Device to deter hostile divers in non-lethal manner

Dr Alexander Sutin, a research professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, believes such divers could be thwarted with an acoustic device that overwhelms them with the amplified sound of their own breath.

The technique may offer US Homeland Security and the navy an alternative to underwater explosive charges or loud underwater sirens, which may negatively impact marine life.

According to a paper by Sutin and Dr Yegor Sinelnikov, current underwater sound systems to deter divers generate low frequency underwater sound that interferes with breathing, induces disorientation, panic, uncontrolled ascent to surface and decompression sickness. Strong sound with acoustic pressure above 170-180dB can cause lung and liver damage.

Marine life and other divers can suffer too because the sound is radiated in all directions.

Sutin’s idea is to detect the diver’s breathing passively instead of using an active acoustic technology such as a sonar ping. The acoustic noise given off by the diver could be used to focus acoustic energy back to the diver because he or she acts as an active self-disclosing acoustic beacon.