Almost every known major space faring culture - including the Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, Ferengi and the Borg - has developed a transporter system. Each system has its own particular traits, but the transporter principle remains much the same throughout the Galaxy.

Developed in the early 23rd century, the general look and layout of the transporter system has been an integral part of Federation starships for over 150 years. Always a sophisticated technical system, transportation has become far more reliable in modern times.

The transporter provides not only a faster and less time-consuming mode of travel than vessel landings but also a means of carrying out rescue, repair and covert assignments into otherwise-inaccessible locations.

The normal operating range can be up to 40,000 km, though this is affected by the payload and the relative velocity of the materials being transported (a standard transport can handle six people). Most starships also carry emergency transporters to be used for evacuations; these tend to have a more restricted range of around 15,000 km, depending on the available power.
However, any form of transportation is impossible when the deflector shields are raised, or while the ship is traveling at warp speed - unless the landing location is traveling at exactly the same integral velocity. (It is not recommended to transport even then).

The Transporter sequence

1. Transporter operation sequence all those preparing to be transported enter the standard six-person chamber and take up their position on each transporter pad of the platform, which is elevated to prevent the chance of occasional static discharge. At this time, the transport operator uses the system's automated controller - a dedicated subprocessor located in consoles off to one side - to run a self-diagnostic check in order to verify that all of the various system components are in full working order.
2. Transporter Check All the main components of the transporter system are checked automatically each time it is used in order to eliminate any potential malfunctions. These components include the primary energizing coils, the phase transition coils, the molecular imaging scanners, the pattern buffer, the biofilter and, on the ship's exterior, the emitter pad arrays and the targeting scanners.
3. Destination Coordinates The destination coordinates are relayed via computer from another ship's station or input directly by the operator, and once the system and travelers both signal 'ready' the operator 'sweeps' the three red touch-sensor controls upward. This is usually performed upon the traditional command to 'energize'.
4. Confinement The annular confinement beam (ACB) creates a spatial matrix from the primary energizing coils overhead. A secondary inner field is a back-up safety feature, to prevent an energy discharge if the ACB is disrupted.
5. Scanning Four redundant molecular imaging scanners in the overhead pads make the 'memory file' of each transporting subjects quantum state.
6. Records The pattern is stored in the ship's computer as a retrievable transporter trace and an entry in the transporter log records the beam-out itself.
7. Disassembly Using a wideband quark manipulation field, the phase transition coils in the lower pads begin the actual disassembly of each body by partially unbinding their energy on the subatomic level.
8. Matter Stream Once recorded and deconverted, each pattern's matter stream is held in the pattern buffer until the Doppler shifts between ship and the destination can be determined.
9. Pattern Buffer The Pattern Buffer is a superconducting tokamak device holding the pattern in suspension. One pattern buffer is shared by each twinned set of transporter chambers but, as with every stage of the beaming process, a backup is assigned for emergency shunting if needed.
10. Beam out Once beam out is secured, an ACB 'carrier' directs each pattern's matter stream through an emitter array on the external hull of the ship toward the target coordinates. A booster set of the coils and scanners then work in reverse within the ACB to reassemble each pattern into its original form
11. No receiver required Because no special arrival apparatus is required, a transporter destination may be another point within the same ship, another vessel, or a planet surface. In adverse cases, a destination site's transporter system may be used to aid reception, if so equipped.
12. Warp Limits Transport between two objects is not possible unless the warp factor is matched precisely, and the procedure requires an experienced operator.
13. Arrival Within five seconds of the initial energizing signal, the transported body has fully reformed at the target destination.
14. Return The repeat process from a destination without its own transporter system is accomplished in much the same way, using a crew member's personal communicator, or ship's sensors in other cases, to provide a lock-on signal.
15. Security Weapons or other accessories deemed unwanted for security reasons may be detected, deactivated or even removed form persons arriving within the ACB.

Pattern Enhancers

In the early days after the device's invention, travel by transporter could be dangerous. But nowadays, accidents hardly ever happen, and the system is made even more reliable by pattern enhancers.

Aside from the faster than light speeds and interstellar journeys allowed by the development of the warp drive, perhaps no single system has proven more useful to Starfleet's mission - and, indeed, daily life anywhere - than the transporter. From instant access and easy mobility for everyday journeys, to search-and-rescue missions, the role of transporters continues to grow.

Thankfully, so does their reliability and range. Early transporter users and engineers had no choice, of course, and continued to battle adverse conditions and interference, both natural and designed, that might prevent the safe use of transporters.

Improvements such as four-tiered redundant scanners and multiplex pattern buffers have reduced the number of transporter accidents to only two or three per decade. Today, pattern enhancers are among the main tools developed to safely increase the range and effectiveness of transporter systems.

The pattern enhancer is used to boost the molecular pattern of an object or life form, so that a pattern lock for transportation is stronger and more defined. Pattern enhancers are normally only needed to overcome interference caused by electromagnetic shielding or naturally-occurring phenomenon. In appearance, the enhancers are three portable cylinders, about a meter tall. They are chrome-colours, with a clear narrow dome on top which lights up when activated. A thumb switch in the mid section releases three legs from the base, which allow the unit to stand alone and to be balanced on uneven ground.

The pattern enhancer is activated by twisting the dome, and the black casing just below it, counter-clockwise. When arrayed typically seven meters apart in a triangle - the clear top acts like an emitter and conductor for a thin blue energy beam which connects all three units. Any object or life form requiring boost for transport must be located within the triangle. For portability, a hinged tri-fold case wraps around the mid-section of a set of three cylinders. The squarish case includes a carry handle and molded recessed interiors to comfortably seat the enhancers' form.

With some modifications, pattern enhancers can be used to overcome a time-phase. Three modified enhancers are used in tandem, with a field generator as the beam origin point. The four units define a square subspace forcefield that can be matched to the synchromic distortion of the time-phase. Modifications to the units themselves include extra circuitry, and sensor/emitters contained in four sausage-like cylinders ringing the units just below the clear area.

1. Safety Device Pattern enhancers are primarily safety equipment, ensuring a safe transporter signal in otherwise hazardous conditions. Before their invention, beaming up from certain planetary conditions could be dangerous and potentially fatal, or have some strange side-effects.
2. Providing a Link Under normal conditions the shipboard transporter does not require a receiver or transmitter at the other end. Because the pattern enhancers must often be taken to their destination on small shuttlecraft where space is at a premium, the equipment is light and easily carried.
3. Blue Glow Once the last unit has been activated, a beam of blue energy joins all the units together and defines the space inside which the matter to be transported must be placed.
4. Setting out an area The blue energy lines signify the area inside which the transporter signal will be enhanced. Personnel must ensure they are standing entirely inside the defined area.
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5. Smooth Ride The beam back to the ship should now be as smooth as a normal beam-up with no reason for the person being transported to feel nervous or apprehensive about their journey.
6. Left behind Once the pattern enhancers have been used, they are often left behind in the hostile environment rather than being retrieved.