MEP EP#98

Published: Dec. 13, 2017, 5:19 p.m.

Second Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special: Jar Jar on a Harley

  • Taylor Smith
    • Works at MacroFab as the Production Account Manager
    • Manage all of our large customers as they go through prototyping to full production
    • Graduated from Texas A&M last fall
    • Joined the MacroFam early this year
  • Favorite Star Wars Character?
    • Organic
    •  Robotic
      • Taylor: R2D2 even though he slept through Rogue One
      • Stephen: IG-88
      • Parker: Not K-2SO
    • Thrawn Books
  • Tech that stood out in Rogue One
    • Data Storage Devices
      • Three different storage methods
        • USB Flash Drive: small amount of data.
        • Data Tape: looks like an external hard drive. Contains Death Star plans.
          • 8-track tapes style
        • Some sort of other kind of storage device that the plans get transfered to
          • Looks solid state
          • Newer format then the empire’s data tape?
        • Why doesn’t C3-PO have a wireless transmitter built in?!
      • There does not seem to be a ton of wireless communication
        • No Drop Box
        • Most radio transmission seems to be analog in nature
        • Trans-intergalactic data system
        • Star wars servers
      • Data Tapes stored in giant rooms which require physical access by manually manipulating robot arms
    • Transmission of data
      • Besides radio there seems to be a distinct lack of wireless transmissions in StarWars.
      • To transfer Death Star plans they needed a giant dish.
      • No digital communication over RF?
      • No lag with hologram communication via hyperspace
        • Analog data travel through hyperspace? 
    • Death Star plans data size?
      • 160km in diameter: 1.72×10^16m cubed
      • Couldn’t find engineering drawings for an aircraft carrier
      • 3D file for a building would be around ~100MB but probably 300MB looking at solidworks stuff
      • 900m cubed area goes into a death star 19,111,111,111,111.111 times trillion
      • 5,733,333.333 (5.7million) petabytes
    • Solar freaking laser roads
    • No hacking in Star Wars
      • Reason similar to Battlestar Gallactica?
    • Death Star accuracy
  • CGI Tarkins and Leia in Rogue One: Future for The Last Jedi and other Star Wars movies
    • Will we see CGI Carrie Fisher?
      • Parker hopes she won’t die off-screen
      • Taylor thinks there will be a nice parting gift for her
      • Stephen thinks they’re going to kill all of the old cast (including Mark Hamill)

Tags: electronics podcast, IoT, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, Podcast, Rogue One, Star Wars, Star Wars Christmas Special