Trimble GCS900 Grade Control System

Definition: Construction The act or result of – Conceptualizing (we need a airstrip) – Interpreting and planning (designing and estimating what needs to be done) – Communicating (Bring people/resources together to get the job done.) – Creating (building that airstrip – mass excavation, finish grade and paving)

Construction Example: Building a Road  Survey the Site  Design the Road  Stake the Road (Rough)  Bulk Clear  More Staking  Cut & Fill the Road  “Build” it!

Survey the Site...

Design the Road Horizontal Alignment

Design the Road Vertical Alignment

Design the Road X-Sections

Stake the Road (Rough)

Stakes may be replaced 7 times!!

More Staking Cross Section Horizontal Offsets Vertical Offsets Visual Grade Indication

Cut & Fill the Road

Build it! Formation Level – Subgrade Base & cap ~ 300mm Sub base ~ 300mm Road base ~ 150mm Base course ~ 100mm Finish ~ 30mm

Where is the biggest problem in this process? Stakes! – Staking out process is time consuming and expensive – Missing stakes, wrong, misplaced, or moved elevation references = unplanned changes to the design Rework (non-planned, extra time) – Operator must interpolate from stakes – causes mistakes

Current method of Cutting Grade

How to Fix This Process? Introduce earth moving machine control system to the construction process – E.g. Trimble GCS900 Trimble GCS900 is a machine control and guidance product that uses positioning technology to provide blade guidance to an operator, or to automatically control the blade hydraulics.

What is GCS900? A ruggized field proven machine system that… – Takes a highly accurate 3 Dimensional Position (GPS) and sends it to…. – A specialized field computer (control box) that compares the position to… – A digital terrain model (DTM) to give… – Real time cut/fill information that can be used to… – Control the blade position Automatically

Complete Machine Guidance Real time Cut/Fill – Left blade tip – Right blade tip Horizontal Guidance – Design Linework Road centerline Edge of runway Ditch centerline Many more……

Machine Systems for Training Single GPS Scraper Dual GPS Dozer Dual GPS Grader

Major Benefits Accurately perform bulk earthwork operations by placing the site design in the cab and using GPS positioning Increased productivity – Consistent quality and accuracy – Reducing/Eliminating staking – Improved material usage – Faster job cycles – Reduced rework – Complex grading jobs are much easier Improved safety

GCS900 Applications… Ideal for a wide range of earthmoving applications – JRAC!!! – Airport runways, Taxiways & Aprons – Land leveling / water management – Commercial and residential pads – Residential subdivisions – Roads and Highways – Golf Courses – Sports fields – Parking Lots

Rugged Designed for the extreme … tested to the extreme – Rugged design – Increased reliability – Fewer components

Change Sensors, Not Machines Trimble Grade Control Systems use industry standard Controller Area Network (CAN) harnesses that allow sensors to be moved from machine to machine

What is a Design Surface? Design surface describes a 3D surface. A design surface can be either planar or irregular How do we use a design surface? – We compare the blade’s position against the design surface to compute the cut or fill. How is a design surface created? – From an external Computer Aided Design (CAD) software package May be in a format not directly supported by GCS900 – Directly from the keypad of the GCS900 system

Design Surface Types Supported by GCS900 Level surface Sloping surface DTM (Digital Terrain Model) Road

TIN = Triangular Irregular Network DTM Regular grid TINs more accurately represents sharp edges, and usually models the same design with less points.

Road design A road file describe a road surface using horizontal and vertical alignments A series of templates or standard cross- sections are then applied to these alignments to define the road surface

What is SiteVision Office? Office software package that… …forms the link between your design surface data and GCS900 in the field. Design Data SiteVision Office GCS900 (essential)

Questions