A diver navigation, information and safety buoy system and method. The system and method incorporate a float device, and an ultra-short baseline acoustic array in communication with a diver transponder. The system and method also include a GPS system having a GPS antenna device mounted on the float device. The system also includes an AIS system having an AIS antenna mounted on the float. A diver processor permits a diver's location information to be calculated, and the diver can be navigated to a desired destination.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a navigation system which, on the one hand, is arranged on sides of the underwater vehicle/AUV and, on the other hand, includes a surface transmitter as a counterpart. The two units communicate with each other such that the surface transmitter emits its signal directed to the position of the underwater vehicle and/or that the surface transmitter follows the underwater vehicle to improve the position determination capability.

A method is disclosed comprising: scanning for one or more signals sent by one or more beacon devices, wherein each signal of the one or more signals comprises an identifier of the beacon device, which has sent the signal of the one or more signals, wherein one or more identifiers of the one or more beacon devices are determined based on the one or more signals of the one or more beacon devices; obtaining a position information representing the position of the at least one first apparatus; and outputting a report information comprising the determined one or more identifiers of the one or more beacon devices and the position information of the at least one first apparatus to allow usage of the outputted report information to determine the position of at least one of the one or more beacon devices. A corresponding apparatus, computer program and system are also provided.

The ultrasonic homing assembly includes a base unit that may be coupled to a boat anchor. A base processor is coupled to the base unit. A transmitter is coupled to the base unit. The transmitter is operationally coupled to the processor. The transmitter transmits a location signal. A remote unit may be worn by a diver. A remote processor is coupled to the remote unit. A receiver is coupled to the remote unit. The receiver is operationally coupled to the remote processor. The receiver receives the location signal from the transmitter. A display is coupled to the remote unit. The display is operationally coupled to the processor. The display directs the diver toward the base unit. The diver swims toward the boat anchor.

A system and corresponding method perform underwater distance determination. The system comprises a hydrophone unit (HU) located at a reference point, a first sensor module (SM), and a second SM, each located underwater. The first SM sends a first sensor-to-hydrophone data signal and a first sensor-to-hydrophone synchronization signal to the HU and sends a first inter-sensor synchronization signal to the second SM. The second SM sends, responsive to receipt of the first inter-sensor synchronization signal from the first SM, a second inter-sensor synchronization signal to the first SM. The second SM sends a second sensor-to-hydrophone data signal to the HU. The first SM measures a time value representing a total travel time of the first inter-sensor synchronization signal from the first SM and second inter-sensor synchronization signal from the second SM and calculates a distance between the first SM and second SM based on the time value measured.

A communication system using vector and scalar potential is disclosed. The system uses field-free potentials signaling for many applications where the absence of shielding effects in sea water, plasma or other dense media due to the fact that the absence of (E,B) fields eliminates the possibility of induced charge and current response in the media being transited.

A method (1000) for determining a position deviation of a first node the method comprising obtaining (1110) input data, at a first and second position. Said input data comprises, an estimated position of the first node (p1) and a first velocity vector (v1) of the first node, obtaining (1120) the exact position (p.sub.2*) of the second node; obtaining (1125) the emitted frequency (f.sub.e) of an acoustic signal a source; (1130) receiving the acoustic signal (S) and measuring the observed frequency; calculating (1140) a second velocity vector (v12) which defines the velocity of the first node in relation to the second node; and calculating (1150), the angle () between the first velocity vector and the second velocity vector; determining (1160) based on the angle, the first velocity vector, and the estimated position of the first node, a line of direction (L) indicating the direction from the estimated position of the first node towards an estimated position of the second node, and determining (1300) based on a first and second line of direction an intersection point defining the estimated position of the second node (p.sub.2); determining (1400) a deviation vector (V.sub.d) corresponding to the difference between the estimated position of the second node and the exact position of the second node, and determining (1500) the position deviation of the first node which corresponds to the deviation vector. The disclosure further relates to a positioning system for determining a position deviation for a first node and an underwater vehicle.

Disclosed are a position locking method of an underwater equipment, a terminal device, a system and a medium. The method comprises: acquiring an optical image and a sonar image taken by an underwater equipment; obtaining a target image by synthesizing the optical image and the sonar image, the target image including at least a target object; determining position offset information of the target object according to the target image; and generating position control parameters of the underwater equipment according to the position offset information, and sending position control parameters to the underwater equipment to make the underwater equipment to lock a position according to the position control parameters. The present application greatly reduces operation difficulty of the underwater equipment in turbid or undercurrent water areas.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a navigation system which, on the one hand, is arranged on sides of the underwater vehicle/AUV and, on the other hand, includes a surface transmitter as a counterpart. The two units communicate with each other such that the surface transmitter emits its signal directed to the position of the underwater vehicle and/or that the surface transmitter follows the underwater vehicle to improve the position determination capability.