US 12,294,401 B2
Underwater wearable device, communication system comprising the same and communication method
Koen Cornelis Hubertus Blom, The Hague (NL); Paul Louis Maria Joseph Van Neer, Bergschenhoek (NL); Mark Kevan Prior, The Hague (NL); Henry Simon Dol, Capelle aan den IJssel (NL); and Jan-Laurens Pieter Jacobus Van Der Steen, Eindhoven (NL)
Assigned to Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek TNO, The Hague (NL)
Appl. No. 17/923,370
Filed by Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek TNO, The Hague (NL)
PCT Filed May 17, 2021, PCT No. PCT/NL2021/050317
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 4, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/235932, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 25, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 20175241 (EP), filed on May 18, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0208465 A1, Jun. 29, 2023
Int. Cl. H04B 13/02 (2006.01); H04B 1/3827 (2015.01)
CPC H04B 1/385 (2013.01) [H04B 13/02 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A communication system comprising:
a first underwater wearable device provided with a first communication module that comprises:
a signal source configured to provide an input signal to be transmitted; and
an acoustic transmitter configured to convert the input signal into an acoustic signal suitable for transmission in water and to transmit the acoustic signal; and
a second underwater wearable device provided with a second communication module that comprises:
an acoustic receiver configured to receive a transmitted version of the acoustic signal and to convert the received transmitted version of the acoustic signal into a processable signal; and
a signal processor configured to process the processable signal;
wherein the first underwater wearable device with the first communication module and the second underwater wearable device with the second communication module are configured to be worn at mutually distant locations of a swimmer,
wherein the communication system is configured to derive information pertaining to the swimmer from properties of the received transmitted version of the acoustic signal, and
wherein the properties are due to behavior of the acoustic signal in water,
wherein the mutually distant locations at which the underwater wearable device with the first communication module and the underwater wearable device with the second communication module are configured to be worn by the swimmer are axially different,
wherein the signal processor of the second communication module is configured to determine a delay with which the received transmitted version of the acoustic signal is received by the second communication module from the first communication module,
wherein the second communication module is configured to transmit an acoustic signal with an indication of the delay to the first communication module,
wherein the first communication module comprises a signal processor configured to determine a further delay with which a received transmitted version of the acoustic signal from the second communication module is received, and
wherein the signal processor of the first communication module is configured to provide an estimate, as the information pertaining to the swimmer, of a relative velocity of the swimmer relative to the water from the difference between the delay and the further delay.