Instrumentation – Our Algorithm

Aqualung’s Pelagic Pressure Systems has had long history of developing decompression algorithms for safe diving. The principal designer of these algorithms is Dr. John E. Lewis, who has been with Pelagic for over 34 years. He is one of very few people in the world that have the knowledge to develop the algorithms that are used in dive computers.

Dr. Lewis earned his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Applied Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology. He has been influential in the dive community, as the principal author of “The Recreational Diver’s Guide to Decompression Theory, Dive Tables, and Dive Computers” and as a member of the Underwater Hyperbaric Medical Society.

Dr. Lewis wrote the proprietary Pelagic Z+ (PZ+) algorithm employed in Aqualung’s computers. The PZ+ algorithm is based on the Bühlmann ZHL-16C algorithm and is a favored recreational algorithm for the safety conscious diver.