Dive Computer Support

Overview

Kenozooid allows to fetch data from dive computers produced by different manufacturers. Also, it is possible to use some unique features of specific dive computers like performing simulation (or in the future changing dive computer configuration).

For each dive computer supported by Kenozooid, there is a driver implemented with appropriate capabilities.

The supported dive computers and their drivers are listed in the table below.

Dive computer

Driver

OSTC, OSTC Mk.1, OSTC 2N

ostc

OSTC 2, OSTC Plus, OSTC Sport, OSTC 3

hwos

Sensus Ultra

su

To list the capabilities of dive computers (see below for description) execute drivers command:

kz drivers

which gives the following output:

Available drivers:

dummy (Dummy Device Driver): simulation
hwos (hwOS Driver): backup
ostc (OSTC Driver): simulation, backup
su (Sensus Ultra Driver): backup

The device driver ids (dummy, ostc, su above) should be used with Kenozooid dive computer related commands like backup, convert or simulation commands, for example:

kz backup ostc /dev/ttyUSB0 backup-ostc-20090214.uddf
kz convert ostc ostc-20090214.dump backup-ostc-20090214.uddf
kz sim replay ostc /dev/ttyUSB0 1 backup-ostc-20090214.uddf

Driver Capabilities

The list of possible dive computer driver capabilities is as follows

backup

Dive computer data backup to fetch configuration and all stored dive data with dive profiles, see Data Backup.

simulation

Switch dive computer into dive mode and perform real time dive simulation, see Dive Simulation.

Troubleshooting

A dive computer related command can result with an error message like:

kz: Driver "ostc" cannot communicate with a device at port "/dev/ttyUSB0"

The possible reasons for above message can be

  1. Is a dive computer connected to your personal computer? Execute the command:

    dmesg -a | less

    and look for output similar to the following:

    usb 2-1.1: new full speed USB device number 4 using ehci_hcd
usb 2-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=0403, idProduct=6001
usb 2-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
usb 2-1.1: Product: HeinrichsWeikamp OSTC
usb 2-1.1: Manufacturer: FTDI
usb 2-1.1: SerialNumber: A4RTV8TO
USB Serial support registered for FTDI USB Serial Device
ftdi_sio 2-1.1:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
usb 2-1.1: Detected FT232RL
usb 2-1.1: Number of endpoints 2
usb 2-1.1: Endpoint 1 MaxPacketSize 64
usb 2-1.1: Endpoint 2 MaxPacketSize 64
usb 2-1.1: Setting MaxPacketSize 64
usb 2-1.1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB1

    At the end of the last line above it is indicated that a dive computer is connected to /dev/ttyUSB1 device (not usual /dev/ttyUSB0 used across this document).

  2. Is the dive computer switched on? Some dive computers will not switch automatically on when connected to a personal computer.

  3. Are the device file (i.e. /dev/ttyUSB0, /dev/ttyUSB1) permissions correct? Execute the command:

    ls -l /dev/ttyUSB0

    The output can be:

    crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 4, 23 Aug 25 01:30 /dev/ttyUSB0

    Above means, that only user root and users belonging to group dialout have read-write access to dive computer (for more about Unix file permissions notation, see the wikipedia article).

    Use command id to check groups your system user belongs to:

    $ id
uid=1000(ttrav) gid=1000(users) groups=1000(users),10(wheel),16(dialout),17(proc)

Data Backup

The data in a dive computer memory, like configuration settings or dive profiles, is usually kept in some binary format specific to a dive computer model or manufacturer.

Kenozooid backup command provides functionality to fetch and store such dive computer memory data in a backup file.

The backup files are useful in several situations

  • snapshot of dive computer data is preserved - if data processing software uses universal data format independent from dive computer model or manufacturer (i.e. UDDF), then, when new software features or bug fixes are implemented, the data in universal format can be extracted from a snapshot

  • the binary data from a backup can be sent to developers of data parsing software to investigate software related problems

  • or it can be sent to dive computer manufacturer to investigate dive computer related problems

To create a backup file of OSTC dive computer data:

$ kz backup ostc /dev/ttyUSB0 backup-ostc-20090214.uddf

or to backup Sensus Ultra data:

$ kz backup su /dev/ttyUSB0 backup-su-20090214.uddf

During the backup, Kenozooid extracts dive data from binary data and stores both binary and dive data in a backup file. This allows to access the dive computer data with other Kenozooid commands immediately. For example, to list the dives (see Listing and Searching) from a backup file:

$ kz dive list backup-su-20090214.uddf

Dive Data Extraction

Kenozooid provides a command to extract dive data from a backup file containing dive computer binary data stored. As mentioned above, the command can be very useful when Kenozooid new functionality or bug fixes are implemented.

To extract dives from a backup file run dive extract command:

$ kz dive extract backup-su-20090214.uddf backup-su-20090214-01.uddf

The dive extract command behaves in similar way to backup command - the dive data is stored along with binary data, which was used as source of extraction. Therefore, the new file (backup-su-20090214-01.uddf in above example) can be used as dive extraction source once again and old file can be removed.

Binary Data Import

The Kenozooid backup command produces files compliant with UDDF. This allows to describe stored binary data, i.e. with date and time of fetching the data and dive computer model information.

There are applications, which dump dive computer memory as binary, raw file. Such files can be converted (imported) by Kenozooid into UDDF file with convert command.

To convert OSTC dive computer binary data into UDDF format:

$ kz convert ostc ostc-20090214.dump backup-ostc-20090214.uddf

As in case of backup and dive extract commands, the UDDF file contains both dive data and binary data

  • the dive data in UDDF file can be accessed with other Kenozooid commands

  • or the UDDF file can be reprocessed with dive extract command when necessary

  • the source of conversion can be safely removed

Dive Simulation

Ability to perform dive simulation implemented in some of dive computers can be great tool to familiarize yourself with computer screens and features present during diving.

Kenozooid supports switching dive computers into simulation mode using sim plan and sim replay commands. The commands supply dive computer with depth values in intervals of time. The depths and time intervals can be generated from a dive plan (sim plan) or taken from an existing dive profile (sim replay).

It is worth noting that real time dive simulation is described in this section, therefore real life rules may apply to some of dive computers, for example

  • when dive is started, then computer switches into dive mode at appropriate depth; it depends on dive computer configuration

  • when you reach surface, then computer may wait some time before exiting dive mode, if another simulation is started too fast, then it is counted as one dive

Please, read about dive simulation capabilities in your dive computer manual before starting to use Kenozooid to simulate dives.

Dive Replay

Existing dive profile can be replayed with a dive computer having dive simulation capabilities, i.e. OSTC. Kenozooid supports such functionality with sim replay command.

To replay first dive from a backup file:

kz sim replay ostc /dev/ttyUSB0 -k 1 backup-ostc-20090214.uddf

Dive Plan Simulation

Simulation of a dive plan is performed using sim plan command.

Sample dive plan could be as follows

Run Time

Depth

0:30

10

3:30

10

13:30

0

which can be described as

  • dive starts at zero meters

  • within 30 seconds diver reaches 10m

  • diver stays at 10m for 3 minutes (leaves 10m at 3:30)

  • then goes to the surface with 10m/min speed

  • finally reaches surface at 13:30

To perform simulation of above dive plan with OSTC dive computer:

kz sim plan ostc /dev/ttyUSB0 '0:30,10 3:30,10 13:30,0'

Dive specification is space separated list of dive run times and depth values.

Time can be specified in seconds (i.e. 15, 20, 3600) or in minutes (i.e. 12:20, 14:00, 67:13). Depth is always specified in meters.

Partial Automatic Simulation

Kenozooid allows not only to execute end-to-end simulation (start from surface, perform dive, finish at surface) but as well part of simulation, i.e. start simulation, dive to some depth starting from surface and exit Kenozooid leaving dive computer in simulation mode to allow a diver to continue simulation using dive computer buttons.

To support such flexiblity, two options are provided

  • no start option allows to start Kenozooid without restarting dive simulation

  • no stop option leaves dive simulation running on Kenozooid exit

For example, to leave dive computer at 10m depth and then continue simulation with dive computer buttons:

kz --no-stop sim plan ostc /dev/ttyUSB0 '0:30,10'

Above simulation can be continued manually or it can be stopped using Kenozooid:

kz --no-start sim plan ostc /dev/ttyUSB0 '0,10 1:00,0'

To execute part of dive plan, no start and no stop options can be used at once. For example, to ascend from 30m to 20m within 2 minutes:

kz --no-start --no-stop sim plan ostc /dev/ttyUSB0 '0,30 120,20'

All times are run times from the moment, when Kenozooid is started.