About Us

Where did the idea for the Diver DACAD system come from?

In 2007, New Zealander Dr Peter Johnson, an engineering consultant and water treatment plant designer, watched a team of commercial divers working inside a water reservoir and was surprised at the “primitive” system they used to both communicate in the water and record data.

Every time a diver went in and out of the water he gave the supervisor his gauge readings and calculations were manually carried out to support the dive. As well, the supervisor communicated with the divers via a rope – one tug meant something, two tugs meant something else.

Believing there was a better and more efficient way to both communicate with divers and record valuable information, Dr Johnson began researching the world stage to find out what was available. Somewhat surprisingly, given the simplicity of the system he was thinking about, there was very little  available and nothing in his area of research.

From these beginnings the Diver DACAD System was formed. As a long-time and passionate recreational diver, Dr Johnson understood the vagaries of diving in changeable conditions. The DACAD (Data Acquisition Communication and Display) system he has developed and patented, allows SCUBA divers to be monitored remotely from the surface for depth, air, water temperature and range to diver.

Facts about diving problems

FACT:

• 5% of ALL dives have procedural or equipment issues (Divers Alert Network 2006) • 1 in 150,000 dives in the UK is fatal (Health and Safety Executive UK) • 1 in 100,000 dives in the US is fatal (Divers Alert Network 2006)

 

In 2005, 441 (British Sub-Aqua Club UK) diving incidents were reported in the United Kingdom and of these there were:

• 17 diver fatalities
• 110 decompression incidents
• 98 accent issues
• 90 boat surface issues
• 20 equipment failure incidents
• 106 other types of incidents