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SOMAG AG Jena Wins Award

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Tag: Gyro Stabilization Mount

Grand Prix for medium-sized businesses

SOMAG AG Jena Wins Prestigious Mittelstand Award

Jena-based SOMAG AG has been recognized as a 2023 recipient of the prestigious “Großer Preis des Mittelstandes” for its exceptional contributions to high-precision technology in aerial photography and data collection. Founded in 2004, SOMAG AG specializes in the development and manufacturing of Gyro Stabilization Mounts for various payloads, serving customers in over 50 countries.

The award ceremony, held on Saturday, 16th September 2023, saw company founder Konrad Steps receive the award, accompanied by former SOMAG engineer Bernhard Krauße at the award ceremony in Würzburg, Bavaria. SOMAG AG Jena congratulates Konrad Steps for his life’s work, highlighting his dedication and innovative spirit.

The company is also notable for its commitment to sustainability, innovative employee programs, and community support initiatives. This award highlights their significant impact on both the industry and the local community.

About the award: The Grand Prize of Medium-Sized Enterprises is a prestigious award in Germany that honors outstanding medium-sized companies. It is annually awarded by the Oskar Patzelt Foundation and recognizes exceptional achievements in areas such as innovation, commitment to the region, and job creation. The award promotes awareness of the economic and social significance of medium-sized businesses. Recipients are determined through a comprehensive selection process based on recommendations and submitted applications.

For more details, visit the official press release (in German).

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GSM 3000

Service & Support ending in 2024

The support period of GSM 3000 ends. This means that from 01.01.2025 we no longer offer maintenance and repair for GSM 3000. If you own an old GSM-device and feel addressed we have good news:

  • Your GSM 3000 is still working smoothly? Contact now our support team and check if you can place a last maintenance order!
  • Time for something new? Take advantage of our trade-in offer for your scrapped GSM 3000 when ordering a brand new GSM 4000!


We look forward to hearing from you!


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SOMAG AG Jena

New company building

On 22.05.2023, SOMAG AG Jena celebrated the topping-out ceremony in the completed shell of the new company building. With the expansion of the space, the company lays the foundation for personnel growth. The space was already acquired at the end of 2016.

The new building offers decisive advantages, explains Schreiber: “We can optimize our entire processes, as we can completely configure the building to our needs and design the workplaces to suit specific tasks.”

Particular attention is being paid to expanding the test capacities of the Gyro Stabilization Mounts. Previously, SOMAG had to use external resources for this. The disadvantages – renting in test laboratories is associated with high costs and waiting times.

“With the expansion of our product portfolio, the frequency of tests has also increased. With the acquisition of a hexapod and the establishment of an in-house EMC laboratory, we are more flexible and can consistently increase the quality and performance of our stabilization platforms,” says Schreiber, explaining the layout of the new space.

The fact that this project could be started despite the pandemic is due on the one hand to the good economic management of the last few years, and on the other hand to the fact that the company has come through the Corona period without any damage: “We have been able to maintain our production and generate constant sales. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our entire team, who have shown great commitment in supporting all the necessary measures to contain the pandemic”, says Schreiber.

CEO Andreas Steps is certain that the new building will also have a positive impact on the sense of community within the company: “At present, some of the staff work in the main building and the rest in an adjoining building. It is important for the spirit of innovation and teamwork to unite all employees under one roof again, where they will find optimal working conditions. At the same time, we are creating the conditions for further growth in terms of personnel in order to meet the constant demand for our devices”, Steps concludes.


Once all the construction work has been completed, a total of 1700 square meters will be available for up to 50 employees – twice as many as before. As with all SOMAG AG Jena company buildings, the aspect of environmental protection has been considered from the very beginning.A generously dimensioned photovoltaic system on the roof of the new company building will enable an almost self-sufficient power supply in the future.

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SOMAG AG Jena launches

Nautical / Nimble Gyro Stabilization Mount NSM 500

SOMAG announces the launch of the new NSM 500, a medium-sized Gyro Mount between the smaller RSM 50 and the larger OSM 5000. With the launch of the NSM 500, SOMAG has now advanced all three devices of the marine and land product line to series 5.

Reliable Gyro Stabilization for Surveillance Sensors

The NSM 500 was primarily designed for the stabilization of surveillance sensors on medium to large maritime vessels and on mobile ground vehicles. Non-stabilized systems follow the movement of the water caused by the swell or the movement of the vehicle driving over uneven terrain, which adversely affects the detection and threat-tracking capabilities of the sensor. Using a Gyro Stabilization Mount ensures a stabilized field of view and high-resolution images by compensating the movements of the vessel or vehicle. This allows EO/IR systems to scan their environment without interference even in extreme sea and land conditions, in order to best detect, track and classify asymmetric air and surface threats. The NSM 500 is the perfect gimbal for IRST (infra-red search and track) and other surveillance systems to ensure 360° protection for surface vessels of naval forces or mobile land vehicles of land forces.

Reliable stabilization performance proven in long-term test

In 2022 an unprecedented long-term test was conducted with the NSM over a total period of 7 months (March to September). For this purpose, the NSM was installed on a frigate that was on a mission in the Mediterranean Sea. The Gyro Mount was placed in an elevated position on a mast high above the ship’s pivot, which represents a typical but also challenging case of application for the gyro gimbal, since this pivot offset causes the angular movements to result in tangential accelerations, to which additional sway, heave and surge accelerations add up. The task of the gimbal was to stabilize a panoramic, long-range, wide area surveillance sensor system.

Sebastian Schreiber, CTO at SOMAG comments: “The NSM is a real workhorse. The data we got from the test shows that the gyro gimbal delivers the best stabilization performance even over a long period of time and under different weather and water conditions, providing exceptionally sharp data and comprehensive situational awareness.”

The white line in the data sample shows the excitation of the ship, which moved in the roll axis up to almost +15°. The sensor on the other hand (yellow line) remained stable during this time and showed a residual deviation from perpendicular of just 0.11°. The use of the Nautical Gyro Stabilization Mount reduced the existing movements of the sensor system by about 45 times in this mission data example.

Data example

Long-term test NSM

 

Quality and improvement

In addition to this long-term test, further quality tests have been performed and successfully passed with the NSM in recent months, including a temperature test, an IP class test and a vibration test. The evolved NSM 500 features advanced control algorithms, enhanced diagnosis possibilities and an Ethernet communication interface that allows integration into existing networks as well as control and monitoring of multiple Gyro Mounts within the network.

NSM 500 now available

The new NSM 500 is commercially available as of now. For further questions and prices please contact SOMAG sales team.
In order to give you the best possible assistance, please include the following information in your request:

  • Where should the Mount be installed (floating platform, ship etc.)?
  • Dimensions (length/width/weight) of the platform or vessel
  • How many meters above the waterline should the Mount and the payload be installed?
  • Center of gravity and weight of the payload
  • Further information you consider important

The more information we get about the planned application, the better we can support you.

Find out more

NSM 500 – Marine

NSM 500 – Marine

NSM 500 – Land

NSM 500 – Land

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High-density LiDAR and high-resolution imagery collection with Gyro Stabilization Mount GSM 4000 for flood study

Cooper Aerial Surveys was contracted by Helm Engineering to provide aerial lidar mapping of the Pahrump site for a flood study over the entire Nye County. Pahrump is a town located at the southernmost tip of Nye County, Nevada, about 62 miles (100 km) west of Las Vegas, adjacent to the Nevada–California border. The results of this survey help mitigate flood damage for existing and future projects.

Cooper Aerial Surveys uses a multi-sensor aerial system stabilized by a single SOMAG Gyro Stabilization Mount GSM 4000 to obtain the highly accurate lidar and aerial imagery data. The Mount helps to hold the sensors in place and compensates for movement as the aircraft moves down the flight line or crabs, ultimately resulting in crystal clear aerial imagery and even better quality data being captured for the entire mapping project.

GSM 4000

Advantages for Lidar and Imagery Products

  • Crystal clear aerial imagery

    through precise sensor stabilization during flights
  • Saving of time and money

     time spent on aerial triangulation can be reduced by 20%
  • Flexibility and compatibility

    GSM 4000 is adaptable to any sensor and camera system

To complete the project, Cooper Aerial collected 10cm GSD color imagery and 20 points per square meter LiDAR over the client-defined mapping limits. The project area covered roughly 171,000 acres (268 Sq Miles) of land. Aerial photography consisted of 31 flight lines with 2304 exposures, with a total of 523 mapping models.

The mapping data was used to compile a 1″ = 40″ stereo map to create all planimetric features and 3D Digital Terrain Model (DTM) for 1′ contour generation. Contour data was derived from LiDAR data and included major breaklines and hydro flattening.

By using the data collected by Cooper Aerial, Helm Engineering was able to create models to identify potential areas that were highly exposed to risks of flooding. Some of these hazardous areas contain high-end real estate communities worth several millions of dollars that need to be protected against these risks. Furthermore, this flood study allows the county to learn more about the impacts of a major flood event if preventative measures are not taken. Planimetric features included impervious surfaces (paved lots, roads, concrete), buildings, dirt roads, and drainage features. Cooper Aerial used the surface that was derived from the lidar data to create orthorectified photos, which were useful in the collection of planimetric features as well as quality control purposes.

10″ GSD color digital orthoimagery with planimetric and topographic mapping
Contour data derived from LiDAR data
Improved efficiency

Maximum quality at minimum cost and time

Multi-sensor aerial system installed in SOMAG GSM 4000

Cooper Aerial is the largest firm in the Southwest, dedicated to providing leading edge aerial mapping solutions throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada. To maximize time and cost efficiency without sacrificing the quality the customer expects, they use an integrated hybrid dual collection system consisting of a Teledyne Galaxy Prime Lidar and a Phase One 280 MP camera installed in a SOMAG Gyro Stabilizer GSM 4000 Mount.

This system enables a single mobilization of the lidar and camera in a seamless mission with only one aircraft, making the most of weather windows and generating matching data sets. This approach significantly minimized the project cost by about half of the flight cost, roughly $76,000. Without such a system, meeting the project deadline would have required mobilizing more aircraft or extending turnaround time.

Moreover, Cooper’s installation of the GSM 4000 provides it with clean data that is easier to process. This allowed the company to reduce the time required for aerial triangulation by 20%, which lowered the overall cost of the project for the customer.

Bottom view of the sensors
Dual collection system with IMU mounted in GSM 4000


Why Customers

Trust Somag

“SOMAG is the leading provider of gyro stabilized mounting systems and provides high accuracy for large-format, LiDAR, and photogrammetry. As the market leader, SOMAG has the biggest market share in its industry and this is not random. SOMAG has a great pricing point and good customer service and therefore it was an easy choice for us to go with them. In addition to SOMAG’s quality product, we appreciate the fact that the GSM 4000 is adaptable to any sensor and camera in the marketplace which gives us more flexibility on how we can equip our aircrafts.”

Zachary Radel, Sr. Project Manager at Cooper Aerial Surveys Co.
Video

Watch the GSM 4000 in field

About Cooper Aerial

Cooper Aerial boasts a well-connected staff of photogrammetrists, imagery specialists, project managers, marketing, traditional survey experts, aerial imagery collection experts, and GIS specialists. The company provides professional photogrammetric mapping and imagery services for a variety of industries to governmental, engineering, and developmental organizations. Simultaneous data acquisition is used on customer projects in civil engineering, hydrology, energy, forestry and military sectors.

About SOMAG

SOMAG AG Jena is a global specialist for high-precision gimbal systems. The company focuses since 2004 on the development and manufacture of Gyro Stabilization Mounts for data acquisition and surveillance applications in the air, on land and at sea. The airborne product portfolio comprises three different Gyro Stabilization Mounts for large format, multiple medium format and single medium format sensors. All aerial camera stabilizers are designed for operation inside airplanes, helicopters or UAVs.

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Environmental testing

NSM 400 to successfully pass vibration test

SOMAG AG Jena has successfully completed vibration tests on its Nautical Gyro Stabilization Mount NSM 400 at the independent and accredited test laboratory MeßTechnikNord GmbH in Jena, Germany. The vibration test is part of a series of comprehensive environmental tests that the company performs at regular intervals, in addition to EMC, performance and other tests to ensure consistently high-quality standards for its devices.

Tests were carried out on the NSM 400 with its maximum payload of 100 kg (220.5 lbs) with a center of gravity of 250 mm above the mounts pivot point. The test aims to verify the mechanical strength of the Mount and to observe its dynamic behavior. Testing was carried out in accordance with IACS E10 No. 7 Vibration and DIN EN 60068-2-06.2008-10.

First, a sinusoidal sweep test was performed with a frequency range from 2 to 300 Hz. From 2 to 13 Hz the excitation amplitude equaled 1 mm, afterwards it depended on the acceleration of the shaker with 0,7g. The resonance test was run in all three space axes (x, y and z) and aimed to find the resonance frequencies of the Mount.

A total of 5 accelerometers (4 x single axis accelerometers and 1 x single accelerometer for control) were placed at the base plate, the top part and at the supporting structure of the stabilization platform to measure the resulting vibrations. In addition, a three-axis acceleration sensor was attached to the payload in order to measure the resulting vibrations there as well and thus incorporate the real use of the Gyro Mount with payload in the test.

“To meet the standard, it would have been sufficient to test the unit in non-operational mode. However, we wanted to go one step further and also test the mechanical-dynamic behavior of the mount in MAN and STAB mode. In all three scenarios the NSM performed just as desired,” explains Sebastian Schreiber, CTO at SOMAG.

After the resonance search the visual check was passed. There was no external damage and no visual deficiency after the test. The self-test via the SOMAG Mount Control App could also be performed successfully which was the success criteria for the test.

Since resonances with an amplification factor ≥ 2 were found in the sinusoidal sweep test, additional endurance tests (1.5 h each) were performed at each of these frequencies. The visual inspections after the endurance test did not reveal any damage or optical defects. The self-test via the Mount Control App could be performed successfully in all cases and the vibration tests were completed successfully overall.

NSM 400 and payload equipped with sensors on vibration test system
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