sasarpillsa

Link To Guide

Item#:XXXX

Clearance Level 3: Clearance

Containment Class: euclid

Secondary Class: thaumiel (TBD)

Disruption Class: #/dark

Risk Class: #/notice

Flight #7. SCP-XXXX-1 is the blue point, while other coordinates are red. Black line traces the flight path of SCP-XXXX-2-7, moving clockwise. Hover to enlarge.

Special Containment Procedures: A Foundation owned private ranch has been established around SCP-XXXX-1.

Incapacitated SCP-XXXX-2 instances are to be recovered.

Evidence of SCP-XXXX-2 instances are to be removed from non-Foundation satellite data. Reports of unusual flight patterns in birds coinciding with SCP-XXXX-2 instance flight paths are to be discredited.

Description: SCP-XXXX-1 is a homing pigeon post in West Virginia.

Pigeons launched from SCP-XXXX-1 are designated as SCP-XXXX-2 instances.

SCP-XXXX is the phenomenon where SCP-XXXX-2 instances will correctly solve the most optimal solution of a Travelling Salesman Problem¹ (TSP). The specific TSP solved is determined by the list of GPS coordinates displayed to the SCP-XXXX-2 instance before its flight. Each GPS coordinate corresponds to a node on a graph, and the edge weight between each node pair are the coordinates' geographical distance. The coordinates of SCP-XXXX-1 are also taken into consideration as the origin for the TSP. The order of coordinates the SCP-XXXX-2 instance visits² corresponds to the most optimal solution for the TSP it was given.

The time needed for a SCP-XXXX-2 instance to demonstrate a TSP solution is limited by its speed³. For a TSP with a small number of points, computers solve it significantly faster than a SCP-XXXX-2 instance. However, as the number of points grow, solving time for a SCP-XXXX-2 instance grows linearly compared to the factorial growth for computers, resulting in SCP-XXXX being more efficient for large and complex problems.

The limit of points SCP-XXXX-2 instances can calculate has no known upper bound, allowing for computations some Foundation computers cannot perform. The method by which SCP-XXXX-2 instances read the coordinates and calculate the most optimal path is unknown.

Addendum: SCP-XXXX was most notably used to rescue MTF Phi-90 "Forest in the Trees". Phi-90 was unexpectedly trapped in a layered dimensional maze with limited energy on their travel devices. Foundation scientists were able to gather enough data to formulate a dimensional map, but Foundation AI were unable to find a suitable path due to the large sample space of the maze. A Foundation mathematician was able to convert the map into a format an SCP-XXXX-2 instance can read, and was able to find a route within the energy budget of Phi-90. AI "Pathfinder" was notably distraught that the SCP-XXXX-2 instance beat its computations.

Foundation personnel looking to use SCP-XXXX for computations may consult with the mathematicians assigned to it⁴. Personnel may also use SCP-XXXX to deliver small packages by pigeon.

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Given the utility that SCP-XXXX has when solving complex mathematical problems, the Waitzman System is currently being developed. The Waitzman System allows Foundation personnel to use SCP-XXXX to assist in solving mathematical procedures as needed.

Given the use cases that an exact solution to any mathematical problem convertible to the Traveling Salesman Problem will serve, the Waitzman Protocol is currently being developed.

A non exhaustive list of the Waitzman Protocol applications follows:

SCP Placement	Optimal placement of SCPs to minimize danger during a breach, using a modified form of the edge coloring problem denoting risk between SCPs.
Foundation AI	Assists in creation of training data for AI, offering the exact solution of a problem as a benchmark.
Biological analysis	Discover exact DNA differences between biological SCPs and non-anomalous relatives by discovering the similarities between DNA strings.
Space travel routing	Classic example of the Travelling Salesman Problem, discovers the shortest routes for extra solar expeditions. Waitzman Protocol discovered routes are significantly shorter than navigation AI routes.

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image credits
Two images, both edited together by me

pigeon_tsp.jpg
Edited using these two pictures

Map
Source: OpenStreetMap
License: CC BY-SA
Release year: 2020

Travelling Salesman Nodes
Source: Wikipedia Commons by Xypron
License: Public Domain
Release year: 2010

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Discovery: Foundation webcrawlers notified personnel about a possible anomalous sighting on an anonymous imageboard, posted early 2000. Select contents of relevant posts are shown below.

So, I just found something while messing around with live satellite data. Check out this place on the outskirts of Monongahela and look if you can see birds coming out of it. They were moving in all sort of weird shapes, patterns I couldn't really identify as normal birds. Maybe it's some military projects or drones, weird if they won't tell satellites to not hide this.

Yo, I looked at it and it's freaky. I know a guy who lives near there and I asked him if he could take a look nearby. It's pigeons basically. Weird.

Pigeons don't move like that, pretty sure it's drones.

Foundation personnel were deployed to investigate, discovering an abandoned SCP-XXXX-1, save for 14 pigeons. Multiple scraps of paper containing GPS coordinates⁵ were found inside the pigeonholes and on the ground. Launching effects of SCP-XXXX were discovered when personnel placed a sample paper inside an occupied pigeonhole.

Foundation researchers discovered the calculation effect of SCP-XXXX after a studying a case using 1000 GPS coordinates, tested against an exhaustive search algorithm.

Footnotes

1. Given any number of cities, what is the shortest path that visits each city once, then returns to the origin city?

2. Normal homing pigeons can only travel to their home station.

3. around 97 km/h

4. See Dr. Waitzman

5. Coordinates point to unremarkable locations around the Eastern United States.