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Cloaking devices are generally forbidden on Federation ships due to a treaty with the Romulans, so a group of design specialists came up with the next best thing. By mounting an enormous deflector dish at the front of a ship, it could (when shields are down) deflect light and sensor signals before they contacted the ship, causing the appearance of nothing within sensor range in the direction of the ship (provided the observer is in front of the ship). While this is generally effective in empty space, it makes the ship easily detectable while against a definite background (stars, planets, etc.).
This has the secondary effect of preventing the ship from scanning in front of itself. This problem can be alleviated by sending one or more class-3 probe to the sides of the ship. A ship using the ODS could recieve telemetry from the probe and perform scans and navigation through the probe, although there is typically a 3.2-second delay.
The ODS is also capable of (when shields are down, of course) deflecting weapons fire directed at the front of the ship, provided it is directed at the outermost 20% of the diameter.
Stardate 47988.9 -- Captain Picard's encounter with the futuristic USS Enterprise-D was enclosed in his report of his latest dealings with the omnipotent being called "Q". This has prompted several to consider violating the Federation-Romulan treaty and developing a cloaking device to outfit such a ship, while others turned to begin considering ways to achieve an effect similar to that of a cloaking device but still remaining inside legal bounds.
Stardate 47991.1 -- Starfleet Command, advised by Captain Picard, denied the petition to use an accelerated plan to bring about the production of a ship with the capabilities of the future Enterprise-D encountered by the Captain. They claimed that "history will run its own course".
Stardate 47998.5 -- The ODS was first suggested as a means to duplicate the effect of a cloak without violating the treaty, prompting immediate research.
Stardate 48015.6 -- The first deflector dish large enough to test the theories behind the ODS is built.. Initial results are promising, showing less than 5% drift from calculated results; however, this dish cannot channel enough energy to see whether the desired result is actually possible. Plans are laid out for construction of an even larger deflector dish.
~Jeremy Lennert, Simon Dark of the 7th Fleet