Hacker News Reader

This is cool stuff and I wan that HUD, but I take pause with the following statement:

> With these two innovations, you would not need a certification course to dive safely.

There is a lot more to diver certification than learning how to control buoyancy and how to read your computer. You need to be comfortable breathing through your mouth, you have to know how to share air, you need to know how to configure and connect your equipment, what materials are appropriate for what kind of dive. You need experience with some trusted people. Most importantly, there's only one way to learn that spit and baby shampoo are the only useful defoggers for your goggles.

At least two ways: scuba diving and skiing.

I agree, just holding your breath is a huge no-no in diving. So is learning to deal with emergency situations. Diving certification will still be needed in some form, even if it is reduced.

I agree. I remember doing my basic certification. 1/3 of the class almost failed just from the test that requires you to take your mask off underwater then put it back on and clear it. The second they closed their eyes while underwater they would freak out.

It's true a big part of the certification program is acclimating to the underwater environment and learning emergency procedures. I guess I should say it would streamline the certification course. It would probably reduce the all-day classroom portion to a one-hour video.

I love the sound of a dive computer HUD - though I'd be curious to see how it would be affected if your mask leaks. I guess the 'watch' would still be present - probably a good idea as masks can get lost (I had mine accidentally kicked off by a fellow diver once).

I do take issue with your assertion that certifications can be cast asunder. A lot of what's learnt is about safe diving (e.g. don't dive after you fly, safer dive profiles, what to expect at different depths wrt buoyancy changes, dci, getting narced, etc.) and what to do when technology fails.

Wetsuit buoyancy has a due to neoprene is pretty handy if you surface and are in distress. If you're towing an unconscious diver, for example, and are only relying on their bcd to keep them afloat their legs drag terribly (as is the case for dry suits) and it makes the rescue very very difficult. There are other safety advantages too - it's not clear to me why getting rid of buoyancy is a great idea.

I believe buoyant wetsuits are a safety feature - if you run into issues, you can release your weight and float to the surface.

But the buoyancy variation with depth is pretty dangerous, I think. I do not know if that variation is truly the fault of the suit or the fleshy diver.

Neoprene compresses at pressure, which means it's less buoyant at lower depths.

Yes, I agree, that is what I was saying also. I just wonder if the human body doesn't also change buoyancy with depth, making neoprene density variation pretty negligible by comparison.

From what I understand, no. The only thing that compresses is the air inside your lungs, but you keep on breathing in & out pressure compensated air, so the buoyancy difference doesn't change as you go down. Neoprene compression has a fairly large effect, pounds worth of buoyancy. Look at this spreadsheet for example, at depth you lose 11.6 pounds of buoyancy due to the neoprene compressing: https://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/the-ultimate-wi...

> Finally, wetsuits are made with neoprene, an air-bubble infused rubber. These highly buoyant suits force the diver to wear extra weight during the dive. They also compress at depth so the diver must compensate for the changes in buoyancy with the buoyancy compensator device. I have developed a wetsuit material using silicone and an additive that is a better insulator than neoprene and neutrally buoyant.

Awesome. The wetsuit might also be used by people with neoprene allergy. I have been using a suit from Fourth Element which does not trigger any allergies but doesn't keep me very warm either.

Have you looked into adding navigation / mapping / and comms to your dive computer? My company has a side project building a dive watch for divers. It has a navigation system and communications aspect where divers can send messages to each other and track a dive buddy's position. The project is mostly for fun but there is a market for it.

How do they track position? I know that (eg) GPS and Bluetooth don't work under water (or at least their range is so bad that they aren't useful). Seems like an interesting problem!

You are right! It is a very hard and interesting problem. Radio will not work underwater. Inertial/mag sensors can be small and cheap but the quality is poor. Therefore I have been using some 'intelligent' (hate to use that word these days) processing of the data. It is still a relative position estimate if you can minimize the drift you are good to go. To help, we have communications between divers using acoustics. Using some cleaver DSP techniques and information sharing between divers you can do a lot.

Are you hiring? I would love to work on this. This sounds incredible.

Interesting concept- do you have a product/prototype yet?

This sounds amazing. Is there anywhere I can learn about your wetsuit technology? I'm interested in the crossover to surfing.