Tracking Divers: An Autonomous Marine Surface Vehicle to Increase Diver Safety

Diving is a high-risk activity due to the hazardous environment, dependence on technical equipment for life support, complexity of underwater navigation, and limited monitoring from the surface. This article describes a new concept of using an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) as a private satellite that tracks divers, thus significantly increasing diving safety. Since the vehicle is above the diver at all times, acoustic communication with the diver interface in the form of an underwater tablet is more efficient and robust, which enhances diver navigation and enables reliable monitoring from the surface. This article focuses on a diver-tracking control structure that uses a diver motion estimator to determine diver position, even in cases when acoustic position measurements are not available.