Anomaly Detection Device

« "That was just a demo but when a real Anomaly appears, this machine can alert us within seconds." »

— Connor Temple demonstrating the ADD.^[src]

The Anomaly Detection Device, (often shortened to ADD, Anomaly detector or simply detector), was an advanced computer designed by Connor Temple that could detect Anomalies in the United Kingdom and, post-upgrade, anywhere on Earth. There were two versions - the big main Detector located at the Anomaly Research Centre, and smaller handheld detectors for locating Anomalies out in the field.

Properties[]

Original main detector[]

« "What you're looking at is a full integrated representation of the radio communication matrix; networking the whole of the UK's transmitters." »

— Connor Temple^[src]

The main ADD, used from the detector's completion until the ARC's temporary suspension, resided in the original ARC building. The detector monitored radio waves over the whole of the UK, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and could find new Anomalies via the radio interference they cause on the 87.6 FM frequency. When the ADD detected an Anomaly, it would emit a loud alarm and proceed to pinpoint the Anomaly's coordinates. (Series 2 onwards)

The device was made up of five flatscreen televisions mounted on three separate structures of black scaffolding with silver base/legs and connected by wiring. The system would sometimes crash and shut down if it got a power surge eg; from a Spaghetti Junction of Anomalies. (The Lost Island, Episode 2.5) As well as picking up Anomalies, the ADD also occupied the basic functions of an ordinary computer, containing various databases such as all ARC employees' personal files. It could also pick up any type of radio signals sent to the ARC and trace them to their point of origin and could even be used to locate and track individual mobile phones, provided the user knew the particular phone's contact number; it's use in this regard, however, was regarded as illegal. (Episode 2.6, 2.7, 3.6) Some time before the Pristichampsus incursion, the software on the ADD was modified so the screens displayed new Anomaly detecting graphics. (Episode 3.1)

Handheld detectors[]

The pre-suspension ARC team also used smaller, palm-held versions of the ADD in the field to locate Anomalies. The handheld versions were short-length radio receivers which detected Anomaly signals within a range of about 100 metres, (Episode 2.3) but later on they could detect Anomalies at much greater distances than 100 metres. (Shadow of the Jaguar, Episode 2.5, 3.4, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10) They could even detect Anomalies in places where no radio signal was available or even possible. (Episode 2.5)

Connor originally made a bulky prototype detector (Episode 2.3), but later several, more compact models were created. (Episode 2.4 onwards) At some point, the handheld ADDs were updated to have touch screens, solid antennas and slightly modified casings. (Episode 3.1 onwards) The handhelds were incredibly resilient, with one surviving being caught in a sandstorm in the Silurian without any loss of functionality. (Episode 2.5)

The handheld ADD ceased being used after the temporary suspension because a field coordinator was hired and they were no longer needed. It is unknown what happened to them, though it is possible they were retained by the ARC on the off-chance the field coordinator became incapacitated or unable to communicate with field operatives. (Series 4 onwards) However Connor used an alternate handheld detector to find an Anomaly. (Episode 4.5)

Upgraded "Hub" detector[]

After the ARC organisation moved to a new building following their temporary suspension, the main detector was upgraded to detect Anomalies world-wide and run all of the new ARC computer systems, not just storing employees' personal files. This meant the new detector could open and lock all of the doors, and control the whole building, (Series 4 onward) but one fault with that was that the ARC's lockdown feature could deactivate the ADD rendering it useless. (Episode 4.3)

The new desk-like setup was created using the original detector's legs and only three of the five screens, with a permanent 'airplane-like' chair fixed in front of it. While the ADD Anomaly detecting properties seemed to be the same, barring a new quieter alarm noise, it apparently could not pick up satellite Anomalies. (Episode 4.7)

History[]

Nick Cutter noticed several radios emitting interference on 87.6FM at the Castle Cross Shopping Mall and theorised that the nearby Anomaly was the cause and told Connor Temple to look into the interference. Later on after the Anomaly closed, the interference stopped which confirmed Cutter and Connor's concept that Anomalies could be detected by radio. (Episode 2.1)

Cutter proceeded to tell James Lester about how Anomalies could be detected, in a similar fashion to tracking a pirate radio station. Despite being an expensive project, Oliver Leek helped convinced Lester to get the ARC to fund the construction of an Anomaly detector as the ability to pinpoint their locations within seconds of opening would be an invaluable asset. Cutter requested that Connor build the detector and Lester agreed but on the condition that Leek was to supervise Connor. (Episode 2.2) Connor subsequently built the Anomaly Detection Device. (Episode 2.3)

« "I'd like you to meet the Anomaly Detection Device, or ADD for short... actually that's probably not the best acronym, is it?" »

— Connor Temple^[src]

2x3ConnorintroducestheAnomalyDetector — Connor activates the Anomaly Detector for the first time. (Episode 2.3)

Episode 2.3[]

The ADD was placed in the ARC's operations room after it was completed. Connor unveiled and activated the ADD, and explained how it worked. Leek and Jenny Lewis joked about it being essentially a glorified and oversized Satnav, while the rest of the team appeared impressed. However, when Leek received a phone call telling him that there had been a creature attack at Blue Sky Park, the ADD's reliability was immediately called into question.

At the park, Connor tried to use a prototype handheld ADD to detect an Anomaly, but there was no Anomaly signal. The ARC team later discovered that the ADD hadn't picked up any Anomaly at the park because the Anomaly that a Smilodon had come through had opened and closed years earlier, leaving it free of any doubts. After the Smilodon incursion was dealt with, the ADD detected its first Anomaly, and Cutter and Connor left to deal with the incursion.

The Lost Island[]

Despite the ADD now belonging to the government, Connor decided to modify it to better detect Anomalies, anoying Lester in the process. One new feature was a big red button. When Connor pressed the button, the ADD then detected a Spaghetti Junction of Anomalies on Guns Island and then suffered a surge from the numerous Anomaly signals. Several hand-held detectors were lost in the ocean near the island's beach leaving only one. The hand-held was taken to the Cretaceous period where it detected another Anomaly back to the present day just before it ran out of battery.

Episode 2.4[]

The ADD detected an Anomaly near the Thames in the Isle of Dogs, but the Anomaly closed before the ADD could trace its exact coordinates. A day later, Cutter, Connor and Stephen Hart's handheld ADDs detected the Anomaly when it reopened. Then Cutter and Connor used their ADDs to track the Anomaly through the warehouse where it was located.

At some point, Oliver Leek hacked the Detector and uploaded spyware. (Episode 2.5)

Episode 2.5[]

« "Remind me to tell Connor, he did a good job with these." »

— Nick Cutter after a hand-held ADD survives a sand storm^[src]

2x5ADDcrashes — The ADD crashes (Episode 2.5)

The ADD detected an Anomaly in Hackney but Leek's spyware downloaded the coordinates to Leek's laptop and overloaded it. After Connor rebooted it, he and Cutter discovered it was contaminated. Two hours later they managed to find the Anomaly's location. The team used a handheld ADD to track the Anomaly to a drainage pipe.

After Cutter, Stephen and Taylor Craig were marooned in the Silurian when the Anomaly closed, Cutter's handheld ADD detected a second Anomaly in the Silurian. The trio then used the handheld ADD to track the Anomaly through the Silurian on their journey to it. The ADD was dropped in a sandstorm, but still functioned so Nick asked Stephen to remind him to tell Connor that he did a good job making the detectors. The Cleaner later tried to steal it from the trio, but they took it back when the Cleaner was killed. The hand-held was left behind in the Silurian when some giant scorpions attacked the trio. The main ADD detected the second Anomaly at the Lost World Adventure Park and Abby and Connor used a pair of handhelds to find it once they arrived.

Episode 2.6[]

2x7leekOnADD — Leek communicating through the ADD.

The ADD detected a Anomaly on the M25. After the incursion was dealt with, Cutter and Connor planted a computer virus in the ADD, and rigged it to send a false Anomaly reading to Leek's laptop. However, Leek realised that the Detector had been rigged, and also booby-trapped his personal file on the ADD so that if the file was successfully accessed, a bomb within the ARC would activate.

When Leek released a Neural Clamped Future Predator into the ARC, he communicated with Lester through the ADD until the Predator was killed by a Columbian Mammoth. Connor subsequently tried to access Leek's personal file, and unintentionally set off the bomb when he successfully entered (though Cutter was able to disable the bomb). Connor later used the ADD to trace and locate the soruce of the signal that Leek had been sending to the Future Predator's Neural Clamp. Connor also used the ADD to trace Caroline Steel's mobile phone to Leek's Creature Prison.

Episode 2.7[]

When the virus Connor had planted in the ADD (which was unintentionally downloaded to Leek's laptop) disabled the mainframe of Leek's Creature Prison, it also networked the Prison's mainframe to the Detector and uploaded Leek's data files to the ADD, including names and locations regarding Leek's menagerie of creatures that he'd threatened to unleash all across the UK unless the search for him was called off, allowing the ARC to track down and contain them all before they could be released. Lester later communicated with Leek through the ADD, informing him of the collapse of his plans and the fact that he would soon be arrested. Later when the Predators neural clamps were disabled, they descended and tore a screaming Leek apart live on the ADD screen, watched by a dispassionate Lester, Lorraine Wickes and two staff members, though the latter three averted their eyes from the sight. After Leek's horrific death, Lester turned to Lorraine and casually asked her to "switch that off". The ADD presumably detected another Anomaly while the team was at Stephen Hart's funeral.

At some point, Helen stole one of the ARC's handheld detectors through unknown means. (Episode 3.3)

Episode 3.1[]

The ADD detected an Anomaly at the British Museum.

Episode 3.2[]

When Cutter predicted that an Anomaly would open at an Abandoned House, Connor, Abby and Jenny used handheld ADDs to search for an Anomaly signal within the house. Jenny's ADD later went off when the Anomaly at the house reopened.

Episode 3.3[]

The main ADD detected an Anomaly at a West London Hospital, and was later badly damaged when Helen Cutter had a bomb detonated inside the ARC, though it ultimately survived intact.

Episode 3.4[]

After the main ADD was repaired from the damage caused by Helen's bomb, it detected an Anomaly at Christine Johnson's Headquarters when a cloaking device was temporarily disabled. It later detected another Anomaly at an airport. Meanwhile, Mick Harper stole Jenny Lewis' handheld ADD from her car, and he and Katherine Kavanagh used it to also locate the airport Anomaly.

Episode 3.5[]

When Sid the Diictodon escaped into the ARC, he chewed through one of the ADD's cables, stopping it from detecting any Anomalies. After Connor repaired the detector, it emitted an alert about an Anomaly that had opened and closed while the Detector was disabled.

Episode 3.6[]

The ADD detected an Anomaly at a rural Abandoned War Cabin while the ARC was under the temporary command (courtesy of a hostile takeover) of Christine Johnson. The main field team, having fled the ARC when Johnson invaded, had not managed to take any handheld detectors with them and thus were unaware of the Anomaly at what had ironically become their safehouse. Johnson first dispatched Ross and a soldier to contain it, then Hilary Becker and a number of other soldiers when Ross and his man failed to report back.

Episode 3.7[]

The ADD detected an Anomaly in a junkyard.

Episode 3.8[]

The ARC team used Connor's hand-held ADD to track an Anomaly at a Race Circuit to the race circuit's hangar. Later, Jack Maitland stole Abby Maitland's handheld ADD from her bag and used it to follow the Anomaly signal to the Race Circuit.

Episode 3.9[]

Connor's hand-held ADD detected an Anomaly at a Campsite.

Episode 3.10[]

At the Race Circuit, Connor and Sarah Page's handheld ADDs went off when the Anomaly at Christine Johnson's HQ reopened.

Between Series 3 and Series 4[]

After the ARC was shut down and revived, the main ADD was upgraded (possibly by Philip Burton (Episode 4.3)) and moved to the new Anomaly Research Centre building. Jess Parker, a young but brilliant computer programmer and expert, was put in charge of monitoring and operating it to coordinate the field team. (Webisode 2 onwards)

Webisode 5[]

The new ADD presumably detected an Anomaly at a Beauty School.

Episode 4.1[]

The new ADD detected an Anomaly in London when Connor unintentionally opened it. When Connor and Abby arrived at the new ARC, Connor was awed and impressed by the new ADD's design, calling it "one serious upgrade".

Episode 4.3[]

The ADD detected an Anomaly at a theatre. When the ARC was sent into lockdown, the detector went onto emergency power. Connor accessed the remnants of the old ARC files on the ADD to reverse the lockdown.

Episode 4.4[]

The ADD detected an Anomaly at McKinnon School, and Jess subsequently hacked the school's security camera system to guide the ARC team and monitor the Therocephalian incursion, though at the cost of witnessing the horrific death of a schoolgirl..

Episode 4.5[]

The ADD detected an Anomaly at Witchfield Cove, but the signal kept fluctuating due to illegally dumped fuel at the Anomaly site weakening the Anomaly. Due to this, the ADD was initially unable to lock onto the Anomaly's exact coordinates, but Philip Burton was eventually able to use the ADD to locate the Anomaly.

Episode 4.6[]

The ADD detected an Anomaly at a Stately Home.

Episode 4.7[]

When two Anomalies opened on the exact same spot at a prison, the ADD detected the Anomalies but registered them as one Anomaly. The ADD also failed to detect the satellite Anomalies that the merging of the two Anomalies was creating throughout the prison, likely because their signal was too weak.

Episode 5.1[]

When a Giant Burrowing Insect appeared in London, Jess used the ADD to detect the creature's underground tunnel network via a satellite map with ground-penetrating radar.

Episode 5.2[]

The ADD detected an Anomaly in the North Sea.

Episode 5.3[]

Abby used the ADD to spy on Connor via the ARC's security cameras.

File:5x4RexflyingintheARC.png

The ADD in lockdown mode (Episode 5.4)

Episode 5.4[]

The ADD detected the First Man-made Anomaly in Connor's lab the second time the Anomaly formed. Later, when the Anomaly released a gamma ray into the ARC, the ray disabled the ADD. The ADD was later rebooted, and Connor discovered using it that Philip had unsuccessfully attempted to activate the ARC's incineration process.

Episode 5.5[]

When Convergence started, the ADD detected the first Anomaly in Central London, then the dozens of other Anomalies around the world that were opening up for Convergence, though unlike the previous model it did not suffer a power surge due to the simultaneous anomalies. It later indicated when the worldwide Convergence Anomalies all closed.

Episode 5.6[]

When the New Dawn Anomaly released a massive EM surge throughout London, the EM affected the ARC and crashed the ADD.

Appearances[]

Canon[]

Episode 2.1 (concepted)
Episode 2.2 (construction arranged)
Episode 2.3 (first appearance of ADD, only appearance of prototype handheld version)
Shadow of the Jaguar (first appearance of handheld versions)
The Lost Island
Episode 2.4 (first appearance of handheld versions on television)
Episode 2.5
Episode 2.6
Episode 2.7
Extinction Event
Episode 3.1
Episode 3.2
Episode 3.3
Episode 3.4
Episode 3.5
Fire and Water
Episode 3.6
Episode 3.7
Episode 3.8
Episode 3.9 (last appearance of original ADD)
Episode 3.10 (latest appearance of handheld versions)
Webisode 2 (first appearance of upgraded ADD)
Webisode 3
Webisode 4
Webisode 5
Episode 4.1 (first appearance of upgraded ADD on television)
Episode 4.2
Episode 4.3
Episode 4.4
Episode 4.5 (only appearance of alternate handheld version)
Episode 4.6
Episode 4.7
Episode 5.1
Episode 5.2
Episode 5.3
Episode 5.4
Episode 5.5
Episode 5.6 (latest appearance)

Non-canon[]

Fight For Survival

Trivia[]

When first activated in Episode 2.3, the ADD has at least 39 Anomaly locations on the map screens.
- 24 in England
- 8 in Scotland
- 4 in North Ireland
- 2 in Wales
- 1 on the Isle of Man
- 1 in the English Channel
In Series 2, Shadow of the Jaguar, Extinction Event, Series 3, and Fire and Water, the Detector does not detect Anomalies in Ireland or outside the UK. However in The Lost Island, it detected some Anomalies on Guns Island (200 miles of the coast of Ireland).
In Episode 2.6, the detector screen says "Anomaly Detection Centre".
The alarm tone and screen graphics change three times between Series 2, Series 3 and Series 4/5.
Between Episode 3.10 and 4.1, Abby and Connor's handheld ADDs seemingly disappear.
Character Options made a range of 5.5" scaled ADD (Parts 1, 2 and 3) to match with their action figures. A full sized Handheld Anomaly Detector was also created.

2x2HelenCutter'sAnomalyDetector — A possible Anomaly detection device used by Helen Cutter. (Episode 2.2)

In Episode 2.1, Nick Cutter theorised that Helen had her own Anomaly detector and in Episode 2.2, she had a device which appeared to be an Anomaly detector. However she apparently did not have this device in Episode 1.6 as she needed the Home Office team to find the Future Permian Anomaly or in Episode 3.3 as she had stolen on of the ARC's handheld ADDs.
The Special Projects Group would make their own Anomaly detector in Primeval: New World. It would detect and locate Anomalies by detecting both radio and magnetic interferences.
In The New World, it was believed by fans that the device Evan Cross took from the frozen ARC member was a handheld ADD of some kind. This proved to be true when it was revealed to be an Anomaly timer in The Sound of Thunder: Part 1.
Technically the ADD's ability to monitor and hack into communication networks would constitute a serious breach of privacy laws, but presumably this was excused by the British government on the grounds of national security and the fact that it was only ever used that way in emergency situations.