DiveSafe Project

The Project

DiveSafe will integrate a number of diving-related technologies, equipment and apps into a comprehensive solution allowing for more efficient and safe scientific and professional diving missions.

Underwater sites are inevitably difficult to access and more hazardous, compared to dry land. It integrates SoTA technologies, in order to deliver to the diving market (primarily professional/scientific and secondarily recreational) an innovative product that will allow divers to safely and efficiently conduct underwater surveys for accomplishing tasks related to visual census, photographic and photogrammetric documentation, exploration of unknown areas, search and recovery, touristic visit of wide underwater sites, etc.

Aim

DiveSafe will integrate a number of diving-related technologies, equipment and apps into a comprehensive solution allowing for more efficient and safe scientific and professional diving missions.

Rationale

Underwater sites are inevitably difficult to access and more hazardous, compared to dry land. One emerging technology providing safe and unmanned access to underwater sites for surveying is the ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles). In particular, for the underwater archeology and the management of marine protected areas, there is a critical requirement to dive and work underwater for documenting, preserving, conserving, seabed-cleaning and protecting areas and artefacts, but in parallel, maximizing effectiveness and safety and minimizing underwater time. Addressing this need, DiveSafe integrates SoTA technologies, in order to deliver to the diving market (primarily professional/scientific and secondarily recreational) an innovative product that will allow divers to safely and efficiently conduct underwater surveys for accomplishing tasks related to visual census, photographic and photogrammetric documentation, exploration of unknown areas, search and recovery, touristic visit of wide underwater sites, etc.

System Components

DiveSafe is mainly composed of:

1. Diver Propulsion Vehicle (DPV) / underwater scooter equipped with a mainboard and environmental and other sensors, manageable from an underwater tablet.

2. Underwater tablet with Camera and Apps for surveying, navigation and mission planning health & safety alerting.

3. Underwater acoustic positioning and communication system, for relaying data such as positioning and diver health data, to the surface support vessel.

4. Wearable sensors to monitor the physiological status of divers (Breathing/Heartbeat and Glycaemia monitoring).

5. Remote server that hosts the cloud database with raw and processed data from the underwater missions.

Validation

DiveSafe will be verified and validated at:

1. Controlled environment, both in a pool within a laboratory and at the Istanbul Aquarium.

2. Pilot sites in the Mediterranean Sea, at several locations within underwater areas with cultural heritage (UCH) interest and in Marine Protected Areas (MPA) :

1. Capo Rizzuto / Italy (UCH and MPA)

2. Fournoi / Greece (UCH)

3. Caesarea /Israel (UCH)

4. Rosh Hanikra / Israel (MPA)

Click here for more information.