Dual Mount Aerial Camera Stabilizer System Revolutionizes High-Density Lidar and Large-Format Imagery Collection

95West Aerial Mapping revolutionizes simultaneous large-format imagery and high-density lidar collection with a dual SOMAG Mount setup. Read our Customer Success Story to find out why the US company chose the SOMAG GSM 4000 as their preferred Gyro Stabilization Mount.

Simultaneous Data Collection with GSM 4000

95West Aerial Mapping revolutionizes simultaneous large-format imagery and high-density Lidar collection with a dual GSM 4000 setup. The US-based company has been performing simultaneous collections for many years. When they decided to upgrade their current equipment, they opted for two SOMAG GSM 4000s as their preferred Gyro Stabilization Mounts for their state-of-the-art sensors. Simultaneous data collection allows the company to serve customers with maximum quality and efficiency.

The Gyro Stabilization Mount 4000 provides industry-leading pitch, roll, and yaw stabilization for airborne cameras, scanners, Lidar and other imaging sensors up to 120 kg during flight missions. Since September 2021, 95West has been operating the dual GSM 4000 Mounts in a Cessna Caravan to stabilize a Vexcel UltraCam Eagle M3 and a RIEGL VQ-1560 II-S scanner. The Gyro Mount ensures high-quality aerial images taken with the large format camera and regular distribution of measurement points on the ground for the Lidar scanner, as well as a significant increase in efficiency when flying over large areas by reducing the required overlap of neighbouring scan strips.

GSM 4000 Advantages

• High data quality: enables customers to provide their clients with the highest quality lidar and imagery products
• Precise motion compensation: compensation of high winds or turbulence and prevention of excessive crab angles and image blur
• Productivity: allows maximizing flight opportunities while minimizing reflight

Why customers trust SOMAG

„We chose to go with dual SOMAG mounts for our sensors because of the reputation for high performance stabilization, ease of use, and flexibility of integration. Having one mount that is compatible with both sensors, communicates flawlessly with the Applanix IMU and our TopoFlight FMS made integration very smooth. It also gives us flexibility to rearrange systems without having to refabricate aircraft adapter plates. When planning our equipment upgrade there were no alternatives, the SOMAG GSM4000 was a must for both our Riegl VQ-1560 II-S and UltraCam Eagle.” - Andrew Werle, Pilot at 95West Aerial Mapping

Maximum efficiency at minimum costs - Advantages Simultaneous Data Acquisition

With small time windows for data acquisition due to weather, sun angle limitations, and seasonal changes, the number of flight hours per season is limited. By acquiring Lidar and imagery data in the same flight, weather windows are maximized and mobilization and acquisition costs are halved.

All advantages at a glace:

• Coincident datasets reflect same features and water levels eliminating discrepancies
• Single mobilization expense
• More efficient acquisition 
• Maximum utilization of weather windows
• Larger image footprints and swath widths 
• Increased detail and precision 
• Data versatility 
• Current terrain data for orthorectification 

“We find that many of our clients prefer simultaneous collection. Even customers who would not normally use both lidar and imagery have chosen to acquire both systems because of the greater versatility and benefits.”
– Andrew Werle, 95West Aerial Mapping

Customers from diverse sectors benefit from the dual solution. Engineering and utility customers use the highly accurate terrain models for design while using the high-resolution imagery as a background raster for their drawings. Customers in the mining and commodities industries are able to monitor properties and calculate volumes in a single flight. For orthophotography customers, a much better product can be delivered because the most current surface data can be used for rectification.

GSM 4000 Self-test

The video shows the self-test of the GSM 4000. It consists of a mechanical and an electronic test phase. The self-test executes a routine, which checks all sensors, mechanics and electronics and saves the results in a text file. SOMAG can decrypt this text file and utilize it for troubleshooting purposes. The test can be performed in the SOMAG Mount Control App. which is delivered together with each Gyro Mount on a USB stick.