in its inventory. Bio-neural processors are, however, vulnerable to viral and other infections, which can adversely affect system performance. A virus infected the bio-neural gel packs aboard the Voyager in 2371, on stardate 48846, and threatened to cause a major systems malfunction but it was successfully eradicated by heating the ship's systems, in the same way that a biological organism might run a fever to fight an infection [#16 Learning Curve]. In 2373, about 2 to 3 days before stardate 50425.1, a macrovirus infected a bio-neural gel-pack in the messhall's replicator system (specifically, the gel-pack located in the starboard replicator), with the macrovirus having reached the replicator system from the transporter system [#54 Macrocosm]. That infection was successfully treated by a synthetic antigen which the Doctor developed.

Part of the Jefferies tube system. On the left, just out of picture, low-level doors to the left lead to the crawlway that accesses bio-neural gel-pack sequence 6-theta-9 [#93 One]

bio-neural gel-pack sequence 6-theta-9....

....and the part of the crawlway giving access to them.

isolinear chips Picture: Encyclopaedia

Data is kept on small isolinear optical chips, usually just called "isolinear chips". These nanotech devices represent a number of significant advances over earlier systems including crystal memory cards and duotronic elements. (Duotronics was a revolutionary computer technology invented by Dr. Richard Daystrom in 2243 which became the basis of the computers used aboard all Federation starships for over 80 years [TOS: The Ultimate Computer], [DS9: Trials and Tribble-ations]. The Daystrom Institute was named after him, and Kim jokes that Lt. Reginald Barclay of Project Pathfinder will receive the Daystrom Prize in [#166 Author, Author].) Duotronic enhancers were finally replaced by isolinear optical chips in 2329 [TNG: Relics].

isolinear chips Picture: 'DS9' episode [One Little Ship]

The isolinear chips make use of single-axis optical crystal layering to achieve subwavelength switching distances. Nanopulse matrix techniques yield a total memory capacity of 2.15 kiloquads per chip in standard holographic format.

[#10 Prime Factors] In [#10 Prime Factors], certain crewmembers downloaded the ship's entire database of stories onto these isolinear datachips which were kept all together in a small case.

Like earlier crystal memory devices, isolinear chips optimise memory access by employing onboard nanoprocessors. In these new devices, however, higher processing speeds permit individual chips to manage data configuration independent of LCARS control, thus reducing system access time by up to several per cent. Additionally, the chip substrate is infused with trace quantities of superconductive platinum/irridium, which permits FTL (faster-than-light) optical data transmission when energised by the core's subspace flux. This results in a dramatic per centage increase in processing speed when used in one of the main computer cores. lsolinear chips can be ruggedised with the application of a protective tripolymer sealant over the refractive interface surface. This allows the chip to be handled without protective gloves. When so treated, isolinear chips are used as a convenient form of information transport. Many portable data-handling devices such as tricorders, PADDs, and optical chip readers can read and write to standard format isolinear chips.

In 2377, stardate 54732, in [#166 Author, Author], Voyager's crew draw sequentially numbered isolinear chips from Neelix's hat in order to determine the order in which they will take the daily live com. time with Earth to talk to their relatives and friends. In the screenshot Kim returns Seven's isolinear chip to her after she offers it to him to resume an interrupted contact with his parents, as he says she should contact her family.

Among the many databases stored within the computer systems of Federation facilities and starships including of course USS Voyager, there is the cultural database which contains information pertaining to the rites and customs of all civilisations known to the Federation [Season 3: Sacred Ground].

The Doctor has access to Starfleet Medical's database. It would seem that the crew has general access to at least certain parts of the latter database as evidenced by Seven looking it up and making a wrong self-diagnosis. Sections of specialist knowledge from the database can be downloaded into a hologram in order to render an interactive database, as when the knowledge of the Cardassian Dr Crell Moset was downloaded in 2375 in [#102 Nothing Human].

The computer systems incorporate non-Federation databases as well. While assisting Seven research Janeway's ancestor Shannon O'Donnel in [#117 11:59], Neelix instructs the computer to expand the search to include "non-Federation databases, personal archives and photographic indexes", and discovers a picture of an elderly Shannon in a Ferengi database. The computer's Vulcan audio file includes "selection 56 alpha" which comprises what the Doctor and Neelix consider to be a "dreadful" noise but it is one of Tuvok's favourites, namely the chants of the monks of T'Panit, and it is Tuvok's hearing this particular soundfile which brings him out of a coma, in [#126 Riddles].

Voyager crewmembers possess personal databases to which general public access is restricted, and these personal databases presumably include personal logs. Neelix's database includes old Talaxian folklore, and he employs it to learn about the ancient Vaadwaur in [#127 Dragon's Teeth]. In [#102 Nothing Human], Paris jokingly threatens to send an embarrassing picture of Torres to everyone's personal database. Neelix secretly accesses Tom Paris' personal logs, in [#162 and #163 Workforce], in order that B'Elanna Torres, his wife, whose memories have been tampered with by Quarren conspirators, can read them in order to help her regain her memories of Voyager and her life on board. It is not known whether Paris is told about the accessing of his personal logs.

Naturally the crew add to and update the databases as and whenever possible.

Voyager's databases ceased to be updated by Starfleet Command after Voyager ended up in the Delta Quadrant but from the time of the Doctor's visit to the Alpha Quadrant in 2374, in [#82 Message In A Bottle], and continuing throughout 2376 and 2377 with transmissions from Project Pathfinder ([#130 Pathfinder], [#152 Inside Man] [#166 Author Author]) it is assumed that substantial or at least major updates take place.

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