On May 5, 2015, at 1:42 AM, xxxxxx@comcast.net wrote:
>> I believe my original intent was to list a Minimum Hull size for the sensor package that incorporated both the length and area.  The minimum hull would be the hull that was both long enough to be longer than the largest diameter sensor included in the package, and had enough area to accommodate all of the sensors in the package.
>
> Is the hull length the unmodified length from the Hull Size Table on TNE FF&S Mk I Mod 0 p. 11 or the modified length using the equation Hull Size Table length x the Hull Form Length Modifier?

Ah, I think I may have an answer for you.

When QSDS went to print in T4 Book 1, the thinking was that it would only have a restricted set of hulls - namely the hull list included with QSDS in Book 1.  Given that, it made sense to list the smallest hull (from the table of hulls) would fit the sensor package. This way the user didn't have to track the length of the hull and the diameter of the sensor array.

SO, when QSDS was published, Min Hull was based on the diameter of the sensor package (as designed), and the lengths of the hulls listed in the QSDS hull table (which includes the hull form length modifier).  Given the way the hull table is set up, it makes sense to list the smallest hull by tonnage that would fit a given sensor.

At some point after QSDS was published in Book 1, I added the Big Book of Hulls.  Given this huge table of hulls in every possible format, it made sense to list a length for each hull, and a minimum length (based on the diameter of the sensor array's antenna) required to install the sensor package.

So at some point I made a change and listed the sensor array's diameter.  The Big Book of Hulls includes the hull length (as modified by the hull form length modifier) for each hull.  So users of the newer versions of QSDS could be sure that the sensor package they selected would actually fit on the hull.

Going forward, I think that we should publish a minimum hull length for each sensor package, and a hull length for each of the standard hulls (this length would be adjusted by the hull form length modifier, since it is the actual length of the hull).  Designers could then mount any sensor package on any hull that would fit it.

---Guy "wildstar" Garnett
xxxxxx@prismnet.com