GDO (Stargate)
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- For other meanings, see GDO.
The GDO "garage door opener" is a small device carried by SG team members to verify their identity to Stargate Command, enabling them to send a signal to the SGC's Dialing Computer allowing the user to open the SGC's Custom Iris. This protects Stargate Command from invasion through the Stargate itself. Without a GDO, the identification of an incoming traveller from friend or foe is not possible. If a team loses its GDO they cannot gate back to Earth without alternate means to contact SGC, usually by traveling to friendly world, recognised by the SGC, whose Stargate does not contain an iris, and communicate via their established protocols.
Each team has a unique IDC meaning the SGC can easily identify who is contacting them. The SGC also gave several of their allies (mainly the Tok'ra) a GDO with a unique IDC.
The fact that the Earth Stargate features an iris is well known among the Goa'uld System Lords. They also know that the SG teams need a code to deactivate it and so many System Lords have tried to obtain the code from captured SG teams.
The Atlantis Base features a different kind of GDO which is smaller.
