Utilization analysis methodology for fleet telematics of heavy earthwork equipment

Abstract

Fleet telematics aims to comprehensively control equipment groups through location tracking, maintenance control, and productivity monitoring of individual equipment based on real-time location and status transmitted to fleet control center from the equipment. Logistics industry, automobile industry, as well as transportation (land, sea, and air) industry are actively applying fleet telematics in order to efficiently and safely operate multiple groups of equipment. Earthwork, a basic operation for any type of construction, depends heavily on equipment. The productivity and safety of earthwork equipment are decided by effective management of the equipment. Therefore, fleet telematics can also improve the earthwork operation as well. The goal of this research is to develop a GPS only-based fleet telematics system for heavy earthwork equipment which can analyze time log information of each equipment using GPS location data without utilizing any other on-board sensors and CAN bus data. The earthwork site (loading and dumping area) and moving route, hazardous areas of the project are all visualized on a map via geo-fencing technology considering the characteristics of earthwork operation. Lastly, algorithms to analyze the utilization time of earthwork equipment using GPS location information are designed and their reliability are verified through field tests.