SUBSEA SERVICES

Divex take the plunge in diver communication

16 years ago

International diving equipment technology company Divex has launched a communication system for the saturation diver that claims a new benchmark for offshore safety and wellbeing worldwide.

The HeliCom Matrix alongside other life support instrumentation within the control room of a saturation diving system at the Divex headquarters in Westhill, Scotland.

Divex, which is headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland, has launched HeliCom, the Helium Speech Unscrambler Communication System. HeliCom is the result of market driven demand for a communications system that ensures clear, concise and intelligible communication for divers operating in extreme depths and conditions.

Saturation divers use helium as the major component of the special breathing gas mixture called heliox (a mixture of helium and oxygen). One of the disadvantages of helium is the ‘Donald Duck’ effect on the voice which complicates the communication process. Early helium speech unscramblers created a lot of distortion which made it difficult for reliable diver communication.

Divex’s HeliCom achieves crystal clear diver helium voice communication through advanced DSP (digital signal processing) helium speech decoding techniques. The helium speech from the pressurised divers and the chamber occupants are mixed in an audio mixer before decoding to the selected gas and environmental settings by a digital signal processing (DSP) circuit. This has been the key element of HeliCom’s success, the clarity of speech irrespective of the depth the diver is working at.

HeliCom is available in a range of models allowing for the differing pressurised environments including the Saturation Chamber, the Diving Bell and the Hyperbaric Lifeboat.

HeliCom is available in two formats; a modular system for existing saturation dive systems and the HeliCom Matrix, an integrated touch screen communication and entertainment system. The HeliCom modular system has been installed and is operational in the new dive support vessels, Skandi Arctic (Technip) and Subsea 7’s Seven Atlantic, while the HeliCom Matrix is being installed on board DOF Subsea’s Skandi Singapore..

Divex’s joint MD Derek Clarke commented, ‘Helicom is well beyond anything that currently exists in the market place. The team at Divex have designed and built a cost effective saturation communications system that for the first time utilises advanced digital signal processing.’