Scouter

Scouters are a small optical device employed by the Illuminati, most notably by their Trans-Dimensional Analysts. Scouters first appeared in the Dragon Ball series.

Overview
Scouters are man-portable analysis and communication devices. They were originally designed by the Tuffle race as a counter to their more powerful foes, the Saiyans. Eventually, the Tuffles were wiped out, and the Saiyans stole the technology as a spoil of war. The Planetary Trade Organization Army eventually conquered and enslaved the Saiyans, and adopted the technology from them. As the Army's main goal was conquest of foreign and potentially hostile planets using minimal numbers, it was necessary for each soldier to be aware of their surroundings and determine the level of resistance they would encounter. The Scouter simultaneously provided long-range communication with an adaptive analysis program that could calculate the maximum possible resistance of individuals or groups of hostiles. This data is quantified as a power level for easy comparison.

The Illuminati had a great deal of interest in Scouters long before the Grand Combat even occured, as they were a natural complement to their reality-hopping escapades. With their new mission, the Scouter took on an even greater role, and was brought to full-scale production.

Features
Each Scouter consists of two parts- a large white earpiece, in which most of the hardware is stored, and a transparent, tinted plastic eyepiece. Scouters can be made in both left- and right-eye versions, as well as other shapes for non-humans. The earpiece houses most of the hardware, while the eyepiece functions as a display for the wearer. The eyepiece features a focus-tracking sensor, allowing the user to target and analyze opponents simply by looking at them. The Illuminati have greatly updated the software used by the Scouter to calculate power levels, and have adjusted it to sense magical abilities and advanced technology as well as ki energy. The processor and memory have been improved and equipped with enhanced cooling systems to prevent the infamous "Scouter Overflow Failure", but there are still some limitations to the Scouter's ability to read power levels. Power levels that rise too quickly are still unreadable, as are ones influenced by a factor the device has not been designed to calculate for.