New to dive computers few questions

[Peter Guy]

A really great value at the moment is (was?) from Leisurepro -- an Aladin Tec 2g console with compass and SPG. I bought two, popped everything out of the console and ordered boots from DSS (Deep Sea Supply) for the Tec 2g and Compass. Total price for the three (now wrist mounted) guages, about $270.

Console

DSS Instrument Mounts

 

[RonR]

I'm working as an Undergraduate Research Assistant to people precisely trying to do that with airplanes and it's not nearly as simple as you would hope/think. With 2D vehicles it's rather simple. However, once you add a 3rd spacial dimension as well as additional problems such as current, it all gets trickier. Trickier isn't impossible, it just means bulkier and more expensive and less accurate. Stored dive path is going to be a future feature....just not in the very near future.

Yep, and throw in the fact that a computer is on a divers wrist or a console that is flopping around, and the requisite processing power has to fit into a tiny unit that will run off batteries, and I think we are still a ways away from that kind of device.

There is a not yet introduced GPS connected transmitter device that sends out triangulated signals from a buoy, and allows for mapping the 3D path. But it is dependent on surface signals, and is not cheap. Navimate - GPS for Divers It could be an interesting solution for commercial or public safety applications that require this information.

 

[DiveNav]

Yep, and throw in the fact that a computer is on a divers wrist or a console that is flopping around, and the requisite processing power has to fit into a tiny unit that will run off batteries, and I think we are still a ways away from that kind of device. .....

Yep .... my estimate is less than 10 years.
When I started my career in the semiconductor industry, leading edge technology was 0.35micron .... when I left the semiconductor industry (a couple of years ago) 0.35nano was "so yesterday" technology. Basically I saw a ~1,000x perfomance improvement over less than 20 years.
The precision of a Kalman filter is a function of the number of variables and the resolution. Of course the resulting processing power follows that too.
Thankfully Moore's Law pretty soon will fix this problem too

Alberto (aka eDiver)