Portal Frame

A portal frame is a doorway-like device used to link two locations together by means of a portal. Manufacturers of portal frames include Metatron and CORE Bridge Systems. Because portal frames require power injection at at least one side to keep the connection open, a four-portal arrangement is common, where two of the portals are stacked back to back in an Ion unit, centrally supplying power in a machine room while keeping the entry and exit frames lightweight. Portal frames are also commonly controlled by a Portal Management System (PMS), which intelligently balances active portals to save valuable energy consumption.

Because the security of at least one side of a portal is paramount, both sides cryptographically encode the targeting parameters of the opposite side, or one side does not store the targeting parameters at all. In the latter case, the portal can be opened one-way only. If these targeting parameters are disclosed, the consequences are catastrophic, because it means anyone can then open a portal to that location; however, it is possible with highly advanced grid control equipment to scramble the local manifold and render the parameters invalid. Calculating parameters requires a calibrator to remain stable at the designated origin point of the portal for a number of days or weeks, meaning anyone who would want to surreptitiously portal into an area would first need to obtain unrestricted access to that area for a long period of time. The aforementioned manifold scrambling process is often used by Raven to prevent this when new Sigma vaults are under construction.