Impact Subsea is pleased to announce the launch of the ISA200, the latest addition to its advanced range of underwater altimeters and single beam echosounders.

Operating at 200kHz, the ISA200 offers an impressive measurement range exceeding 250 meters (820 feet) with exceptional accuracy to within 1mm. Engineered for the most demanding subsea environments, the ISA200 is depth rated to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet) and delivers a precise 15.2° conical beam, providing reliable long-range performance for a wide range of applications.

Designed to function both as an underwater altimeter and as a high-performance echosounder, the ISA200 offers flexible measurement capabilities for AUV, ROV and hydrographic survey operations. When operating as an echosounder, the ISA200 delivers detailed sonar backscatter data, providing up to 2,000 sample points per ping, each with associated energy and correlation values enabling comprehensive seabed analysis.

Data from the ISA200 can be easily viewed and logged using Impact Subsea’s seaView software or seamlessly integrated into third-party systems. For straightforward integration, the sensor supports simple ASCII data output, while the Impact Subsea Software Development Kit (SDK) provides developers with complete control over the sensor’s operation and data handling.

Commenting on the product launch, Ben Grant, Managing Director of Impact Subsea, said:

“We are excited to expand our altimeter and echosounder range with the introduction of the ISA200. This sensor offers exceptional long-range measurement capabilities and will deliver significant benefits to users in AUV, ROV and hydrographic survey applications.”

ISA200 full specification can be found here: https://www.impactsubsea.co.uk/altimeter/

This new feature adds a full backscatter capability to the ISA500, enabling the underwater Altimeter to be upgraded to have a full single beam imaging sonar capability.

Underwater Altimeters typically provide only a single range reading per ping. However, with the addition of ECHOGRAM, the water column and seabed can be fully visualized, allowing for visual identification of targets. This provides up to 2,000 samples per ping, with each sample representing the correlation level of acoustic signal return at its particular point in the range.

The ISA500 is available in Titanium or Acetal and can be used at depths ranging from 1,000m to 11,000m. It is also optionally available with or without an integrated AHRS providing Heading, Pitch, and Roll. Additionally, it is available for use as part of a Flooded Member Detection System.

Ben Grant, Managing Director of Impact Subsea Ltd, said;

“Since the launch of the ISA500 in 2015, we have continued to add capabilities and features to this range of sensors. The addition of backscatter capability is one which we are very excited about. As a firmware update, all ISA500 sensors can have this feature enabled – even the very first sensors produced back in 2015.”

The ECHOGRAM capability can be added to all ISA500 Altimeters through a firmware and software upgrade, complete with a one-time activation license.

ECHOGRAM App in seaView Software:

For more information on the ISA500, please visit the ISA500 page on Impact Subsea’s website or their knowledge base.

Rental Technology & Services (RTS) have made a significant investment in Impact Subsea ISA500 Altimeters and ISD4000 Depth Sensors. 

The investment is to compliment RTS’s rental portfolio with high performance sensor solutions and provide rental stock for the newly opened Aberdeen base.  The ISA500 provides long range, high accuracy, underwater distance measurements while the ISD4000 provides survey grade depth and temperature readings.

Dale Townend, UK Technical Manager, RTS, commented:

‘’I’ve always been impressed with the range of products Impact Subsea offers and I’m excited that we can invest and add these to our rental portfolio.

Their commitment to innovative technology matches what we offer to our client base therefore it makes sense for us to add the ISD4000 and ISA500 to match our clients’ requirements and demand”.

Ben Grant, Managing Director, Impact Subsea further commented:

“We are pleased to work with RTS with the provision of underwater Altimeters and Depth sensors. We see an ever growing demand for rental solutions and welcome RTS’s investment and commitment to offer Impact Subsea sensor solutions to their clients”.   

RTS is an international provider of electronic engineering equipment for the underwater industry. The company provides technical solutions to the world’s major offshore companies involved in fish farming, renewables, inspection, seabed mapping and subsea construction projects.

Impact Subsea manufactures a range of underwater sensor solutions for AUV, ROV and standalone operation. Their range includes high performance Altimeters, Depth Sensors, Attitude & Heading Reference Systems, Sonars and Flooded Member Detection systems. 

For more information on RTS please see here.

For more information on Impact Subsea’s products please see here.

Impact Subsea are delighted to receive a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation.

The ground-breaking ISA500 Altimeter has been recognised by the UK’s most prestigious business awards, personally approved by Her Majesty, The Queen. One of only 205 organisations recognised with the prestigious award this year, Impact Subsea join 48 recipients in the Innovation Category. 

The award acknowledges the ISA500’s step-changing impact within the field of underwater Altimeters; in terms of distance measurement range, accuracy and new functionality previously unseen in the market. 

Launched in 2015, the ISA500 Altimeter provides an in-built heading, pitch and roll system allowing automatic stabilisation of the distance measurement by correcting for pitch and roll of the vehicle. 

Since its launch the ISA500 has gone from a single sensor solution to a range of underwater Altimeters available in different housing materials and configurations.  It is also one of only two underwater Altimeters in the world to be available for use down to 11,000 meters depth. 

Impact Subsea, Managing Director Ben Grant comments. 

“We are honoured to receive the Queens Award for Enterprise for Innovation”

“Our team works tirelessly on new innovative underwater sensing solutions and are greatly honoured by this recognition. I am delighted by this acknowledgement and extremely proud of the team at Impact Subsea”

The ISA500 was the company’s first offering to the subsea market and provided Impact Subsea with a strong technology platform to further develop their innovative sensor portfolio. The company now offers a range of underwater Altimeters, Depth Sensors, Attitude and Heading Reference Systems and the world’s most compact Imaging Sonar.

The Queen’s Award for Enterprise recognises Impact Subsea’s commitment to innovation. The ISA500 undergoes continuous developments to ensure that it remains at the forefront of underwater altimeter technology.

The use of Impact Subsea technology in a non-contact underwater measurement system for hot water drilled ice boreholes has been covered in a recent paper.

Developed and deployed by the British Antarctic Survey, the system is covered in the paper “Non-contact measurement system for hot water drilled ice boreholes”.   The paper covers the use of a programmable borehole measurement system.  The system was deployed during the ‘Bed Access And Monitoring of Ice Sheet History’ (BEAMISH) project to drill to the bed of the Rutford Ice Stream in West Antarctica.

The hot water drilling BMS operates autonomously after deployment, obtaining non-contact measurements of the borehole diameter as well as the water column pressure, heading and inclination.

This application utilised three of Impact Subsea’s ISA500 Altimeters to obtain high accuracy non-contact measurements of the borehole diameter.  An OEM version of the Impact Subsea ISD4000 Depth sensor was used to provide high accuracy depth and pressure readings together with secondary AHRS functions (Heading, Pitch & Roll).

In addition to the above sensor technology, Impact Subsea designed and supplied the housings for the Battery Logger Unit, Hole Measurement Unit and Sideways Looking Cameras used in this project.

Ben Grant, Managing Director, Impact Subsea commented: “We are delighted to see the success of this project and are proud to have assisted the British Antarctic Survey team through the provision of our underwater sensor technology and pressure housing services”

The full paper is available online here.

To learn more about the Impact Subsea technology used on this project, please see the following links:

ISA500 Underwater Altimeters

ISD4000 Depth & Temperature Sensors

ISP1 & 2 Pressure Housings

To learn more about the British Antarctic Survey please click here.

Depth rated to 11,000 meters, the ISA500-11K provides the highest levels of stability, accuracy and range, setting a new standard for deep water altimeters.

Based on the architecture of the ISA500 range of Altimeters, the ISA500-11K has distance measurement capability in excess of 120 meters and proven millimetre accuracy.

With optional integrated Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS), the sensor can also provide highly stable Heading, Pitch and Roll readings.

Provided in robust titanium housing and fitted with Subconn BH8M-SS connector as standard, the altimeter is built to withstand the harshest of underwater environments.  In comparison to the existing ISA500 range of Altimeters, the ISA500-11K makes use of a newly designed transducer, housing and endcap. The same core electronics that are used in all ISA500 Altimeters is maintained allowing full software configuration of the Altimeter.

All readings can be displayed in an easy-to-use software interface or output to a third party system; making the ISA500-11K a very simple Altimeter to use in a multitude of applications.  At only 109mm/4.3″ long and 47mm/1.85″ wide the ISA500-11K is an ideal solution for applications where space and weight are critical considerations.

Commenting on the launch, Ben Grant, Managing Director stated: “With continuing missions to explore the depths of the sea; the ISA500-11K provides an excellent option for long range and high accuracy altitude measurements at the deepest of locations”.

Further details of the ISA500-11K sensor can be found here.

As part of Impact Subsea’s continuous product development a significant update to the ISA500 family of underwater Altimeters has been released today.

The update changes the ISA500’s ‘Strongest’ echo detection algorithm, significantly increasing the range capability of the sensor.

An increase in the number of echoes which the ISA500 can detect from a single ping has been implemented.  This allows the sensor to detect a strong returning echo (the seabed) despite the presence of a large number of smaller echoes.

This update allows a longer range to be achieved while also providing higher stability in high multi-echo environments such as water with a large amount of suspended sediment.

In testing, ranges in excess of 170 meters were found to be readily achievable in the presence of a good acoustic reflector (rocky seabed).

All new ISA500 Altimeters will be provided with this latest update.

Commenting on the update, Ben Grant, Managing Director stated ‘Previous to this firmware update the ISA500 led the underwater altimeter market in range and accuracy capability.  With this update, the ISA500 sets a new standard in 500kHz Altimeter range capability which will greatly assist our customer base. As with all firmware and software updates, this firmware update is available free of charge to all ISA500 Altimeter users’.

The ISA500 family of Altimeters are standard fit sensors on a range of underwater Remotely Operated and Autonomous Vehicles.  The sensor is also utilised on magnetometers and in a variety of underwater range measurement applications where high accuracy measurements are required.

To obtain the updated firmware, please contact support@impactsubsea.co.uk and provide the serial number of the ISA500 sensor to be updated.

Full details of the ISA500 range of underwater altimeters can be found here.

Impact Subsea is pleased to announce the delivery of ISA500 units to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

The ISA500 units have been selected to monitor the position of an ice boring tool in the Antarctic hundreds of meters below the surface.

During deployment of the ice boring tool, the ISA500 units measure the distance at multiple points from the tool to the outer bore wall.  This allows the bore diameter to be monitored and regulated during the deployment of the tool.

Chosen for this application due to the ISA500’s small form factor, high accuracy and ability to repeatedly resolve distance measurement to the nearest millimetre.  This enables a very high accuracy positioning solution of the boring tool to be provided.

The ISA500 is an underwater Altimeter/Range measurement device which utilises sonar techniques to derive distance measurement. The unit provides a 120 meter range measurement capability with millimetre accuracy.  The ISA500 can optionally be provided with an integrated Attitude & Heading Reference System, providing Heading, Pitch and Roll.  Typically used on underwater vehicles for Altitude measurement, the ISA500 also has uses in the Dredging, Magnetometer, Survey and Asset Monitoring applications.

For further information regarding Impact Subsea or the ISA500, please visit our products page.  For further information on the British Antarctic Survey, please visit www.bas.ac.uk

To assist in integration of the ISA500 unit into various vehicles and subsea systems, the ISA500 is now available in right angle transducer form.

The performance and capability of the unit is as per the standard ISA500.

Both the forward looking and right angled units are available in Titanium (depth rated to 4,000m) or Delrin® (depth rated to 1,000m).

The ISA500 range of Altimeters provide range capability (120 meters) usually only found in 200kHz systems – but with the accuracy of a 500kHz unit.  Further, the ISA500 units can optionally be provided with an in-build AHRS – providing Heading, Pitch & Roll.

Aside from the added capability of an in-built AHRS, the Pitch & Roll values help to stabilise the altitude reading – providing slant range correction.  This ensures that an accurate altitude reading is always provided.

Further details of the ISA500 family of Altimeters is available on the Products page.