In total control

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Not that such drivers should be blamed. From the cab of the D8, forward visibility comprises mostly of the exhaust stack, while the view through the angled doors is little better. Truly, it would require skill to drive this machine in the usual way. However, with the aforementioned screen, it becomes much easier for the operator. Hales says: “Different people will tell you different things (about productivity gains), but I’m sure they will get triple the production out of this ‘dozer.”

He added, that even in fleets such as this, where equipment is only fitted to a number of machines, the efficiency gains can be quantified: “You might not see it with just one ‘dozer, but now everyone around him knows where elevation is they are all much improved.”

Walid Daher, Operation Manager, Bin Nawi Contracting agrees with Hales.

“As many as seven bulldozers can follow the path graded by the first machine” he says, adding that he was extremely grateful for the system, having used it in the past on other sites. “On this system, you just need to teach the operator how to use it and he can do the job of both the supervisor and the foreman” he says. Recently the contracting company has placed orders for several more bulldozer and grader systems.

SATELLITE

Interestingly, whenever equipment that uses satellite positioning is written about, it is usually referred to as being ‘GPS’, though in fact pretty much all of the systems from any of the manufacturers in construction is mentioned, what is being referred to is a technology that can not only pick up the Global Positioning System craft, but also the Russian GLONASS (derived from Global Navigation Satellite System) for increased accuracy. Hales points out that while is useful in the city, it is not so necessary in the wide open desert of this site.

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While not employed on this site yet, or indeed anywhere in the Emirates as far as we know, the fully automatic systems referred to at the beginning of this article is very much a reality in other parts of the world. The advantages are obvious – there is no chance of operator fatigue, and accuracy is limited only by mistakes in the original engineering drawings.

There are plans to get such a machine up and running over here. “We want to fit total control to a Cat D6T” says Hales.

This model has modern joystick control as well as electronically controlled powershift transmission and drivetrain.

Of course, at the moment it is inconceivable that there would be no operator at all, but perhaps in the near future there is no reason why he would actually be needed to sit on the machine, as all the monitoring and adjustments can be made from the ground with a remote control unit.

One computer could be used to drive packs of machines together, so there will always be synergy across the entire fleet, as the computer will understand implicitly what the entire fleet is doing. Imagine how much more productive a road building site would be with such a package.

Back in the here and now, the systems that are available today can be further enhanced for fine grading with the addition of rotating lasers which can ensure millimeter-perfect grading, even when cutting a slope.

In short, it is a wonder that, given the obvious benefits in speed and efficiency, that more contractors are not using it already.

What is a total station?

A total station is an electronic optical instrument used in modern construction projects. It is also used by archaeologists to record excavations as well as by police, crime scene investigators and insurance companies to take measurements of scenes. The total station is an electronic theodolite integrated with an electronic distance meter to read distances from the instrument to a particular point. Some models include internal electronic data storage to record distance, horizontal angle, and vertical angle measured, while other models are equipped to write these measurements to an external data collector, which is a PDA.

Angles and distances are measured from the total station to points under survey, and the coordinates (X, Y, and Z or northing, easting and elevation) of surveyed points relative to the total station position are calculated using complex algorithms as well as trigonometry and triangulation.

Data can be downloaded from the total station to a computer and application software used to compute results and generate an electronic map of the surveyed area.