The Reaction Chamber is in many ways the "heart" of the ship. The principle function of any reaction chamber is to allow the matter and antimatter streams to come together and direct the resultant energy flow into the power transfer conduits. This apparently simple task is rendered highly complex by the need to allow the various sensor and other monitoring and control equipment to function within the chamber. The addition of dilithium to regulate and control the reaction, while allowing far higher efficiency and so increasing the power output, has also lead to ever more complex designs - most especially in more recent starships which are designed to allow continual recompositing of the dilithium whilst in use. Nevertheless, reaction chambers of today perform fundamentally the same task as those of a century ago or more.

The Power Transfer Conduits are similar in nature to the magnetic constrictors of the warp core, in that they are ducts designed to use high energy magnetic fields to carry energetic plasma from one point to another. But where the magnetic constrictors operate only across relatively short distances and require a very high degree of precision with a comparatively low energy plasma, the PTC's must carry very energetic plasma across large distances with - relatively speaking - far less finesse.  The ship is equipped with a separate PTC line for each nacelle, a measure which increases resistance to battle damage or other failures. With twin nacelles, PTC's are arranged symmetrically about the ships centreline. These proceed through the bulk of the engineering hull and along the connecting struts, if any, to the nacelles themselves.

Smaller versions of these heavy duty systems are also used to carry power to components such as the phasers, shields, and high energy scientific laboratories.

The plasma injectors are at the terminus of the Power Transfer Conduits. One of these devices is fitted in each nacelle, and has the task of sending a precisely aimed plasma flow through the center of the warp coils.

Because of the relatively low accuracy with which the plasma flow is usually controlled by a PTC, the plasma injector system must be designed to re-condition the fuel flow in order to dampen down turbulence and so ensure a smooth flow through the warp coils, especially those systems with the highest raw power output, the plasma flow from the PTC is split into two parts and sent through swirl dampers before being recombined during the injection process. Long experience has found that this method reduces the size of the required hardware to a reasonable minimum.

After its long journey from the fuel systems, the flow is finally directed down the warp coils. These are large split devices which take up the bulk of the nacelle. In order to increase efficiency they are usually made from multiple layers of various materials; this complicates the manufacturing processes greatly and has - so far - kept the replication of warp coils beyond Federation science.

The warp coils generate a multi-layered set of fields around the craft, creating the propulsive forces that enable a Starship to travel beyond light speed. Manipulation of the shape and size of the field determines the velocity, acceleration and direction of the vessel.

The Bussard collector is a device which is designed to collect interstellar gases - usually hydrogen - for use as fuel. They are not really intended for general use, but are rather an emergency system which can let the starship limp to a nearby base if the standard fuel supply has been exhausted. The Bussard collectors are usually situated at the front of the nacelles, and are visible as a large red-glowing dome. As well as being used to collect gas, the collectors are capable of being back-flushed to expel gas into space.

In the event of an emergency, the ship is able to dump the plasma overboard to facilitate the fastest possible shutdown of the main power system.  Plasma can be vented from the entire length of the nacelle simultaneously.

Co-axial warp drive allows a vessel to 'fold' the very fabric of space, allowing a ship to travel instantaneously across large distances.  The co-axial induction drive, is a unit which draws in subatomic particles and reconfigures their internal geometry in order to make space folding possible.  Particle instabilities can overload a ships engine, causing an event that would collapse all space within one billion kilometers of the explosion.  A polaric modulator is used to dilute the particle stream and stabilize the reaction flow.The navigational deflector is designed to protect a ship from micrometeorites and other such debris . An offshoot of tractor beam technology, the navigational deflector uses graviton polarity source generator to feed a subspace field distortion amplifier in order to project a 'force beam' ahead of the ship. This is sufficient to deflect most material out of the path of the vessel well before impact would occur.

The slipstream drive drive core is much more compact than a matter/antimatter power core.  It directs energy into both of the nacelles and the main deflector dish, with the latter system creating the slipstreaming effect. The slipstream is somewhat similar to the transwarp drive conduits used by the Borg, but can be generated the Avalon-B with the appropriate modifications to its navigational deflector.

The navigation deflector is one of the largest components of the vessel, since it is combined with a large sensor cluster.

While the vessel is at warp speed any particles hitting these fields will travel rapidly across the surface of the shields, passing through the ships warp field. This causes them to fluoresce, creating a 'rainbow streak' effect as they pass the ship. These streaks are bright enough that the uninformed often mistake them for passing stars!

The navigation shields are immune to attack from laser weaponry. This is due to the trans-static flux effect, which occurs as a by-product of the deflection process; when laser light impinges on a deflector field, the effect creates a small portal into subspace, causing the laser beam to pass harmlessly into this domain. As the beam is not subspace encased, it will re-emerge into normal space within a few milliseconds, putting it several hundred light seconds away. Since the beam never actually impacts on either the deflector shield or hull the power of the attack is irrelevant to the effect. This process is not regarded as a serious defensive measure, since laser weapons are considered obsolete by most major powers.

The second part of the navigational deflector system is a powerful tractor / deflector beam that sweeps thousands of kilometres ahead of the ship. This pushes aside larger objects that may present a collision hazard.

The isolinear chip combines storage and processing power into a single totally integrated unit.  Small numbers of isolinear storage units are used in both PADDs (see below) and tricorders, while large computer systems can mount hundreds or even thousands of chips, all running as parallel processor units, to give enormous storage and processing capacity.

Bioneural gel packs are a relatively new advance in Federation computing. The system is not a replacement for the isolinear computer system, but is rather an augmentation of it. By distributing gel packs throughout a Starships computer system information can be organized more efficiently, speeding up response time.

The Personal Access Display Device (PADD) is one of the most widely used methods of accessing and manipulating information. Although the capabilities of the Padd are limited compared to the larger desktop units, their small size offers a convenience that larger units lack.  PADDs are almost always handheld devices with a large surface area relative to their thickness. They include both memory and processing capacity, usually with some form of remote linkage to larger more capable systems. Almost all have a display screen which takes up 50% or more of the surface. This is usually touch sensitive, but is supplemented by a small number of physical controls.

All units contain a subspace transceiver assembly to allow connection with more powerful computers in order to send or receive data or share larger processing tasks.

Starfleet is currently evaluating Padds which will introduce bio-neural elements, speeding up response time in line with the performance gains in modern Starships.

Replicators are essentially an outgrowth of transporter technology. The Molecular Matrix Matter Replicator, to give it its full name, is capable of dematerializing a quantity of stored matter in much the same way as a transporter system does; however, there are no imaging scanners to analyse the structure of the material. Instead, a quantum geometry transformational matrix is used to modify the matter stream. The computer which oversees the process can use any available stored pattern within this matrix; once the pattern has been impressed onto the matter stream, it is rematerialized into an almost perfect copy of the original patterned object.

Replicators are available in small stand alone units, and these must be supplied with power and periodically re-stocked with raw material to keep them running. However, most replicator systems consist of little more than a rematerializing unit and a computer subprocessor / interface panel. Many thousands of these units can be connected to a large central dematerializer and transformational matrix system, controlled by a computer holding many thousands of stored patterns and stocked with many tons of raw material. When a user wants to replicate something he or she inputs the request to the terminal, which requests the item from the central system. Once the dematerialization and patterning processes are complete, the matter stream is routed through a network of wave guides to the terminal which originated the request and dematerialized there. This system saves having to keep thousands of individual replicators constantly stocked with raw materials.

In theory any object can be made from any basic raw material, but in practice significant energy saving can be made by using certain materials; for replication of food items an organic particulate suspension is used; a combination of long chain molecules , this substance has been specially designed, statistically speaking, to require the minimum number of molecular transformations to achieve the maximum variety of foodstuffs. Equivalent stocks are available for replication of non foodstuffs, with the control computer making the choice automatically.

Replicators which also have a dematerialization system installed can also serve as waste receptacles; waste placed into these can be dematerialized and returned to the central stock, ready to be replicated again.  For larger manufactured items, it is necessary to replicate smaller components and assemble them via traditional methods.

Replicator systems share one basic limitation; they operate at the molecular resolution. As such, significant numbers of single bit errors will occur at the quantum level during any replication. Many claim that this gives replicated foodstuffs a distinctly inferior flavor to the 'real thing', although this may be more a question of bias against the technology rather than any discernible difference. However, the errors are more than sufficient to prevent replication of the precise energy states involved in neural and bioelectric patterns. These patterns, which are reproduced exactly during the operation of the transporter, are necessary to materialize a living being; this limitation therefore prevents the replication of any living thing via standard methods.

The Transporter device cut trans-planetary transport times to near zero at a stroke.  The basic operating principles of the transporter are relatively simple. It makes a detailed scan of the subject, breaks down its molecular structure, then transmits this beam to another location. The information gained from the scan is then used to reassemble the subject exactly as before.  Like many simple ideas, the actual engineering required to construct a working transporter are quite more complex. A standard transporter unit consists of ten major components :

The Transport Chamber is the area in which the subject is placed for transport.This chamber holds ten people.

The Operators Console is the control unit of the whole system; these consoles are manned by a single operator who oversees the transport process and is responsible for reacting to emergency situations, as well as conducting routine maintenance of the transporter systems.

 The Transporter Controller is a dedicated computer system which controls the minutiae of the transport process itself.

The Primary Energizing Coils are located directly above the transport chamber. These coils generate the annular confinement beam, creating a space-time matrix within which the dematerializing process occurs. The primary energizing coils also generate a containment field around the subject in order to prevent any possible breach of the annular confinement beam during the transport process. This is important as such disruption can result in a sizeable energy discharge.

The Phase Transition Coils are located in the floor of the transport chamber. It is the phase transition coils that cause the actual dematerialisation/materialisation process. They do this be decoupling the binding energy between the subatomic particles of the subject, causing the atoms themselves to disintegrate.

Molecular Imaging Scanners are located in the roof of the transport chamber. These devices scan the subject to be transported at quantum resolution, determining the location and momentum of every particle within the subject. Bulk cargo can be scanned at the molecular resolution, as it is not generally vital to recreate the object exactly. Living matter requires that exact information be obtained. This is made possible by the Heisenberg Compensator system, a component of the molecular imaging scanners of all personnel transport systems. All transporters are built with four redundant sets of scanners, allowing any three to override a fourth should it make an error. Should two scanners produce the same error the transport process would be aborted automatically by the transport controller system.

The Pattern Buffer is a large super conducting device, usually situated directly underneath the transporter unit itself.  Once the subject has been dematerialized they are passed into the pattern buffer and held in suspension while the system compensates for relative motion between itself and the target location. Pattern buffers can be shared by several different transport systems, although only one transporter can use a given buffer at a time. Should an emergency arise during transport a pattern can be held suspended in a transport buffer without being either sent or dematerialized; however, after a few minutes such a pattern will begin to degrade to the point at which the subject will be unrecoverable.

The Biofilter is an image processing device which analyses the data from the molecular imaging scanner in order to locate any potentially damaging organisms which may have infected the subject..

The Emitter Pad Array is mounted on the exterior of the transport system itself - in the case of a spacecraft, on the hull of the ship. The array transmits the actual matter stream to or from the destination. Components of the emitter array include the phase transition matrix and primary energizing coils. Some transporter systems also contain clusters of long range molecular imaging scanners within the emitter pad; this allows the system to lock onto targets at long range to beam them from remote locations without outside assistance.

Targeting Scanners are a set of redundant sensors which are responsible for determining the exact location of the destination in relation to the transporter unit. Targeting scanners also determine the environmental conditions at the target site. Although dedicated targeting scanners should ideally be a component of any transport process, in practice any sensor device of sufficient range and accuracy can provide the required information so long as it is compatible with the transporter controller information protocols. In addition, if transport is being conducted between systems with a fixed relative position - planetary transporter units, for example - targeting information can be disregarded.

A typical operation for Starfleet transporters include the following : Beam up involves using the emitter array as the primary energizing coil in order to beam a subject from a remote location which does not have a transporter system.

Site-to-site transport involves following the conventional beam up process until the subject is in the pattern buffer; the subject is then shunted to a second pattern buffer and on to another emitter array before being beamed out to a new location. This process essentially merges two transport processes in order to allow a subject to be beamed from one location to another without having to rematerialise on board ship first. This process is avoided if possible since it requires double the energy expenditure and system resources to accomplish each transport.

Hold in pattern buffer. As described, the pattern buffer can be used to hold a subject essentially is stasis. Normally these patterns will degrade after just a few minutes.

Dispersal. Although transporter systems are designed to beam a subject to or from a destination intact, it is possible to override the safety systems on a standard Starfleet transporter and cause it to deliberately disperse the subject over a wide area. This is done by disengaging the annular confinement beam during rematerialization, depriving the subject of a proper reference matrix to form against. Such a measure may be used in order to neutralize a dangerous payload such as a bomb or other weapon; the measure is frequently complemented by materializing the subject in space.

Near warp transport is achieved by careful shifting of the ACB frequency. This can be an uncomfortable experience for those who go through it, and on occasion can even be dangerous.

Warp transport can be achieved by the same method as near warp transport; this is only effective if the origin and destination are moving at the same warp speed. Transport between locations moving with different warp speeds result in a catastrophic loss of pattern integrity - this is fatal to living organisms.

The tricorder (tri-functional recorder)  is the standard portable scanning, recording and information processing device for all Starfleet operatives.  These scanners incorporate both significant amounts of internal data storage and a high degree of processing capacity.