ive just got a brandnew D6T lgp with gps and lasercontrol and as some of you might have noticed i work for caterpillar rental in denmark and caterpillar have hijacked me to demonstrate ats/uts control on my dozer it seems that it will be the first dozer in northern europe with this kind of control maybe some of you overseas has some experience with it i will send pictures of it soon:usa
Basically from what i saw and read about the ATS was that it just looked like a laser system with the reciver on a powermast,so that you could still get the signal from the laser with some grade changes without moving the laser.:beatsme The power mast is used a lot in the field drainage business laying tile with a tile plow or trencher.When you have to break grade the powermast will find the new grade and raise or lower the machine to start the new run. Maybe there is more to it,just going by what i saw mounted on a D6K in the lit that Cat sent in the mail.Good luck and post more info please!! when you get things figured out.I would would be interested in hearing more how it works !!!!!:usa
construct`o:: i shall test and demonstrate the system on a railroad i am working on right now where all the drawings are digital (no stakes at all ) and all the documentation must be made with the machines we discovered that because of all the forest in this area we could not use our gps system so the ats should be the substitute for it when we work in the middle of forest ats/uts is in 3D like the gps but works without the sattelites and are accurate to 3mm that should be the beauty of it i have lasercontrol with the electric mast (em400)on the machine but it takes so f..... long time when we have to move the laser every 10 meters in the curves who is up to 35 degrees and mainfall between 0,9 and 1,5 % and crossfall 4% and the mainfall changes for every 30-40 meters and on top of all that sometimes the mainfall curves in the dirction of the rails so laser control is not an option here its a nightmare it has to be 3D system
by the way the D6T is the greatest dozer cat has made as long as i can remember it has an incredible power because of the new two pump hydraulic system
Will you have two recievers on both corner of the blade like your gps system. I found the Cat lit book they sent with the D6K and it only has the single post in the middle of the blade with the powermast and 360 degree reciever The D6K isn't for me i like the D6R with the semi blade.6 way blade is over rated for carry dirt any distance if it is needed. My nephew is working for a company and they are demo a D6T with GPS system.Price is close to 400k.Hard to beleive that for a D6 size machine. My career is about over ,so i'll just finish out my years with my R and H.Good luck with your project. So will you be using a satillite with the ATS system or what?I thought you would have to use a graded laser ??????? for the powermast.Sounds like you would have to download files for the project.But still have to use a laser system:beatsme More info please.Thanks and good luck:usa
i will not be using satellites with the ats the idea with it is that when we work in or under trees or in forests we can still use the 3D designs like with the gps but without sattelites the ats prism is mounted on the powermast in the middle where an trimble robotic totalstation search and lock on to it i have some pictures from today the accuracy is down to 3 mm
picture 1 the blade seen in front with the ats mast in the middle and the gps receivers in the corners which is not in use at the same time as the ats system picture 2 the ats prism that catches the signal from the total station (not sure that is the right word for it)
a couple of pictures of the startup screen in the machine where you can moniture battery conditions and search status on the total station that by the way has an reach of about 800 meters in diameter
You need a more equipment hanging on your blade Okay that is what the system looks like that i have in my Cat lit( magazine Groundbreaker).It is the single mounted center one like in your pic. They are calling it the new MT900c Active Machine Target or Advanced Tracking Sensor for the Accugrade ATS system. Hy thanks for sharing your pics.So is the path your setting on where you are working.Understand why your not using the GPS system because of forest and signal problems. I also understand the problem with the slope and curve in the job.When i use to work on road jobs they would call them supers with the outside edge being higher then the inside, a curve like on the race tracks. For me the ATS system would work fairly good and would be more in my budget.Also understand the 3D that your using.Not alot of experience ,but have read about it. I have a LB4 dual graded laser that i use,which use to be Laser Alignment,but they sold out to Leica.Leica are more into GPS systems then using the laser system,but not all the samll contractors can afford the GPS systems . Leica is discontinuing some of the older laser like mine,and not repairing or furnishing parts,so that upset me ,because my laser is still a good system with a little service. Keep posting if you have time.Thanks:notworthy:usa
Whats the deal with the batterys??????? Is the ATS system run on batterys and not wired to the machine to power it up?:beatsme:usa
So does the total station use a satillite to get the postion then the total station sends the signal to the ATS system like a laser ?:usa
Hey there grunk.:waving Love the set up on your dozer,you got the full packace!! Have used the microfyn system with total station for one day on a D6R some 6 years ago and i tought it worked out just fine. I was laying out gravel on a road prosjekt here in Norway Set it on automatic and just lifted the blade when there was no more gravel to work with. Very easy to operate and made it look goood after me to:beatsme Downside was when i lost signal from the station and had to make contact with it again (And that happend some times) So maybe i should move south and join you?:ban:ban:ban
the batterys yur talking about must be in the screenshot am i right??? that is the battery on the totalstation being sent to the dozer with a radio signal and now hold on i will try my best to explain the system in the morning i setup the totalstation on a tripod an calibrates it by measuring with a survey prism to three known points with a handheld prism like the surveys do when they stakeout after that ill point out the machines position and make an "search window" where the totalstation search in if it loses signal to the machineprism which happens when the dumptrucks comes in with material then i get into the machine presses start and the totalstation will find the machineprism and lock on to it and calculate nothing easting and elevation and send it to the machine computer who will calculate the cut and fill compared to the 3D design who is loaded you cant compare it to a laser the totalstation moves with the machine when it has a lock on the prism i have now used the system for three days and it works perfect even though i am limited by the reach of about 600-800 meters in diameter hope this can answer some of your questions
you shall be very welcome we still need extra hands i think by the way some of our guys are in kristiansand in norway working for pihl & søn on a motorway project i am VERY satisfied with the gps/laser/ats optons there is always some of the system who will be effective and i have some fantastic backup from caterpillar and from trimble denmark this kind of equipment machinecontrol is 100% the future whether people like it or not so why not follow it trough
a couple more pictures picture 1 the ats robotic totalstation that follows the machine and controls it picture 2 the handheld survey computer used for setup of the totalstation
#1 does this look powerful or what nothing like a CAT #2 700 meters of stone spread and graded with a tolerance of +/- 1 cm with a speed of 8-10 km pr hour in 10 hours with the ats(17 km more to go)
I don’t have any experience with ATS systems on dozers, but did have a 14H with a proprietary Trimble totalstation set-up on a freeway project a couple years ago. The idea was the totalstation system would prove better than GPS for grading beneath several 6 and 8 lane under passes where the GPS would lose signal. The ATS system worked great when the blade was within a couple hundred feet, and held the blade to tolerances equal to GPS. And beneath underpasses it did send a signal to allow the operator to run the blade in automatic for finishing. Beyond that, the totalstation had problems following the blade. Every time the blade would take a long pass, make a headland turn and come back, the totalstation would lose the machine’s location and need the grade setter or operator to manually target the blade so it would follow for the next pass. When the 14 would knock down belly dump windrows and climb more than 18” above the grade he was finishing, the totalstation would lose track of the blade and require manual reseting. Every time the blade would pull off the road grade into the ditch to let belly dumps or the 623 pass, the totalstation would lose the blade and again require manual resetting. The blade hand and his grade setter got so frustrated with the system they took it off the blade, put it in the job office where it collected dust and free handed the rest of the finishing on the project. At the end of the job the blade hand told his foreman that if his blade had any grade control system on it at the next project it had better be his GPS back; he’d be damned if that totalstation set-up followed him anywhere else. It sounds to me like the system has improved since then according to your reports. It’s a good low cost alternative to GPS for something like grading pads, but beyond that I haven’t seen many operators or supervisors too impressed by it.
Mass-X... yeah i think that this system works fantastic i have used for about a week now and no matter what i do with my blade the totalstation stays completely locked on to it:notworthyeven when the dump trucks dump stone right in front of me and the line of sight is broken it only takes 2 or 3 seconds to find it again and it is doing it automatic the only but i can say is that you have to move the station every 800 meters where a gps system like the one i have have got a reach of about 8 km but an fantastic system when you need 3D control where here are no sattelite signals