ASC
ASC GmbH is a German manufacturer of accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt sensors and inertial measurement units (IMU), headquartered in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Bavaria, and supplying the rail sector across Europe and beyond.
Founded in 2006 and owner-managed, the company develops and builds its sensors at the Pfaffenhofen site and runs its own calibration laboratory alongside production. Its work sits in rail sensors and measurement, where the same devices are used both in vehicle type testing and in continuous condition monitoring during service.
Products for rail
ASC builds accelerometers and inertial sensors in analog, digital and smart variants, covering capacitive, piezoelectric and piezoresistive accelerometers, angular rate sensors and IMUs. The ASC RAIL series, expanded in 2024, groups uniaxial, biaxial and triaxial capacitive accelerometers and gyroscopes qualified to EN 50155 for climatic and mechanical conditions, EN 50121 for electromagnetic compatibility and EN 45545 for fire behaviour, in a sealed stainless-steel housing.
Capacitive and piezoelectric accelerometers measure vertical acceleration in wheelset bearings and car bodies, which feeds into track geometry assessment under EN 13848. The IMU 8 covers position determination in rail vehicles, bridging navigation where satellite signals drop out in tunnels or covered stations. The ASC AiSys smart sensor systems process data on the sensor itself and output a condition status, supporting predictive maintenance and continuous monitoring of rolling stock and infrastructure.
Certification and references
ASC holds DIN EN ISO 9001 certification and operates a calibration laboratory in Pfaffenhofen accredited by the Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle (DAkkS) under DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025 for the measurand acceleration.
The customer base covers rolling stock manufacturers, infrastructure managers and test engineers. According to the company’s own case material, Alstom has used ASC capacitive accelerometers since 2013 in the type testing of new vehicles at its Salzgitter test laboratory, measuring running characteristics under EN 14363 and bogie frame strength under EN 13749.
The same case material describes Deutsche Bahn using ASC sensors for track data acquisition on long-distance trains, with DB Systemtechnik evaluating the recorded data, and a customised capacitive acceleration sensor developed for Siemens Mobility for use on the bogies of Velaro D high-speed trains.
Current activity
In February 2024, ASC signed a collaboration agreement with Japan Aviation Electronics Industry (JAE) that made it the distributor for JAE quartz-based accelerometers and digital IMUs in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
During 2025 the company launched the ASC QBA series of servo-balanced quartz accelerometers, developed from an installation on a UK high-speed rail viaduct where the sensors sit in the deck segments and noise barriers, and announced a collaboration with the Spanish test house CETEST on measurement and evaluation for rail certification work. Both were announced through the company’s own channels.
Sales run from Pfaffenhofen through a sales office in Nanjing, opened in 2022, and a network of national resellers. ASC exhibited at the Railway Forum in Berlin and at Rail Live in Madrid during 2025, and its UK reseller presented ASC sensors at Rail Live in the United Kingdom in June 2026.
