Scanners

''Ratthi switched his interface to the hopper’s feed and started checking the scans. There was nothing on them except empty sky; I had them backburnered but I’d set them to notify me if they encountered anything like an energy reading or a large life sign.'' (All Systems Red Chapter 4)

There are a number of ways that the verb “scan” is used in The Murderbot Diaries. Sometimes “scanning” indicates visually inspecting, reviewing, or searching, e.g. when Murderbot scans video looking for familiar faces. Other times, “scanning” indicates the use of senses or instruments that don’t use light or sound. This is the definition of “scanning” covered by this page. A few specific examples:


 * Medical Scanners - These seem to provide interior imaging of living organisms, used to diagnose injury or illness. They do not appear to require surrounding the organism being scanned or using a receiver on the opposite side as an emitter, as 21st century technology would.
 * Life Scanners - Scanners are able to detect living organisms. Shielding can block this ability.
 * Energy Scanners - These provide detection of power sources and systems which are actively using power. The “signatures” of these systems can be analyzed and used to recognize specific objects such as human augments, vehicles, etc. These scanners may be subject to interference from powerful atmospheric storms.
 * Weapons Scanners - Murderbot frequently has to hack these to keep them from noticing the energy weapons built into its forearms. They seem to be a subset of Energy Scanners, as Murderbot notes several times that inert weapons such as knives are not detected.
 * Geological Scanners - These detect different types of minerals and geological features. They may be confused by the presence of anomalous material, such as alien remnants.
 * Seismic Scanners - Presumably these rely on detection of vibrations in the ground, whether by sound or by detection of fine motions via laser or some other mechanism.
 * Data scanners - These are remote interfaces able to access data encoded in the equivalent of an RFID chip or NFC module. It is not known whether they are read by a version of the same technology as energy scanners, which might indicate that they have a power source of their own, or if they are entirely passive and are powered by the device reading them.
 * The markers are meant for subcutaneous insertion and contain identifying information. Normally they wouldn’t be readable by anything but the scanners designed for the purpose, but with a little fine-tuning my scan had been able to view the encoded data, and I had examined them all on the trip back to HaveRatton. (Exit Strategy Chapter 2)
 * Volume scanners - Murderbot makes use of an echolocation-like sense when there is no light available.

“Scanners” are common science fiction tropes. It isn’t clear what kinds of science or technology might be used to implement the scanners described. Some possibilities include:


 * Very sensitive electromagnetic devices might detect the magnetic forces generated by power sources using electricity. In general, moving ferrous material might be detectable by its effects on magnetic fields.
 * Sonar might be used to detect solid and semi-solid objects within a region (requires a medium such as atmosphere or fluid; not applicable in vacuum)
 * Broad spectra of light (infrared, ultraviolet, xrays) might be used to perceive details not normally visible to humans, if sources are present. (Note: xrays are not common in areas inhabited by humans, but might be generated by strange synthetics.)
 * Spectral analysis might be used to detect the composition of object via reflection or emission (heated objects).
 * Some variation on magnetic resonance imaging might be used to “scan” the interior of objects with different compositions. In contemporary science, the element most used in this scanning is hydrogen, which is highly abundant in water, but other elements could (in theory) be distinguished.
 * Tremendous improvements in accuracy of measurement might allow direct detection of gravitational waves, enabling measurements of mass, density, and inference of composition
 * In theory, detection of the strong and weak nuclear forces could allow detailed analysis of the composition of substances, down to atoms and molecules, including detection of exotic isotopes.