Use of neural networks in telemedical monitoring of divers

Abstract

An artificial neural network (ANN) has been developed to predict and classify the risk of medical disorders for certain dive profiles. The telemedical data applied to the ANN represent different physiological and physical parameters that are transmitted acoustically from a diver to a remote receiver. The telemetered data include dive time, maximum depth and decompression stop times and depths. Preliminary tests demonstrated the successful performance of the ANN where classical mathematical and statistical methods had failed due to the complex nature and variability of the parameters involved.