Recreational Dive Planner

The PADI recreational dive planner, in "Wheel" format.

The Recreational Dive Planner (or RDP) is a decompression table in which no-stop time under-water is calculated.^[1] The RDP was developed by DSAT and was the first dive table developed exclusively for recreational, no stop diving.^[2] There are four types of RDPs: the original table version first introduced in 1988 along with a circular slide rule version called The Wheel, followed by the eRDP, an electronic version introduced in 2005 and the eRDPML, an electronic multi-level version introduced in 2008.

RDPs are almost always used in conjunction with dive log books to record and monitor pressure depth and residual nitrogen levels.

The low price and convenience of many modern dive computers mean that many recreational divers only use tables such as the RDP for a short time during training before moving on to use a diving computer. Dive computers are also used as they calculate no-decompression limits based on the whole dive whereas the RDP is much more conservative and assumes a square profile dive where the diver spends the entire dive at one depth. Although this is much more conservative, dive computers provide much more dive time and therefore are the more popular option with most divers.

References

1. Duis, D. (1991). "Using the Recreational Diver Planner for multi-level diving.". In: Hans-Jurgen, K; Harper Jr, DE (eds.) International Pacifica Scientific Diving... 1991. (Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences Eleventh Annual Scientific Diving Symposium held 25-30 September 1991. University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii). Retrieved 2011-10-17.
2. Hamilton Jr RW, Rogers RE, Powell MR (1994). "Development and validation of no-stop decompression procedures for recreational diving: the DSAT recreational dive planner.". Tarrytown, NY: Diving Science & Technology Corp. Retrieved 2008-03-17.