01 // The Discipline
VARIATIONAL ROUTING & SENSITIVITY CLASSIFICATION
The transport network is a heterogeneous medium. Ground corridors, air lanes, sea routes, evacuated tubes, and electromagnetic launch rails each have different velocity, cost, and risk characteristics — the logistics equivalent of optical refraction indices. A naive shortest-distance route forces a shipment to spend the majority of its transit in a slow mode. The optimal multi-modal trajectory routes through a longer physical distance if the time-weighted cost is lower. This is Snell's law applied to freight: the path bends at modal boundaries.[1]
Every shipment entering the Fermat system is characterised by a sigma vector — a compact mathematical descriptor that fully specifies the payload's logistics requirements. The dispatch solver (Nexus) ingests the sigma vector and minimises the cost functional C = αT + βE + γR, where T is transit time, E is energy expenditure, and R is route risk. The weighting coefficients are derived directly from the sigma vector components. A synthetic organ en route to surgery receives α→1: minimise time regardless of energy cost. A qubit calibration array receives γ→1: minimise disturbance, time secondary.[2]
// m: mass — determines vehicle class and modal eligibility
// u: urgency — [0.0, 1.0], weights time vs. cost in objective function
// f: fragility — [0.0, 1.0], caps peak acceleration and jerk envelope
OBJECTIVE: Minimise C = αT + βE + γR
SUBJECT TO:
a(t) ≤ σclass.max_g
j(t) ≤ σclass.max_jerk
ΔE ≤ Ebudget
Nexus re-evaluates all active routes continuously as network conditions change — vehicle positions, congestion, weather, priority shifts. A route committed at T=0 may be entirely replanned within seconds if a higher-priority payload enters the network and claims a critical transport asset.
Sensitivity Classification
FOUR CLASSES, ONE SOLVER
The sigma class is not a vehicle selection — it is a set of mathematical constraints fed into the variational solver. Four classes span the full range from bulk commodity to interferometric payload:
| CLASS | PAYLOAD TYPE | MAX G | HANDLING |
|---|---|---|---|
| σ-0 | Bulk material (ore, aggregate, slurry) | 50G+ | Maximum throughput. Electromagnetic launch eligible. |
| σ-1 | Standard cargo (formed parts, electronics, polymers) | 10G | Shock-limited. Standard packaging and securing. |
| σ-2 | Sensitive cargo (biological, precision instruments) | 1–3G | Active suspension, climate control, orientation-locked. |
| σ-3 | Interferometric (qubits, optics, isotope samples) | <10−4 G | Magnetically isolated vacuum corridor. Zero vibration. |
A σ-0 ore shipment takes the most aggressive available route — electromagnetic launch if the trajectory maths work. A σ-3 qubit transfer follows a magnetically isolated corridor supplied by Highfield Magnetics, arriving later but with zero decoherence. The solver does not pick from a menu of routes. It computes the optimal path through continuous space, constrained by the sigma envelope.