Development of a Head-Up Displayed Diving Computer Capability for Full Face Masks
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doi:10.3723/ut.30.195 International Journal of the Society for Underwater Technology, Vol 30, No 4, pp 195–199, 2012 per Development of a head-up displayed diving computer capability for full face masks 1, 2 3 4 1 Arne Sieber* , Benjamin Kuch , Peter Enoksson and Milena Stoyanova-Sieber Pa Technical 1Seabear Diving Technology, Puchstrasse 17, 8020 Graz, Austria 2ACREO AB, Arvid Hedvalls Backe 4, 41133 Gothenburg, Sweden 3Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna - RETIS Lab, via Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy 4MC2, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden Abstract diving computer even at distances of 20cm to 40cm Professional divers often dive in conditions of very low visi- becomes impossible. An HUD has the potential to bility. In such situations, a head-up display has many advan- be an essential tool for many sectors of the com- tages as water clarity does not affect the ability to see the mercial diving industry and may increase diving display. In addition, a head-up display allows divers to con- safety. tinuously monitor all relevant dive data without interrupting Full face masks are predominantly used by profes- their work. The present paper details the development of a sional divers. They offer a number of advantages over new diving computer that has been designed with a head- standard half-masks: thermal protection of the face; up display and integrated into an AGA type full face mask. protection in polluted waters; and the capability to The device includes a full colour display, depth sensor, tilt- use voice communications. Full face masks are also compensated compass and a tank pressure sensor. Typical sometimes used by rebreather divers because, in dive relevant data (depth, time, decompression obligations) the event of an oxygen toxicity accident, a full face including tank pressure and heading are displayed and stored in the internal flash memory. mask remains fixed on the diver’s face and would continue to provide breathing gas. Keywords: diving computer, full face mask, head-up dis- Irrespective of the reasons for wearing a full play, AGA mask, head-up diving computer, tilt-compensated face mask, it provides an obvious platform in which compass to incorporate an HUD. The present study reports on the development of an HUD for a full face mask with the specific design criteria of incorpo- 1. Introduction rating a tank-integrated, Nitrox-capable dive com- Diving computers are usually integrated in a con- puter. In addition, the design criteria requires the sole, or are wrist-worn and display dive relevant display to have excellent readability independent data such as depth, time and decompression obli- of water visibility, with a virtual reading distance of gations (Azzopardi and Sayer, 2010). The continu- 1m, as well as adjustable optics, a tilt-compensated ous monitoring of such data can be extremely compass for hands-free underwater navigation important for safety when diving. However, a wrist- and an interface for additional accessories, such worn or console dive computer requires manual as the oxygen partial pressure (pO2) sensors of a action in order to read the display: the user has rebreather. to grab the console or twist the wrist-worn unit to view it. 2. Methods In contrast, a head-up display (HUD) directly mounted on a diving mask or on a mouthpiece 2.1. State-of-the-art head-up displays offers a hands-free solution to monitoring a diver’s Mounting a traditional dive computer directly in status. The freedom of not having to refer to a wrist- front of the visor of a full face mask is theoretically worn or console-mounted display is especially possible. However, a person with normal sight ability beneficial in cases where a diver is performing cannot focus on objects in such close vicinity, and hands-on underwater work, as the workflow is not so an additional optical system would have to be interrupted. An HUD can also be valuable in bad introduced in order to achieve readability. In the visibility and ‘silt out’ conditions, where the visibil- simplest form, such a system could consist of a sin- ity is impaired to such an extent that reading of a gle convex lens in the optical pathway between the dive computer display and the eye. HUDs are typi- * Contact author. E-mail address: [email protected] cally designed to produce an image of a display that 195 Sieber et al. Development of a head-up displayed diving computer capability for full face masks can be read at a more comfortable ‘virtual’ distance LED and showed an identical copy of the screen of 0.5–1.0m (Koss and Sieber, 2011a). of the primary handset. The device featured a unique optical design: the optical path of the system 2.1.1. DataMask® and CompuMask® head-up consisted of a solid polymethyl methacrylate block displays (PMMA; a transparent thermoplastic), which was The Aeris CompuMask® HUD and the Oceanic Data- glued directly onto the visor of a diving mask. Using Mask® HUD are recreational diving computers that a prism-shaped lens mounted inside the mask pro- are fully integrated into a traditional diving mask, duced a 400 × 200mm² image of the display at a based on a liquid crystal display (LCD), and have an comfortable virtual reading distance of 1m. optical system. However, they are both closed designs Along with the standard version of the display for and, therefore, permit no additional accessories traditional diving half-masks, a special design for full to be added. The masks are well designed but, at face masks was also developed. Both systems were present, are only available in one size. extensively tested in various conditions. Although the designs worked well, divers found the cable from 2.1.2. Head-mounted displays for military diving the primary handset to the HUD to be annoying. In missions addition, only very slight improper positioning of Gallagher (1999) and Belcher et al. (2003) devel- the glued-on display produced misaligned and dis- oped HUDs for countermine diving missions. The torted images. designs are larger, are more expensive to produce Problems with misalignment can be avoided by and have high-power consumption. Designed as mil- introducing a multi-lens system, with at least one itary equipment, they are not available to the public. concave and one convex lens included in order to facilitate adjusting the magnification of the virtual 2.1.3. Head-mounted displays for rebreathers image. In theory, the optical parts required for an State-of-the-art rebreathers are equipped with LED- adjustable HUD can be small (with the diameter of based HUDs. These are simple devices mounted lenses being ~10–15mm) with a similarly compact within the diver’s field of vision on a support on the pressure-proof housing. Therefore, high pressure rebreather mouthpiece. Typically they consist of one resistance can be achieved with inexpensive designs or more LED displays, but the information content fabricated from plastics. is obviously limited, as they usually can only display A prototype of an independent HUD specially the pO2 of the loop. More advanced approaches also designed for full face masks differed from previous use coding of the LEDs, usually blinking sequences, approaches by having the HUD connected via a cable to increase the information content. However, read- to a primary handset (DC). The independent elec- ing and interpretation of the sequences require tronics included with it comprised a microcontroller, both training and concentration. a 96 × 64 colour organic LED display, a digital pres- sure and temperature sensor and an analog input for 2.1.4. Graphical head-up diving computer readout of a tank pressure sensor. The device was Koss and Sieber (2011a) mounted a graphical dis- designed to be mounted outside a full face mask. play with an optical system directly onto the mouth- Although the prototype worked well, the main prob- piece of a rebreather. With a carefully positioned lem again was the ability to adjust the device. device, good readability of standard dive data was achieved. However, mouthpiece movements resulted 2.2. New design for full face mask head-up in optical misalignments where the display partly displays moved out of sight. In the same study, they achieved The current design for an HUD especially for full better results when the device was fitted to a full face masks was based on the AGA mask (Interspiro, face mask when it was mechanically fixed in a position previously part of the AGA Corporation). The AGA relative to the eyes and outside of the diving mask. design is dominant in the full face mask market However, there was still water between the ocular of and has been adopted by several other manufac- the device and the visor of the full face mask, and tures (e.g. Ocean Technology Systems (OTS) and so the readability of the display could be impaired Poseidon Diving Systems). These AGA-type masks with bad water visibility. featured a large polycarbonate visor with opaque side windows, which permitted straightforward 2.1.5. Technical diving computer with secondary retrofitting of a port. head-up display Koss and Sieber (2011a,b) developed a technical 2.2.1. Basic HUD design diving computer with trimix capability incorporated The mechanical design of the HUD was round- into an HUD. The HUD was based on a white organic shaped, with the shaft of the display fitted into the 196 Vol 30, No 4, 2012 port on the mask and sealed with a standard nitrile which is a two-axis magnetometer) that measure butadiene rubber (NBR) O-ring located in a groove the two-dimensional magnetic vectors used for on the port (Figs 1 and 2).