The world’s first underwater 3D-positioning app for smart devices is poised to transform diving safety and communication in the Balearic Islands. Invented by a team of researchers from the University of Washington, the app sends acoustic signals to and from the group’s smart devices, tracking the location of each diver. This technology has the power to connect divers and improve safety on advanced dives across the Balearic Islands.
Underwater GPS
“Mobile devices today can work nearly anywhere on Earth. You can be in a forest or on a plane and still get internet connectivity,” says Tuochao Chen, lead author and UW doctoral student at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. “But the one place where we still hadn’t made mobile devices work was underwater. It’s kind of the final frontier.” On land, GPS works by transmitting radio signals between satellites and a receiver inside the mobile phone. But, GPS and water don’t mix, and these signals quickly dissipate underwater. Underwater GPS, or something similar, is badly needed — even pro-divers can become disorientated in the open water, lose track of time, or get separated from their group or boat in the current. Low-visibility conditions also often pose a challenge. When emergency strikes, dive teams therefore aren’t always able to find each other easily. In particular, deep sea saturation diving — which involves performing deep sea work like tunneling and building at depths between 650-1000 feet — is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Decompression sickness, oxygen toxicity, and physical injuries are just some of the risks involved.
Constant visibility
Yet, many diving challenges are set to become a thing of the past with this new underwater 3D-positioning app. When a minimum of three divers are within 98 feet of each other, the app uses the microphones and speakers on the team’s smart devices to track the location of each diver. “This range can extend with more divers, if each is within 98 feet of another diver”, UW News notes. The app was found to have an error range of around five feet when tested in local lakes and pools — which isn’t an issue since divers can usually see each other at this range.
The app is the team’s next breakthrough invention following the AquaApp, which lets divers message each other underwater. “This and AquaApp can be used together,” explains author Justin Chan, a UW doctoral student at the Allen School. “For example, if the dive leader finds someone going the wrong way, the leader can send an alert: ‘Hey, you’re going out of range. You need to come back.’ Or if a diver is running out of gas, an SOS can let the team find the person quickly even in murky water.”
Advanced dives in the Balearic Islands
The team has filed a patent and will soon release a commercial version of AquaApp. In the meantime, the app’s code is open-source and free to use. With the new app, teams will now find it easier to stay in contact during advanced dives across the Balearic Islands. For example, Don Pedro — located just off the Port of Ibiza — is the largest shipwreck in the Mediterranean accessible to recreational divers. The impressive 142-meter long ship sank to a depth of 46 meters in 2007. Today, advanced divers can explore the ship’s wheelhouse and enormous propellers.
There’s also a popular dive site just off Isla del Sec in Mallorca. Here, you’ll find three separate dives, the first descending to between five to eighteen meters — suitable for beginner divers. Two shipwrecks are also located at eighteen and thirty meters deep, and only accessible to advanced divers. In addition to admiring the beauty of the two wrecks, divers can also spot a variety of marine life, including octopi, moray eels, grouper, barracuda, and cuttlefish.
With the first underwater 3D positioning app, dive teams will find it easier to stay connected en-route. In turn, dives across the Balearic Islands are set to become safer and more enjoyable than ever before
