DIVER HAND HELD UNDERWATER POSITIONING SYSTEM

A REQUIREMENT EXISTS FOR AN ENCONOMICAL SYSTEM OF AREA NAVIGATION FOR USE BY DIVERS IN A VARIETY OF MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AN ACOUSTIC TRANSPONDER BASED RANGE/RANGE TYPE OF NAVIGATION SYSTEM WITHINCREASED CAPABILITY IN TERMS OF POSITION ACCURACY, DIVER POSITION DISPLAY CONTENT AND EASE OF DEPLOYMENT, RECOVERY, AND SYSTEM CALIBRATION. MAJOR OBJECTIVES IN THE SYSTEM DESIGN ARE TO PROVIDE THE DIVER WITH A "LORAN LIKE" CAPABILITY IN A SMALL, RELIABLE, EASY TO OPERATE CONFIGURATION SO AS TO NOT RESTRICT THE DIVERS MOVEMENT AND OVERALL SUB SEA WORK CAPABILITY. GOALS OF THE PHASE 1 RESEARCH EFFO WILL BE TO DEFINE THE SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS OF THE DIVER HELD INTERROGATOR/DISPLAY UNIT, ASSUMING INTERROGATION OF A NEW LOW POWER MICRO-PROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY.THE RESULTING INTERRGATOR/PROCESSOR UNIT SHOULD THE DIVER TO ACCESS A SITUATION DISPLAY WHICH WILL PROVIDE POSITION INFORMATION AND A VARIETY OF RELATED USEFUL NAVIGATION INFORMATION. OTHER MAJOR OBJECTIVES ARE THE RETENTION OF SIMPLICITY OF OPERATION IN AN INSTRUMENT WHICH WILL HAVE A LEVEL OF PROCESSING CAPABILITY AND PACKING OF THE INSTRUMENT FOR DIVER USE. MEETINGS WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF APPROPRIATE NAVY LABORATORIES ARE PROPOSED IN ORDER TO INCORPORATE USER INPUT INTO THE SYSTEM DESIGN.