Mandatory tracking device for divers?

[doctormike]

It is not simple to have a device that work both underwater and above water and keep it small so that a diver can keep it in pockets

DiveTracker SCOUT - Desert Star Systems LLC

 

[dmaziuk]

AADs are typically used to open the reserve parachute container ... if ... the user has not opened his or her parachute, or that the parachute is malfunctioning and is not slowing the descent rate sufficiently.

It shouldn't kill the user. If AAD deploys it makes the user hit the ground less hard. If the BC auto-inflates the user does a polaris and ends up bent. Unless there's something hard overhead.

 

[TMHeimer]

I agree with all that nothing like that should be mandatory. We have way too many laws in society today (with the exception of scuba, thank goodness). An interesting idea, but I would only want something like this if I were submerged and still alive but unable to surface (I bungee my primary in my mouth, so I may be incapacitated but still breathing--plus those who wear full face masks and perhaps are on Nitrox and ox-toxing?). If not breathing I would not care. Maybe relatives would--I don't think I would be one who seeked closure by finding someone who is deceased.

 

[g2]

Make a simple ultrasonic pinger that activates when it hits the water. Cheap, easy. Everybody could afford one. Maybe it would get [louder] as it stayed underwater longer.

On the boat (or Coast Guard?), they could have a direction-finder like the DiveTracker Scout. So long as the frequency was standardized, it would be a universal tracking system in case of a missing diver.

 

[Zeagle Eagle]

Firstly, it is tragic to hear the loss of a diver. What is equally distressing is the idea that they may never be recovered. I was wondering if it is possible to have a time/pressure released signalling device that divers should be made to carry. In case of a lost diver who does not surface, the device should trigger itself, shoot up the the surface and signal the location. Does such a gizmo make sense? Has something of the kind ever been developed?

Absolutely not. Voluntary? Sure. Mandatory? NO

 

[Lorenzoid]

It would creep me out to carry a piece of gear on every single dive that has no purpose other than to aid in the recovery of my dead body in the extremely unlikely event I die and my body hasn't been found. Even the organ donor sticker on my driver's license feels creepy, though I know it's important.

Maybe, if the thing logged every bit of data about the dive, my vital signs, etc., it could aid in accident analysis. If it were unobtrusive enough and effective enough, I'd consider something like that.

 

[doctormike]

Maybe, if the thing logged every bit of data about the dive, my vital signs, etc., it could aid in accident analysis. If it were unobtrusive enough and effective enough, I'd consider something like that.

Oh, you want one of these...

 

[fjpatrum]

Mandatory? I hope not. We all (should) understand the possibilities when we dive.

Technicall,y it could be possible to develop something but it would be realistically cost prohibitive to put to market, considering the features you listed.

To automatically get to the surface would be the first major hurdle in your list. Conversely using a ULF frequency to transmit underwater might work but you'd need some significant battery power for it to ever have any kind of staying power with respect to being activated. Plus the antenna required would likely be cumbersome and having sensors to pick it up would be an added expense since most boats don't have ULF onboard. Then of course you have to consider making the activation time user adjustable to accommodate the deco-divers as well as rec divers. Lots to consider with very little return.

It might be an interesting problem to work out but it would never be commercially viable without a government mandate. Even then, I suspect most people just wouldn't do it.

 

[g2]

It would creep me out to carry a piece of gear on every single dive that has no purpose other than to aid in the recovery of my dead body in the extremely unlikely event I die and my body hasn't been found.

Actually, a more practical and immediate application would be to find lost [living] divers on the surface. If you've ever ascended into a squall, and the boat is a kilometer away picking up some other divers -- or gawd ferbid, over the horizon somewhere -- this might come in handy.

 

[eelnoraa]

DiveTracker SCOUT - Desert Star Systems LLC

It looks like Sona. That is why transmistter needs to be in water as well. But what is a diver is above water already but wash away by current, this system won't work. Range of this method from the boat is OK because boat has unlimited power, and even that the claim is 100ft. If the transmistter was pocket size, I am not so sure about the range anymore. But still a nice underwater beacan device.

I guess you need both, sona for underwater, then Nautilus for above water. I can buy the concept.