4 ms·
Unfortunately due to free-space path loss limiting the Shannon-Hartley channel capacity, the total amount of information storable using this method asymptotical
by colanderman 2y ago
Unfortunately due to free-space path loss limiting the Shannon-Hartley channel capacity, the total amount of information storable using this method asymptotically approaches zero for large distances.
For reference, the combined formulas are C=d×B×log_2(1+(Dc÷4πdf)²×S÷N)÷c. And lim->∞ d×ln(1+1÷d²) unfortunately = 0. (Curiously, attempting to store more information by increasing bandwidth -- and thus center frequency -- suffers the same limitation.)
(Wolfram Alpha isn't forthcoming yet with a closed-form solution for the optimal distance...)
- trhway 2y agoOne of the things preventing us from seeing dinosaur images reflected back to us from the objects at 33Mly+
- b112 2y agoThis presumes current antenna, so "currently prevents" would be more accurate. Yes, things spread over distance. However, building quintillions of tiny sensors and spewing them across immense distances, and using it as a spread-array sensor net would enable capture that might otherwise elude us. This is why I don't like "prevent" as a term here, even though I 100% get your reason for using it. 300 years ago, some might have cited innumerable reasons why the distance to the moon "prevents" us from ever getting there! After all, it would take a ship+sail centuries to cross the void, everyone would be dead!
- justsomehnguy 2y agoThe soft limit is the size of a solar system, a practical one is the furthest and the biggest body in it, so... Jupiter/Saturn?