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Location device winner announced
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The result of a competition to design an affordable diver location aid has been announced.
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The winner of the DiveTrack competition, run by BSAC and the Institution of Engineering and Technology, is Team NU-Tritech, a partnership of Tritech International Ltd and Newcastle University researchers.
The competition was created in memory of Penny Glover, BSAC's rebreather expert who died while diving in 2005. A satellite communications engineer, she was a member of the IET.
The competition gave entrants about six months to submit project plans, by mid-April this year, with selected finalists to produce prototypes by the end of August.
The device had to be able to locate a diver down to 200m and over a range of 400m, over at least 48 hours. It had to be commercially viable, and cost under ?150 to make.
Four entered, two were named as finalists and one then withdrew, leaving Team NU-Tech.
A simplified version of an existing Tritech product, the device incorporates a small transceiver to be worn on a diver's arm, and a surface reception unit connected via a transducer suspended on a cable.
A six-strong BSAC team tested the device off the Scottish coast and in a loch, and declared it fundamentally viable. Range proved to be over 400m, though depth-testing, which was only to 30m, was successful.
A direction finder would be needed, while an underwater handheld receptor option would allow monitoring of divers in a wreck or other overhead environment.
Team NU-Tech said that, if production exceeded 1000 units, a ?500 device with more sophisticated transducer and GPS facility was feasible. It has received the DiveTrack prize of ?5000, donated by Penny Glover's family and friends.
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