How Impact Subsea's ISS360 Series is Redefining Compact Sonar

Impact Subsea, a leader in subsea sensor technology, has continued to develop their ISS360 Imaging Sonar range.

Since its debut in 2020, the ISS360 is a solution for ROV and AUV navigation and target identification, offering a replacement for legacy scanning sonar systems.

A Five-Year Journey 

Launched in March 2020 as the world’s smallest scanning, imaging sonar, the ISS360, was designed to provide a step-change in capability for the underwater vehicle market.

The ISS360 Imaging Sonar has undergone development, evolving from the world’s most compact, scanning sonar into a high-definition powerhouse.

Over the past five years, Impact Subsea has maintained a development roadmap to meet the increasing demands of the subsea industry:

• 2020: The Foundation: Introduced resilient operation via inductive coupling, entirely removing the need for slip rings, a common failure point in traditional scanning sonars.
• 2021: Extreme Depth: Launched the 6,000-meter rated ISS360, featuring a Titanium housing and specialized pressure-compensated components for ultra-deepwater missions.
• 2022: High-Definition Clarity: The launch of the ISS360HD brought a 1° acoustic angular resolution and a 2.5mm range resolution, enabling operators to identify targets in zero-visibility conditions with unprecedented detail.
• 2023: Seamless Integration: Direct GitHub access to an Open-Source Software Development Kit (SDK), allowing AUV developers to integrate the sonar directly into bespoke software packages.
• 2024: Released Impact Subsea Signalling Scheme (IS³): To reduce interference between sonars operating in close proximity to each other.  This advanced signalling scheme makes use of CHIRP combined with Phase Shift modulation and coding.
• 2024: Released the ISP360: Expanding the sonar range with a profiling sonar option.

Open-Source Software Development Kit

Impact Subsea believes in empowering users to push the boundaries of subsea autonomy. To facilitate this, the company provides a free, open-source Software Development Kit (SDK) for direct integration. This operating-system-independent library, available via GitHub, has allowed AUV developers and manufacturers to integrate the ISS360 sonar directly into bespoke software packages, enabling custom interfaces and advanced vehicle autonomy.

An Upgrade for Legacy Systems

If your operations relied on recently discontinued compact scanning sonar lines, the ISS360 offers a path forward. It was designed from the ground up to exceed legacy sonar performance in every metric.

To ensure peak performance throughout the life of the sensor, Impact Subsea offers professional servicing to maintain seal integrity, O-rings and calibration.

Performance

The ISS360 has earned "performance wins" in some of the most challenging subsea environments. Notable achievements include:

• High-Value Recovery: Guiding a Mohawk ROV to recover over $1 million in lost oceanographic equipment in near-zero visibility.
• Scientific Autonomy: Integration into the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) REMUS AUVs for advanced obstacle avoidance.
• Infrastructure Lead: Trusted by Bay Dynamics for high-precision reservoir inspections.
• Cable Touchdown Monitoring: Integrated with North Sea Systems’ innovative CableFish system.

Looking forward, Impact Subsea continues to invest in the long-term development of the ISS360 and ISP360 Sonar range.  Further new developments in the ISS360 range are expected to be released later in 2026.