A diver navigation system employing a visual display

Poor orientation on the ocean floor has always hampered divers in performing work. Generally because of poor visibility and lack of sufficient "benchmarks" on the ocean bottom, the task of leaving and returning to a specific area may be difficult or even impossible without navigational aids. Contemporary pinger-receiver systems do much to solve these problems; however, there are some serios drawbacks. First, these systems usually employ a set of underwater earphones which the diver wears to detect a beacon placed at some particular location. Secondly, because these systems require the diver to hear these signals, breathing and regulator noises have a tendency to make the signals hard to detect. The Naval Undersea Research and Development Center is developing a Diver Navigation System which employs an omnidirectional visual display. This system which uses phase detection techniques has been designed to eliminate the deficiencies mentioned above. Testing and evaluation will be continued in order to make the system easily usable by the diver without extensive training.