Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - February 2023 - 26

in construction
connectivity
TS-i4
Inertial sensors measure
slope and rotation
MC-X1
Machine guidance
controller
Portable and costeffective
Android tablet®
Wireless Android
operator tablet that
can be moved from
cab to pole
Increasing
Prism with rod
3D positioning on the pole for
layout, grade check and topo
LN-150
Short-range
3D optical positioning
with cm-level precision
MC-Mobile from Topcon brings machine control and survey technology to compact equipment, employing a local positioning system to allow contractors
to move from layout, to design, to the machine using the same hardware and software.
Komatsu's Smart Construction Retrofit kit is a machine-guidance system for mixed fleets that also was installed on the company's recently revealed
PC210E electric excavator, which will be on display at ConExpo 2023. The kit comprises Wi-Fi connectivity, GNSS, inertial measurement units, payload
sensors and 3D design data and display.
Shifting attitudes toward tech
Contractors' attitudes toward technology implementation also have
shifted, said Elwyn McLachlan, VP of Trimble's civil solutions division.
" We've seen a big jump in adoption of connectivity solutions, " she
said, " especially now that we can push a design update out to a machine
remotely instead of having to drive out to the jobsite. "
" Every year, the needle is definitely moving on the contractor technology
adoption levels, " Caterpillar's Fritz said. " There's an increase in
their belief of what technology can do to improve their operations. "
The combination of grade-control data with telematics reporting
was a significant step forward, according to James Leibold, product
manager of global connectivity at John Deere. " You're not just having
machines that report data, but you can remotely go into a machine
and fix it, " he said.
The ability to not physically have to download job model revisions
is critical, said Lyle Ballou, GPS manager for DXI Construction in
Churchville, Maryland. " We are managing 65 active jobs as we speak,
and we have to manage the GPS info as different crews move in and
out of different jobs weekly, sometimes daily. "
26 February 2023
DXI Construction juggles the workload for 51 different
crews in three different states, which necessitates
being able to instantly connect and " program " each
crew for the work to be performed. " The investment
we have made has eliminated not being able to work
because we have to wait for stakeout, or wait for a
program to be driven to a job and downloaded, "
Ballou added.
One barrier to jobsite connectivity is the sheer
choice of tech options out there, said Jim Bretz, connectivity
services support manager at Volvo
Construction Equipment. " Customers don't know what
to choose, " he said. Fears about office and field data
security are also valid.
" It's so fragmented right now with the number of
solutions, " Morgan Corp.'s Mitchell agreed. " One company
has a cool answer for one thing and another
company has a cool answer for another thing. How do
you now bring that information into the whole so you
can make decisions? "
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
FROM TOP: TOPCON; KOMATSU

Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - February 2023

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