Transportation rings

"I hate when that happens."

- Jack O'Neill on the hideable nature of ring transporters

Ring transporters are a form of transport used by a number of species, but they were origionally designed and built by the Ancients before their invention of beam transporters.

Overview
Ring transporters are used to transport people or objects over short distances, as from a starship to a planet below, by surrounding the transportees with a number of rings which demolecularize the objects, then transferring them via a matter stream to the intended target. They are also used onboard some Goa'uld spacecrafts in manner similar to elevators. In one instance, they killed Ra's Anubis-headed guard when Colonel Jack O'Neill activated the rings while he was on the edge of the markings.

Some species have the ability to hide their ring transporters for secrecy or surprise, such as the case of the Tok'ra and the Ori.

Ring transpoters were built by the Alterans and always seek out the nearest ring transporter, this was used by Vala to find Gerak's cloaked cargo ship. The Ori also use the rings, but they have Ori writing on them. They are, however, compatible with the ring transporters the Ancients and Goa'uld use. This was proven when Dr. Daniel Jackson managed to escape to an Ori ship using the Korelev's rings and was later rescued by the Odyssey. The Ancients themselves appear to have abandoned the use of ring transporters after Atlantis reached the Pegasus galaxy. However, they may have been the basis for the transporters found in Atlantis. After the Ancients returned to Earth from Atlantis, they began to use Ancient beam transporters.

Design and usage
A Ring Transporter (or ring teleporter) is a transportation device originally developed and used by the Ancients but now manufactured and used almost exclusively by the Goa'uld and their enemy, the Tok'ra. It consists of several rings that levitate slightly off the ground and stack on top of each other during operation. Almost all Goa'uld transporters have five rings, except for the one installed in the gate room in the Abydos pyramid, which had nine.

Most transport rings are identical (apart from the Ori Rings) and are thought to be mass-produced by the Goa'uld in staggering numbers. Each ring transporter platform weighs 12.9 tons, but it is not clear what components are included in the term "platform." Earth's naqahdah generators are capable of powering transport rings. The rings are roughly half the diameter of a Stargate and function under similar principles. The rings move to surround an object or person being transported from a holding platform, which is a cylindrical chamber, contained in either a ceiling compartment or rising up from the floor. They only transport matter from within their perimeter to the perimeter of other rings.

Function


All matter inside the rings is dematerialized and teleported via matter stream to another set of rings in a different location where it is then rematerialized. A unique feature of the ring transporter is that it "swaps" matter between the two locations. If there is a person or object at the receiving set of rings, the rings simply exchange the two simultaneously. This also doubles as a safety measure so that matter from one end doesn't "fuse" with matter at the other end – something that would be deadly to an organic object. It is also makes possible a sneaky way of escape from an area – if one is under the rings as they come down, one will be transported out while an enemy happens to be transporting in.

A set of rings can descend a short distance from a ship hovering above a planet's surface to the ground, a technique commonly used for entering and exiting Tel'taks. When SG-1 used a Tel'tak's rings to enter an Ancient facility on Proclarush Taonas the rings physically smashed through a thin layer of solidified lava to reach their destination.

An additional feature of the Ring Transporter is that they can automatically seek out the nearest receiving Ring Transporter even when their location is not known.

Ra's Chief Anubis Guard (this Anubis is not the same one as in the series) had been killed when the ring transports were activated while he was under it; his head lay within their transportation area, his body outside of it, and he was decapitated.

They can be activated by a transport ring remote worn on the arm or hand by Goa'uld and their Jaffa, or controlled by a remote panel located somewhere near a ring platform.

Ring platforms are sometimes extremely well camouflaged, with the rings appearing to emerge from ordinary floors.

Storage and mobile rings
After a completed transport, the rings move back into their storage platform and deactivate. The rings themselves do not transport. Some ring platforms are portable, and can be moved when they are inactive. They contain sensors that detect other active transport rings in an area. Transport rings are also sometimes used to enter and exit from spacecraft, with one set of rings inside the craft and another set of rings mounted outside the hull. This is commonly seen with the Goa'uld Tel'tak cargo ships and Al'kesh, but the Earth ship Prometheus also uses them in this way. A Tel'tak's ring transporter was used to transport a Kull Warrior outside while it was in flight in a planet's atmosphere and once the Kull Warrior had rematerialized outside the hull, the external rings fell away from the craft along with him. Transported matter passes between sets of rings in a "matter stream" that can be detected by a ship's sensors. It is possible to intercept a matter stream that is in transport by interposing a set of mobile rings (like those in a Goa'uld shuttlecraft) between the sending rings and the planned receiving rings. However, such an intercept requires that the entire matter stream be captured by the intercepting rings (i.e. the intercepting craft must be still); otherwise, the transported people will not be able to fully reintegrate and will die.

Ori ring transporter
The Priors of the Ori apparently also use ring transporters. The ring platform, like its Ancient counterpart, consists of six rings, however the Ori have also used a version that consists of five transporter rings in the Milky Way galaxy, although the rings themselves are smoother, luminescent on the inside and adorned with unknown symbols.

These rings are carried aboard Ori battlecruisers, and are also used to transport Priors to Celestis, the Ori sacred city.

During the Battle of P3Y-229, Daniel Jackson was able to beam over to an Ori battlecruiser using an Ancient Ring Transporter, indicating that the two systems are compatible. Several months later, a transporter was deployed on a planet that did not have one to allow military forces from an orbiting ship to be beamed onto the planet. The platform itself was carried by the Ori fighter and simply "dropped" where desired.

Similar technology
There are also some similarities between ring transporters and the transportation booths in Atlantis, including similar flashes of light upon transportation and swapping of the contents of the pair of devices when operated at the same time. The actual beam sound is also the same. Considering that the Ancients invented both, it is conjectured that the technologies are related. It also makes sense that the two devices are compatible allowing rings or transporters from orbiting ships to connect with Atlantis. Even though it has never been shown. The Ancients also invented Ancient beam transporters much later which do not require platforms.

The Asgard also have a similar but arguably less advanced transport system than the Beam Transporters that does not require the use of the rings. The Tau'ri call it an Asgard "beam" or "beam transporter", possibly referencing Star Trek; it was installed on both the Prometheus and on Daedalus-class battlecruisers. It requires either the use of Asgard sensors or a radio signal from the object to be transported in order to acquire a target. Thor's Hammer appears to use similar technology to transport Goa'uld and/or Jaffa to an underground trap.

The Sodan tribe transport obelisk (Called the Eye of the Gods by the Sodan) also have a similar visual effect. These were also built by Ancients and were used by the Sodan (along with their wrist personal cloaks) to avoid Goa'uld detection and extermination for a thousand years. The obelisk is activated by typing certain symbols in a precise order. One does not have to be touching the obelisk in order to be transported as evidenced by Teal'c not touching the obelisk.

Another type of transport obelisk was built and used by the Ancient Morgan le Fay in to transport a group through an active wormhole to avoid detection while building the Sangraal. Her version had no user input required and had blue/green crystals visible on the exterior. The actual beam was much larger than previously seen, transporting the entire mountain through the gate.

Species who use or have access to ring transporters

 * Free Jaffa Nation
 * Goa'uld
 * Tok'ra
 * Lucian Alliance
 * The Alterans
 * The Ancients
 * The Ori
 * Tau'ri