09/03/2026
We are often asked how accurate the calculated diver position is.
Diver6 calculates the diver's geographic position using the boat's GPS location together with the range and bearing reported by the X150 beacon. The boat's magnetic heading is corrected for local magnetic declination before the diver's latitude and longitude are calculated.
The X150 beacon provides range measurements with a resolution of approximately ±0.1 m and an angular resolution of approximately ±1°. Because angular uncertainty has a greater effect as distance increases, the potential position error increases with the diver's distance from the boat.
For example, a 1° angular uncertainty corresponds to approximately:
1.7 m at 100 m
4.4 m at 250 m
8.7 m at 500 m
17.5 m at 1,000 m
As a practical rule of thumb, an accuracy of approximately 2% of the distance to the diver is a reasonable expectation under good operating conditions.
The final calculated position can also be affected by the accuracy of the boat's GPS and magnetic compass, as well as equipment installation, calibration and environmental conditions. Diver6 can use the tablet's built-in GPS and supported compass, or users can provide external GPS and compass sources when greater positioning or heading accuracy is required. Higher-accuracy external sensors can therefore improve the overall accuracy of the calculated diver position.
Diver6 uses high-precision geodetic calculations to convert these measurements into latitude and longitude, so the accuracy of the calculated position is primarily determined by the GPS, compass and acoustic measurements rather than by the coordinate calculation itself.
