DIY Dive Computer

[miketsp]

Kim,
interesting site on home-made inertial navigation systems at:
http://twiki.psas.pdx.edu//bin/view/PSAS/InertialMeasurementUnit

with some examples of homemade IMUs.
Their big problem is that they work with higher Gs and need miniature solutions so they have serious drift problems. But for home made rocket use this is not important. A flight rarely lasts more than a few minutes.

A diver unit should work with very sensitive accelerometers to minimise drift.

 

[MaxAlegraD]

Testing is the key of any project and for sure would not rely only on this unit for some time...

 

[MaxAlegraD]

Learning is certainly one of the goals of this project. Adding new features such as Accelerometers would also be a nice challange. DAN phone numbers can be easely solved with a panic BUTTON we can even put a speaker to create a Divers Alert...

We could also make a some sort of underwater network of divers so if a buddy is consuming too much this information would be passed to his buddy or the boat.

So ideas are endless thats the beauty we can create our own system.

But my original idea was to build a computer that we could really have control over the firmware. I'm sure that most technical divers have found some sort of lack of knowledge over what is happenning with the decompression tables, would like to tweak parameters, etc.

So this project would build a platform (HARDWARE) and a RTDOS (Real Time Diving Operating System) that divers could interface with software to plan and deploy diving profiles.

For most divers this project is really a non-sense since it would require building a computer or acquiring a HOME MADE assembled kit that is non-branded.

But several years ago this same non-sense started several interesting projects and opened the black box that most companies sell to us.

 

[murphdivers286]

I can appreciate DIY, but I also believe the cost and time it would take to build a home made dive computer would out weight the rewards.

I'll stick with my computer for now.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!

 

[mddolson]

Along with games I think you should program in the number for DAN so you don't have to look for it when you bend the snot out of yourself.

I seriously doubt the hardware is the difficult part of building a dive computer.

ROFLMAO......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutley Perfect Advise IMHO!

Mike D

 

[mddolson]

Testing is the key of any project and for sure would not rely only on this unit for some time...

I suspect the list of volunteer guinea pigs will be extremely short, if not non-existant.

Mike D

 

[ShakaZulu]

I see no problem with this idea, verification of the final product would highlight any problems. You dont' have to dive it to verify operation, put it in a compression chamber and verify all aspects of the device. How do you guys think they develope these overprized stuff we dive with. In fact there have been a number of cases where divers got bent because there was something wrong with the S/W. We are all guinea pigs as it is............btw, H/W will be the most difficult part of this project. Implementing an algorithm is no big deal. Protecting the electronics against all the environmental issues will be the challenge.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

I don't have a problem with it either. Then again, I'm an embedded systems (firmware) engineer and work for a company that's been putting electronics in the water since the mid '40s.

I also plan on building my very own computer-controlled rebreather for personal use.

So, what, do you want to live forever?

 

[Mako Mark]

I could see the application of something like V-Planner or D-plan hooked into real time information, someone has to come up with this stuff.

I reckon that most of divings really innovative inventions were created out of nuts bolts and bits of cardboard in someones basement. Then when proven, pickes up by a slick manufacturer, refined and produced for sale.

Would I rely on a home made computer.............. probably not.

would I comparison test one....................... sure, why not.

what works works right? what doesnt gets thrown in the garbage.

I like the idea of the nav system, I think that is more marketable and usefull. There are dive computers up the yinyang, there are no affordable nav/mapping systems.

 

[DepthCharge]

undefinedundefinedA computer with VPM-B algorithm would be the nuts. Standard Buhlmann really doesn't give a very clean deco. On the sensors, check out Intersema (www.intersema.com). They have a 12 bar sensor that goes for about $30.00 USD. It was specifically designed for dive computers/watches so it's tiny. I'm incorporating one in a RB controller. I'd love to add VPM deco to it............but I'm not up to where I need to be to pull that part off..................yet