Uwatec has designed an ARM Cortex-M3 32bit microcontroller from Energy Micro into its Meridian diving computer.
Energy Micro is known for designing extremely low power peripherals for its microcontrollers.
This particular one,an EFM32G890,has a 0.55μA LCD controller,runs at 32MHz at under 6mA,and has five sleep modes(three under 1μA)-some of which allow peripherals to talk to each other with the core off.
Running on a CR2032 cell,Meridian is designed for use at 120m depth(aided by a sapphire front window)and runs an algorithm to manage multi-gas decompression that takes account of heart rate.
"Our adaptive algorithm,which accounts for the effects of workload,micro bubbles and temperature for every dive,is more advanced than basic time/pressure based diving algorithms.However,the added complexity requires 32bit calculation power and energy efficiency,"said Reima Holopainen,R&D manager of Uwatec.
While diving,the Meridian can be configured to display dive information including depth,dive time,decompression status,and water temperature.
"It operates in three modes:apnea,scuba or gauge,and can store over 50 hours of diving data.The dive profiles can be downloaded,edited and reviewed on a personal computer,"said Uwatec.
Above the surface it handles remaining de-saturation time,no-fly time,and features a built in thermometer and altimeter for mountain walking.
