Signal language, how long can we stay in touch?

I'm working on a universe where FTL exists but arrival times can be unpredictable to say the least. On average FTL trips are conducted at 4C but ships can take much longer to arrive than that speed would suggest. No ship has ever been confirmed to be entirely lost but very rarely ships thought long lost turn up decades after their projected arrival window, and there are ships that have been MIA for over a century and turned up.

In a universe where such delays are possible and indeed a 20% arrival variance is accepted as the cost of doing business at FTL speeds what is a reasonable length of time over which the language of signal traffic might stay recognisable?

As reference use modern rates of change in software language etc... and consider that in this universe four years between worlds is a long trip involving several stops in normal space and 8 years, and six or seven waypoints, should get you right across the slightly over 30 lightyears that constitutes the core of human colonised space. Timescale is in absolute, real-space time, travellers experience no time in FTL transits whatsoever. Answers should also consider whether it matters what kind of signals they are, i.e. would real-space navigation aids stay static longer than commercial channels and the like.

Note: I have specified modern rates of change to conform answer to a slightly stagnant cultural setting in which the rate of advancement has slowed dramatically due to outside influences.

posted over 6 years ago

Ash‭

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