New Technology to Track Divers

It's been impossible for a crew on a dive boat to keep track of divers underwater, but new technology does just that.

The Garmin Descent 1 Smart Buoy, with sonar networking technology, continuously sends out spaced sonar pulses detected by a transceiver carried by each diver. Each time a transceiver picks up a signal from the buoy, it responds by sending it signal back to the buoy.

The Smart Buoy determines how far away the diver is by calculating the time elapsed between the buoy signal and the diver's transceiver response, as well as noting the direction from which their signal was received.

The buoy can track up to eight divers simultaneously, transmitting the information up to 200 feet to the boat crew, which can view it in real-time on a map using the Garmin Dive app. The boat's location is also transmitted to the divers' computers.

With a claimed underwater range of 328 feet from the buoy and a runtime of 15 hours, it looks like a good solution to the problem of knowing where a diver is for both the divers themselves and the boat crew.

The Smart Buoy will set back a dive operation around $2,500, with each diver's transceiver adding $500 per unit. So that's $6,500 for an eight-diver operation. While high-end liveaboards may adopt this unique safety system, it may be some time before hard-pressed dive operators go for it. https://tinyurl.com/42chx4vd