Project Background
The customer's challenge
Road maintenance is an industry where the quality of work is hard to verify visually and the price of a mistake runs into millions. A government customer needed to monitor contractors' performance under a state contract: which vehicles arrived on site and what exactly they did there. Payments for repair and construction works were to be based on actual data collected via satellite monitoring rather than on paper certificates.
What was missing
Before telematics, the dispatcher could not answer simple questions: which vehicle worked on which road section, how many trips it made and what it carried. Checking this manually on highways stretching for dozens of kilometers is simply impossible. Yet these very data determine both the quality of the road surface and whether payments to contractors are justified.
Project Goal
Automated navigation control
The task was to develop a tool for controlling vehicles engaged in road construction and maintenance — a full-fledged automated navigation dispatch control system, from installing hardware on vehicles to generating reports on which the customer accepts the work and pays for it.
System requirements
The platform had to show the location of every piece of special equipment in real time, record trips and transported cargo, and generate reports for work acceptance. A separate requirement was attached equipment control: without it, it is impossible to assess the actual output of graders and dump trucks.
Solution
Equipping vehicles with tracking terminals
Cooperation with a road maintenance organization began in 2009. Over the years of partnership, vehicles across the customer's entire service area have been equipped with Galileosky satellite monitoring terminals. The devices send data to the monitoring software, which generates reports on mileage, trips and fuel. The dispatcher sees the location of vehicles on the map in real time and distributes machines across sections without a single phone call.
Grader blade and dump truck unloading control
The most interesting part of the solution is attached equipment monitoring. When a grader blade lowers onto the road surface, the terminal records the event and shows the distance until the blade rises back. This is how the system calculates the actual length of the treated section — the very figure the customer uses to accept the work. A similar algorithm is configured for dump trucks: unloading control confirms that crushed stone has been delivered and discharged at the right place, not along the way.
The project had its share of challenges. In remote areas, cellular coverage may disappear just a few dozen kilometers from the city, while settlements are scattered far apart. GSM-out-of-network monitoring closes this gap: terminals store data in built-in memory and upload it as soon as the vehicle returns to the coverage area.
Project Results
Savings and discipline
Monitoring and control of vehicle operation directly improved the quality of road repair and maintenance. Fuel control eliminated fuel drains — one of the most painful expense items in a special vehicle fleet. People's behavior changed too: operating personnel became more disciplined, because every machine is now in the dispatcher's field of view.
Work confirmation and protection from claims
Every road construction and maintenance operation is confirmed by tracks and reports from the monitoring system. The customer pays only for the work actually performed. As a bonus came legal protection: in disputes over the causes of road-quality-related accidents, the organization has objective data on when and where the surface was treated.
How to replicate this solution
Where to start
Begin with a fleet audit: which vehicles and what attached equipment are involved in road works. Then select terminals and sensors for your tasks — the versatility of Galileosky devices makes it possible to assemble a configuration for any scenario, from fuel control to blade monitoring. Our specialists will help you choose equipment for your project, and support engineers will answer technical questions. The potential of telematics in the road industry is enormous: over 1,000,000 Galileosky terminals already operate in passenger transport, oil and gas, mining and other industries worldwide.
Contact: sales@galileosky.com
