Transporter platformedit this page

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference

The transporter platform (or transporter pad) is a component of the transporter system, where the individual or object that is being transported must be placed in order to be successfully transported. Some transporter systems support site-to-site transport and do not require the use of the transporter pad at all.

Personnel transporter platforms often consist of multiple individual pads sized approximately one per person. Early 23rd century Federation transporter platforms typically had six pads in a hexagonal arrangement; by the latter end of that century they were generally placed in a circular arrangement with a larger pad in the center for bulky items, an arrangement that continued to be used into the 24th century. (Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek: The Next Generation) Notable exceptions to this include the early transporter models of the 22nd century, which had just one largish circular pad. (Star Trek: Enterprise)

Cargo transporters often consist of one large pad. (TNG: "Datalore", "Power Play")

Each pad in a Federation transporter has four redundant molecular imaging scanners so that if one of the scanners fails, the other three takes over. When necessary, the entire platform can be enclosed within a force field. (TNG: "Realm of Fear")

Cardassian space stations were designed with transporter pads in ops like Deep Space 9. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

[edit] Background

In TOS: "The Cage", the actual transporter pads were clearly split by three colors, mirrored from front to back: yellow, blue and green, presumably correlating to the Starfleet uniform division colors of the period. Starting with TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the individual pads were all uplit by white light, which continued for the remainder of TOS.