Impact Subsea adds full backscatter capability to underwater altimeter
Impact Subsea, a leading provider of underwater sensors, has announced the addition of a new feature to its ISA500 range of altimeters and echosounders – Echogram. This new feature adds a full backscatter capability to the ISA500, enabling the underwater altimeter to be upgraded to 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 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, 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 licence.
