Creating a dive computer with Location and Communications

[Manjula Ellepola]

I have piezo's in both my HammerHead controller and Shearwater computer. Neither one requires "HARD" tapping, just a gentle squeeze. Are you thinking about the switches used in the Liquidvisions? Those were accelerometers, and I agree, the ones I saw did need a good knock.
Later,
John

Hi John that was helpful. We are looking at piezo now. Since piezo picks up any shock to the device you have to differentiate between a tap and knock or shock to the device....interesting problem. I have played with the Perdix and they have got nice buttons. We want to be able to have buttons that almost feel like a touch screen i.e with light taps as opposed to a press.

 

[Manjula Ellepola]

Yes, strong magnetic fields can indeed damage these chips. We had a user who had consistent compass failures, they traced back to his storing his dive gear in the trunk of his car next to a huge bass speaker. But the tiny neodymium magnets used in the buttons don’t have any effect on the compass chip if they are kept at a reasonable distance. You are correct in that motion in alignment with the magnetic axis creates very little disturbance.

Hi Ron thank you very much for the insight. We are playing with piezo now but will revisit magnets if piezo proves too difficult. The user interface is a critical part of the product to get right. I guess the UI is one of those things that make or break a product.

 

[sheeper]

such functions would be of great interest to our diving community. the dive company I work for is the largest private dive operation in the US. We have a large tec diving operation as well as a public safety component. And I think that we could move quite a few units with a rich feature set. It would be important to provide a set of technical features as well as recreational. So nitrox, trimix and closed circuit capabilities are needed. Easy gas switching and a solid planning function.
A simulation mode is something I've always wanted in a computer. When i'm teaching in the classroom, i'd love an easy way to simulate what the DC will look like at a given depth. Bluetooth capability to download the dive log to some good desktop/tablet/mobile logging software is another must have.

I would suggest looking at the Shearwater and the Cochran computers. These are advanced, bulletproof devices and highly regarded by elite divers. Those represent a good core feature set and good baseline engineering.

 

[RainPilot]

I believe that they will be staying away from the computer functionality for now.

 

[Manjula Ellepola]

Hi Sheeper concurring with Brendon above, we will not do a DC component as it is too much to handle at the moment. We will put the product out with Nav and Comms first up and judge what the interest and uptake is as this is a fairly untried concept in the market at present. From the feedback I have been getting this would appeal more to the technical/advanced divers but could trickle down to the wider market over time. From a safety point of view this will add a new capability to the divers arsenal I am sure.

 

[Manjula Ellepola]

Look Nav

 

[Aquanomad]

Progress. Sweet! Way to go guys. Any updates on specs? Im ready to test dive as soon as you have a prototype to send

 

[Manjula Ellepola]

Thanks for the encouragement and support. Been a lot of hard work and development so far.

Yes we are almost completing the prototype now. The firmware is more or less done. We were stuck with the buttons for two to three months. We wanted to get this right as it is critical for scuba divers to have an easy and quick way to navigate the screen. You will love the buttons when you get to try it.

We will come out with specs soon. Still need to confirm these with trials. Generally we are looking at a dive computer sized device that can do nav and comms to 2km with a 15hour battery operation before recharge. The Navigation method we are using has never been done before so we will keep this under wraps for now. However for beta testers we can do this under an NDA.

Will post more updates soon...

 

[Manjula Ellepola]

Another progress video showing testing the buttons with 5mm thick gloves. The case in the video is a machined prototype that will allow us to test in the water. The final molded cases will be less thick and fit better on the arm.

 

[Samuel Valore]

Hello.

I am seeing this thread very late, so my apology in advance for the late reply. This technology, developed by Ceebus Technologies of Boulder, Colorado USA, does exist now and is an acoustic technology that offers wireless location and communications capability among a network consisting multiple divers, surface and subsurface parties. The patented technology is omni-directional and has obvious commercial and recreational applications.