To ensure diver safety it is essential to monitor and control the rate of change (ROC) of pressure to avoid hazardous rates of decompression. If the ROC is too high there is an increased risk of divers suffering the bends.
The SDA ROC monitor provides alarms that are based not on the depth level but on the rate at which the depth is changing.
The SDA ROC monitors the pressure of an occupied dive chamber and triggers an alarm if the rate of change is too high. It does this by sampling readings from a depth sensor and applying an algorithm to smooth the effects of any sudden changes. The SDA uses the readings to calculate the ROC value which it then compares against its pre-set alarm thresholds.