My impression of the Interwave size issue was that the antenna was both large and complicated, hence the need for a LOT of space for them and there support equipment. More space than anything less than a large SV could afford. Around the Delta Pavonis mission the Mk II came around (the main impetus was A.C. wanting more bandwidth for KoFen sessions, but work had been proceeding for a while) with the basic system (not a node, but a reasonable FTL com system) shrunk to a quarter to something that could fit in a mid-sized room, with most of that being the antenna assembly (my imaginings had an antenna about 2m*2m*2.5m plus about 2 15u transceiver coils and a 2u controller with fibre connections).
The main problem with needing the size is the range. To get equivalent ranges on various FTL com systems you need a system larger than a comparable radio system unless you're more than 2 lightseconds away. Interwave got its penetration because it could be scaled to handle the traffic that tended to be generated. Plus enhanced radio is much cheaper.
My opinion only.
The main problem with needing the size is the range. To get equivalent ranges on various FTL com systems you need a system larger than a comparable radio system unless you're more than 2 lightseconds away. Interwave got its penetration because it could be scaled to handle the traffic that tended to be generated. Plus enhanced radio is much cheaper.
My opinion only.