Ensuring Reliable Navigation for Tactical Divers

Diver navigation has long presented a challenge. Ensuring diver safety is crucial, and the consequences of not having reliable navigation and position information are far greater for missions using divers than ROVs or other uncrewed systems. UK-based Blueprint Subsea’s Artemis diver navigation systems are engineered to give operators confidence and control in such situations.

Accurate positioning and dead-reckoning navigation capabilities are essential for maintaining situational awareness and keeping divers safe during long-duration underwater missions. Blueprint relies on Nortek’s DVL technology as part of these diver navigation systems to provide accurate velocity information in challenging underwater environments.

The Artemis systems are deployed primarily by two specialist groups in the defense space: Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) divers and combat swimmers. EOD divers must locate, identify, and investigate underwater ordnance and mines. For these divers, precise navigation and positional awareness are critical to safety and mission success. Combat swimmers rely on Artemis to execute covert insertion and extraction missions, navigating accurately to designated targets and returning undetected.

As part of the Artemis navigation system, the DVL measures velocity relative to the seabed. When integrated into the navigation system, this makes dead-reckoning navigation possible, providing navigation information for divers even in the absence of satellite