AIM9MaxG

AIM9MaxG t1_j8xdmlo wrote

Bear in mind this is a layman's version: I'm not a qualified sound engineer so this is based on a small amount of knowledge, not expertise. Most echolocation can only tell you where sound bounced back from in terms of a 3D space around the detector. It's basically 'line of sight'. A signal could end up bouncing off an angled wall ahead of it, around a corner, and back to the wall, then back to the detector, but all it'll really know is that the sound fired at the wall ahead of it took a long time to come back. If it's a low cost system, it'll probably just think that the angled wall is further away than it really is. If it has amazing software and incredible sensitivity, it might be able to detect the signal differences caused by hitting material, travelling, hitting material, bouncing back to the angled wall, hitting that and then returning...but it still can't 'see' around the corner - the techs analysing it will just be able to assume that the soundwave may have bounced onto something else before it returned.

Also, the strength and reliability of a returning sound echo - like radar etc - degrades with distance and contact with certain materials (it's one of the principles used in 'anechoic tiles' etc used to try to help submarines be more stealthy and minimise sonar detection in the seas). Probably your best odds for getting echo-location mapping of the catacombs would be via autonomous drones that can fly their way through the system while somehow carrying the necessary broadcast/receivers...but there are problems with that too: -

  • Current drones use large, noisy rotors which doesn't make them a great choice for sonic sending/receiving.
  • They're not able to fly for long and that gets worse if they carry heavy equipment. The equipment needed for this would probably be mounted to 6 axes (front, left, back, right, up, down) and too heavy
  • Unless you're willing to risk having the drone save all the data and trust that it'll return intact, you'd need a way to broadcast it back. That's going to be a really big problem in the catacombs, where signals won't travel well.
  • GPS won't be any use for navigation or updating the drones' positional data, so you'll need drones that can record every variation of their movement to give you accurate mapping upon their return. More electronics = more weight and power demands.
  • And yes, the mapping drones in Prometheus are awesome ;) Lol
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AIM9MaxG t1_j5k4ubo wrote

Brand wars, basically. A few major brands have taken open pops at their competitors in the past, and essentially it tends to create an expensive 'gloves are off' p***ing contest where each escalates, trying to put the other one in their place for a while, but ultimately achieving very little. These days it's mostly considered a very poor idea to do it. It's also looked down on by most reputable firms and ad agencies as lazy and talentless. They often feel you get much better (and more 'bloodless') results by emphasising your own strengths rather than taking a dump on your competitors.

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