Future Dive Tech? GPS, Sonar Mapping, Comms, Vitals, etc?

[filmguy123]

Not sure where to look for this or read for this, but what is coming next in diving tech thanks to the digital tech revolution? Curious what is on the horizon, and how long until we start to see these things?

Questions include (but not limited to, just guessing on near or semi-near future possibilities):

- GPS Tracking integrated with a digital compass, with directions back to your dive boat, and live tracking of your directional/distance relation to your buddy, displayed on a digital dive screen on your wrist? As well as digital emergency beacons built in with that pinpoint your location.

- Vital signs/stats tracking for you personally, and also beamed to those in your dive group with automatic alerts if you or someone you are with is running dangerously low on air, or has a vital problem that could be tracked by upcoming future tech in things like an Apple Watch 3rd generation, etc. (they can monitor BAC through skin now - and oxygen levels - and hydration levels - and there are upcoming technlogies to monitor glucose and other levels.

- GPS + Sonar Mapping for caves and wreck dives? Imagine a wrist computer synced with sonar mapping tech on the individual diver (and/or all divers in the group) that live map and record the surrounding cave structures around you, and track your path through? Displayed on a screen on your dive wrist... no more lost cave divers or wreck divers. And the online, digital propagation of these maps for cave and wreck divers to have pre-loaded, then working in tandem with live sonar mapping.


Are any of these things possibilities, or on the horizon? Why or why not? Anything cool and upcoming that I missed here?

What would you like to see?

And lastly, any idea of timeline for these digital dive tech enhancements?

 

[DuboisP]

Not sure where to look for this or read for this, but what is coming next in diving tech thanks to the digital tech revolution? Curious what is on the horizon, and how long until we start to see these things?

Questions include (but not limited to, just guessing on near or semi-near future possibilities):

- GPS Tracking integrated with a digital compass, with directions back to your dive boat, and live tracking of your directional/distance relation to your buddy, displayed on a digital dive screen on your wrist? As well as digital emergency beacons built in with that pinpoint your location.

- Vital signs/stats tracking for you personally, and also beamed to those in your dive group with automatic alerts if you or someone you are with is running dangerously low on air, or has a vital problem that could be tracked by upcoming future tech in things like an Apple Watch 3rd generation, etc. (they can monitor BAC through skin now - and oxygen levels - and hydration levels - and there are upcoming technlogies to monitor glucose and other levels.

- GPS + Sonar Mapping for caves and wreck dives? Imagine a wrist computer synced with sonar mapping tech on the individual diver (and/or all divers in the group) that live map and record the surrounding cave structures around you, and track your path through? Displayed on a screen on your dive wrist... no more lost cave divers or wreck divers. And the online, digital propagation of these maps for cave and wreck divers to have pre-loaded, then working in tandem with live sonar mapping.


Are any of these things possibilities, or on the horizon? Why or why not? Anything cool and upcoming that I missed here?

What would you like to see?

And lastly, any idea of timeline for these digital dive tech enhancements?

communications are hard under water so

- GPS doesn't work
- GPS in cave and wreck doesn't work
- radio/bluetooth/wifi to track your dive group don't work
- sonar needs energy and a big antenna

physical laws are physical laws

other ideas ?

 

[filmguy123]

Well, emphasis on *upcoming* future tech... wondering if there is any information or semi common knowledge on what the FUTURE holds... Seeing as:

Underwater WiFi (using sonar waves instead of radio waves)
Yes, underwater wi-fi is a thing | New York Post

Underwater GPS
Navimate GPS for Divers

It's currently very limited but I'm wondering if anyone knows more about where the industry is headed with this in the coming years, or if there are any good sources to read up more on what will be possible with the coming decade. Also any current products I may not be aware of. Etc.

Or what realistic advancements people are looking forward to.

 

[Rygar]

Here's future
Project Ariadna - the personal underwater navigation technology

 

[CuzzA]

Just about all of the things you've mentioned are a reality today, albeit limited or split up among different devices.

For example, Liquidvision's Lynx DC, has the ability to not only track your gas, but also your buddy/teams. It also uses an ultrasonic technology to track your location and your buddy/team/boat/entry point.

60:Second ScubaLab - Liquivision Lynx Air/Nitrox Air Integrated Dive Computer

The Mares Icon DC has a map feature that allows you to access preloaded maps of wrecks, caves and dive sites. While this is simply just a digital map, if you combine Liquivision's tech with a map or vice versa you essentially have real time underwater navigation.

2014 ScubaLab Testers' Choice: Mares Icon HD Dive Computer

Vital data is also a feature in a number of dive computers.

6 Dive Watches With Heart Rate Monitors – DeeperBlue.com

Underwater communication has been around for a long time and I'm sure it will only get better. Some dive computers allow you to send text messages under water.

Ocean Technology Systems

Underwater Texting... | DiveBuddy.com

And finally underwater sonar mapping. While it is a reality, you better have some bucks if you want one for your own personal use.

Stone Aerospace Smart Tools, Systems, and Vehicles for Exploring and Commercializing the Frontier

My final thoughts are the future of diving tech is exciting. Many DC manufacturers are taking the approach of the smart phone and we all know how amazing these devices have become. There's lots to look forward to, but much of it is expensive and there's not a lot of continuity among manufacturers so there are a lot of challenges to overcome before we see DC's like smart phones in the hands of the majority of divers.

 

[RonR]

It’s going to be increasingly possible, with the advances in sensor and microprocessor technology, to develop some kind of dead reckoning based navigation for underwater use. That is using accelerometer, compass, gyro, and other inputs to calculate a track.

As others have commented, GPS signals don’t penetrate into sea water. Acoustic signals work well underwater, and Navimate uses a surface GPS receiver and acoustic triangulation to a buoy to give real time positioning underwater- at a price.

Various sonar based “back to the boat” devices have been available for many years, but have not been popular as they require a transmitter on the boat. Liquivision has effectively integrated this function into a dive computer.

RF signals underwater are limited to very low frequencies and a few feet of distance- unless you are the Navy and can afford kilometers long antennas and a dedicated power station to operate the transmitter required. So conventional wi-fi is out. Translating data to acoustic signals can create the possibility for data transmission, and this is being done now. Actually, I dove with wireless acoustic comm systems at least 15 years ago, probably more like 20.

The biggest obstacle to huge technological advances in diving is that there just aren’t that many divers- it’s a very tiny market. Most diving equipment companies are quite small, making things that work underwater is a big challenge, and it’s not possible to justify huge development expenses considering the small market.

-Ron

 

[Aquanomad]

Been in development for a few years but these have hit the market and Aqua Lung released a brochure last month.
Alltab® - the underwater tablet - Alleco
Has some proprietary software and possibilities for add on hardware. Wireless charging. And is rated for 150m. Looks promising. Now if someone would just make those bluetooth headphones to go with it it could seriously be a deco dream..

 

[DuboisP]

Now if someone would just make those bluetooth headphones to go with it it could seriously be a deco dream..

bluetooth is radio, will not work

 

[Buliwyf]

Radio waves work fine under water. Just not the radio waves that GPS and Bluetooth use. Just need to change the frequency:
Communication with submarines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Being able to test message another divers Perdix would be nice. But we'd both have to be running the same Perdix computer. I doubt brands will choose to adapt the same protocalls.

 

[stuartv]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I think, in 5 - 10 years, most normal OW divers will be using CCR.

I suspect that the tech will get so much cheaper and more reliable that it will be commonplace to rent units for cheap and new OW divers will be issued them for their OW training, and they will rent them at the places they go to dive. Then, when they start buying gear, instead of spending a chunk of money on a computer, BCD, OC regulators and tanks, they will spend a chunk of money on a CCR unit (with integrated BCD and computer) instead.

I suspect they will also evolve to a common way of being used (for sport diving, anyway). So, like OC regulators today, no special training is required to change from one brand or model to another.

Besides cost, reliability, and standardization, one other factor seems to need to be addressed for CCR to become suitable for beginners: Buoyancy control. Diving with a CCR today complicates buoyancy control. Obviously, that is not suitable for beginners. I expect that someone will develop some technology that will be incorporated into CCR units to regulate the buoyancy of the units, so that buoyancy control with a CCR unit becomes no more difficul than it is now with OC. Maybe even easier. A buoyancy control computer on the CCR could work to function kind of like ABS does on a car - limiting ascent rates, preventing the exceeding of MODs, etc... It could allow the diver to regulate their buoyancy with lung volume, like they do on OC. OR, maybe let the diver regulate their buoyancy with controls on their computer (press a button to go up or down and the integrated buoyancy control computer just handles it - there's probably already an analogous tech in submarines to provide a model). Either way, I think technology could be developed to make one, the other, or both work, and work reliably, and be relatively cheap.

Beginners also don't need the extra burden of carrying a bailout bottle. In my mind, working out the "reliability" issues will obviate the need for CCR divers doing sport NDL dives to have a bailout bottle. It will be viewed just like current OC is viewed with regard to the need to carry a pony. "Sure, you can. It's not a bad idea. But you don't really need to. Beginners should not worry about that until they have some experience."

I'm positive that some Old Guard people will completely dismiss these ideas. "That won't happen." "It's too dangerous." "New divers need to learn those skills, not let a computer do it for them." "That would be using gear to solve a skills problem." I've already had conversations with people who said those things.

And I say, "yep. Just like dive computers, 30 years (or however long) ago."

There will be a lot of shouting and resistance (Nitrox in the 90s anyone?). But, people that want to make money will see an opportunity to sell easier, "safer" diving to people and so they will do it. And people who don't know anything about scuba diving will buy into the marketing vision that this new way of doing things is easier for them to learn and safer for them to use - because they don't have to worry about accidentally coming up too fast or accidentally dropping below a safe depth or accidentally running out of air. The computer might even use air integration to know when they're going to run out and automatically take them to the surface, whether they want to go or not, to prevent an OOA situation. That might sound dangerous, but would it be better for the computer to let them stay down when the computer can "see" that they are down to the equivalent (if they were on OC) of 200 psi of gas remaining, and huffing away at 1.0 cu-ft/min (equivalent on OC)? It seems kind of like seat belts. Yes, you can identify specific scenarios where a person would have been better off without a seat belt. But, the vast majority of the time, they are A Good Thing, so we now use them as a matter of course. I can imagine the same being said of a CCR unit that takes you to the surface automatically, when you get to some dangerously low amount of gas left.

Note: I have no formal training on CCR and have never used one. I have done 16 dives with a buddy on one, so I have some familiarity with how they are used from watching and asking questions. Thus, my details may not make 100% complete sense, but my underlying point remains: I think that whatever issues exist that prevent new divers from using CCR today will be solved and, in a few years, diving with a CCR will be well on its way to being the new standard for equipment used by new divers. They will become cheap, safe, and MUCH easier to use.