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A cloaking device is a mechanism used to make an object invisible and sometimes undetectable by radar and other scanners. The objects most commonly cloaked are sentient beings and spacecrafts.
Ships can be cloaked in two ways. The usual way is to create a cloaking field tightly covering the object. The other way is to form a "Cloaking Barrier". A cloaking barrier is sort of like a bubble of invisibility. The bubble exists a distance from the ship. This distance varies. When another ship travels through the cloaking barrier those inside it can see the ship generating it. Anything within a cloaking barrier is invisible. In the Stargate universe, a cloak generated from ancient technology can be converted into an energy shield and vice versa.
Sentient beings carry a much smaller cloaking device which is normally called a "personal cloaking device". It is usually attached to the arm or upper chest. A personal cloaking device creates a cloaking field which tightly wraps the body of the being.
In the Star Trek universe, the Romulans developed a cloaking device for their spacecraft, as introduced in the Balance of Terror episode of the original series.
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