Alien electromagnetic vision

Question

Aliens are coming to conquer Earth.

And they have a special capability to help them.

They can "see" the entire electromagnetic spectrum with their eyes.

How can I justify this vision/eye using science or pseudo-science?

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Additional background information:

They plan to "see" all our communication done using electromagnetic waves (cell phone towers, radio waves, microwaves etc). Since most of our communication passes through these mediums, they are going to "visually decode" our transmitted information, phone/video conversations, launch codes, satellite and telephone communications etc. The various countries are unable to unite to launch a coordinated attack on the aliens due to this.

Their brain is also evolved enough to do on-the-fly decryption beyond capabilities we humans posses.

The plot revolves around how humans are forced to use only face to face communication. Audio waves are are not electromagnetic but mechanical in nature, which the aliens cannot "see".

An interesting reference: Komar can perceive ultraviolet after cataract surgery

Answer 1

Technically we are seeing the electromagnetic spectrum, too. Just limited to the part between 350 to 700 nm.

TL;DR: Won't be plausible.

The reason why we don't see more is that it has never been a beneficial trait for evolution to pressure us through this path. Some animals see UV or IF, but none see more than that. There is no necessity for it. You could explain it with genetic engineering and modification though.

The bigger problems are to do with electromagnetics: Not only is communication often highly directional, so unless you are the target you wont notice it, but also encoded. You'd have to know the encoding and calculated MBs of Data within miliseconds AND interpret them. Brains are not meant to do that. And also you'd have to decrypt military encryptions in the same timeframe. (Which includes solving currently unsolvable math problems)

Also as people pointed out in the comments: you could spam and blind them

Answer 2

I don't think this is workable.

In general, a detector has to be on the same scale as the wavelength. You can make it somewhat smaller, but not, say 1/1000 the wavelength. Broadcast VHF TV uses a wavelength of several feet. UHF gets down below a foot. 3 GHz gets down to about 3 inches.

So at that frequency the sense is more akin to hearing.

At the other end, broadcast A.M. radio a station on 1000 KHz has a 300 meter wave length. To get efficient transmission, a quarter wave dipole antenna has to be 75 meters long. Yes you can make antennas for pickup at this band that are under a meter.

General observation: It's hard to make a sensor that will pick up more than a few octaves of anything. Human ear is good for about 8 octaves. It's just barely an octave for light. Multiband radios switch in different components for different bands. There's some shared circuitry.

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Decryption on the fly: You are postulating that the aliens either have built in quantum computers or that they can factor the products of 100 digit prime numbers in their head in real time.

All the Terrans would need to do is change encryption keys faster than the aliens can think. Or use longer keys. Or spread around one time pads. Or broadcast random noise. Or broadcast endless streams of cookie recipes, and only the 7th letter of the 3rd line of instructions is meaningful.

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In addition most of the communication right now is NOT on EM, but is on fiber-optic cable.

It's also multiplexed. A cell tower get's its feed either by fiberoptic cable or by microwave relay. The microwave antennas look like snare drums mounted on the mast. They typically are directional to a degree or two, and have a range of 10 to 30 miles. A link may carry many conversations, each encrypted differently, mixed up in some combination of time and frequency multiplexing.

Military communication may use frequency hopping. Not only encrypted, but several hundred times a second, it switches channels. If both radios switch at the same time, no problem.

Another technique for secure communication is to broadcast very low level signals on multiple channels. The receiver adds the signals. The noise on the average cancels out, the signal adds.

Answer 3

It is simple enough problem.

Their spaceships are positively flooded with reconnaissance micro-drones and cryptographic computers with advanced AIs. Their clothing is basically a massive EM sensor array. As are the skins of all their vehicles. They also have mature brain-computer interfaces and advanced personal AI assistants.

So everything in their vicinity will be detected by the abundant sensors. The personal AIs will automatically classify all data on whether the person should know of it and forward compressed and filtered feed up the chain. The personal AI can also decode and decrypt communications that has been broken already by the big cryptographic systems above. Relevant and decoded information will then be shown to the user.

Higher levels of the chain will then collate and analyse the data they were forwarded. They will look for patterns that lower AI might have missed. They will look for relevant information from elsewhere. They will classify, decode and decrypt any data lower AI failed to. Any relevant data produced is then sent back to lower levels for further use.

If you wanted a biological solution you should have said so. Although in this case a biological solution would still work more or less the same. You'd just replace the computer network with a hive mind of different castes of aliens that have been genetically engineered for their specific functions. To, for example, "the scouts" to have much better sensor capabilities than would make sense for evolution. Or for "the analysts" to have a "natural" ability to decode digital communications and decrypt digital cryptography. So even if you wanted a strictly biological solution you are probably better off allowing technological solutions and then mapping the solutions to biological ones?

Answer 4

LaForge on Star Trek Next Generation had a visor which translated the entire electromagnetic frequency into neural inputs which his brain interpreted as "seeing".

From this answer on https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/36107/why-does-geordi-la-forges-visor-see-a-wide-subspace-spectrum-and-not-just-visib

The VISOR, acronym for Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement, was a medical device used in the Federation to aid patients who had suffered loss of eyesight or who were born blind. The VISOR detected electromagnetic signals across the entire EM spectrum between 1 Hz and 100,000 THz and transmitted those signals to the brain through neural implants in the temples of the individual via delta-compressed wavelengths. (TNG: "The Masterpiece Society") The result was a vastly different visual acuity, with VISOR-wearers able to see in the infrared and ultraviolet ranges and beyond. To normal Human eyes, the images relayed through the VISOR could seem disorienting and unfamiliar. (TNG: "Heart of Glory", "The Enemy", "The Mind's Eye")

If you accept scientific handwaving, TNG waves with the best of them. Your aliens have VISORS like Jordy.

Answer 5

Think "antenna-dogs" and "antenna-jellyfishes" for radio-waves.

The question is what you mean with "they". Any and all of them "aliens"? Or maybe just certain "creatures" that also live on their planet. Think of our real world example: We cannot smell that well, but dogs can and they are tamable.

So, generally speaking. What does a creature need to detect electromagnetic waves on a broad spectrum? What is the equivalent of a "radio-sniffing-nose" -> Antennas.

Properties of an antenna You can think of an Antenna being able to detect radio signals of the same length as the antenna and maybe (to a certain degree) smaller. I simplify here:

• If the antenna and the signal match 100%, then the signal output is 100%.
• If their length and signal do not match, the output signal will be lower.
• In the worst case 0%.
• Think of a sinus/cosinus relation for the cases in between. Meaning a smooth transition from 100%-to-0%.

For example: 100cm antenna can detect 50cm waves with an output-stength of 50%, but a 1cm wave only with 1% output-strength, which means 99% are "non-signals" also named "noise".

That is, to have "probable"/high certainty of detecting a "signal" and not just "noise" the antenna-to-signal-ratio has to be a good amount better than 50:50, more like 70:30.

(-> see "Shannon-(Nyquist)-Theorem" and "Signal-to-Noise-Ratio (SNR)" if you are interested in physics-details; Keep in mind, I simplified the physics here a lot, but should give you a good idea of how it works on a macroscale).

Not all antennas need to be straight, that is just the simplest form of them. They can also be "curled" or have "loops" and amplifiers etc. but to get this realistically is highly bound to engineering knowledge I cannot provide here.

Consequences and Ideas for Creature-Physique

So, antennas is the word.

The antenna furball: I imagine like a furball of whiskers of all kinds of lengths. Hopping around like a dog and barks, or gives bio-luminescent signals or what you like, if it detects signals it was trained for. Maybe it is even levitating instead of having legs.

--> But if you want to detect super low-band radio-waves, that is, those with a wavelength of for example a kilometer (a mile long), you would need very long whiskers. And also a way of giving the other aliens those capabilities.

The antenna jellyfish: (This is like in Johnny Memnonic, where they used a dolphin) Think of having a big tank of water and within it a big floating jellyfish, whose tentacles are the whiskers to detect the signals. Biologically speaking, the jellyfish would use those to detect bio-electricity of lifeforms to eat them, but the alien-race has "domesticated" or "repurposed" them (poor creatures).

The advantage is, because those tentacles are not rigid, but can twist and bend, they are able to dynamically adjust the lengths of it. Meaning, as described, can detect a broad spectrum of signals lower than their tentacles, down to the smallest wavelengths to a high degree of certainty (if you like) with ease (but consider, that a certain short wavelength is considered being harmful radiation, so there is a natural feasibility limit).

You can expand this by having gigantonormous jellyfishes, or a tank full of small ones. Maybe, the aliens were also able to create something technical instead of a bio-tech solution. But the principle is the same.

The Invading Force / Alien Operatives

I imagine a big mothership. On board is plenty of space for those tanks with the jellyfishes. The majority of global-scanning and interception of signals from around the planet is done here. The jellyfishes are connected to the alien main computer systems.

The alien field-operatives have a "device" which is connected to this computer and can "see" or "decrypt" those signals they are able to detect in the vicinity they are in (The evaluation of the signals is done on the mothership's computer though, because detecting signals is the one thing, but you also have to evaluate and interpret them, needs probably computing power or some kind of brain-alien). Those devices communicate via radio waves themselves with the mothership (they need a good encryption and a fairly strong signal, or the humans would be able to eavesdrop or jam their signals. Or they use some telepathic skills humans are not able to do something against).

The "device" can be shaped like you see fit. Maybe it is an handheld with a speaker and a display. Or it is integrated into the helmet of the aliens. Or it is an organ of their body. Of course, those operatives can also be accompanied by the furry-ball-antenna-dogs (and maybe they also have teeths and claws. That is up to you).

The Human Opposing Force

The system with the antennas is not fool-proof in "real physics" environment. You might want to pepper in some super-natural stuff to make up for it. Consider these points:

• Humans can maybe not decrypt alien signals, but they can flood the area with such strong radiation, that also the aliens have a hard time detecting signals and not only noise.
• This would of course also affect human radio-wave-communication.
• The dogs may be sensible to the received signals. They could be hurt, when blasted with a strong signal wave. Like a flashbang, for example. The extreme case would be a strong EMP-signal. There many ways to create them. The most recognized source in media is an atomic-bomb.
• If the device is a handheld, the humans could be able to capture one and eavesdrop on the aliens.
• The mothership would be the main target of attacks. Once this is gone, the operatives themselves are the smaller problem (this can be handled as you like of course).
• Further countermeasures include: Switching to frequencies which are not covered by the aliens, or switching their encryption all the time.
• Also keep in mind, the majority of our relevant communication is like in the range of 20cm (WLAN) to 1m-10m (Radar) or so. This is not much to scan for the aliens, but it leaves a huge amount for the humans to switch over to (logistics of that switching is another topic, might be tough to accomplish so that everyone knows where to switch but the aliens do not).
• Oh an important factor for the humans to "protect their communication" at least within a base or somehting, is a "Faraday Cage". This one separates all the radio-waves into "inside" and "outside". The simplest form is a mesh made of copper-wire (and I do not know if there is a dependency to the wave-lengths it protects against, but you can make up this if needed).