Editing Chief Science Officer (section)

===Sensor Systems===

There are three primary sensor systems aboard Federation starships/starbases. The first is the long-range sensor array. This package of high-power devices is designed to sweep far ahead of the ship's flight path, or the starbase's orbit, to gather navigational and scientific information.

The second major sensor group is the lateral arrays. These include the forward, port and starboard arrays on the primary hull as well as the port, starboard and aft arrays on the Secondary hull. Additionally, there are smaller upper and lower sensor arrays located around the ship/base to provide coverage in the lateral arrays' blind spots.

The final major group is the navigational sensors. These dedicated sensors are tied directly into the ship's/base's Flight Control systems and are used to determine the ship's location and velocity. On the starbase they are used to control flight operations in much the same way as 20th century air traffic control systems controlled the movement of aircraft.

In addition, there are several packages of special-purpose and engineering sensors such as the subspace flow sensors located at various points on the ship's/base's skin.