Project background
During five years, devices with SIM cards were installed on the company's trucks, and data transmission from each unit was carried out via GSM. As the quarry expanded the of the GSM signal has been overlapped from the cell tower and this led to communication interruptions. Due to the large angle on the quarry roads the machines’ engines work to their limit. The installed telematics equipment could not cope harsh conditions and it was necessary to implement a solution that would work stably via Wi-Fi and be reliable when it is -30 ° C outside.
Challenges
- Keep track of vehicles where there is no GSM
- Control fuel consumption and prevent drains
- Keep an eye on the machines’ maintenance intervals
- Implement Eco driving
Solution
The project was implemented on the basis of Galileosky 7x Wi-Fi Hub units. This device can collect data from other devices, where the GSM signal is weak, or is absent, and later, in the network coverage area transmit them to the monitoring server.
A fleet of heavy equipment contains: heavy dump trucks, two loaders, bulldozers, three compressor units and a fuel tanker. The data transfer from each machine was configured as follows:
1. At first, specialists set up a geofence. Leaving or entering which, the fuel truck switches to collection mode.
2. Arriving at the quarry, while refueling is in progress, the refueller collects data from bulldozers and compressor units. It takes about five minutes to refuel one piece of equipment. This is more than enough to unload the information accumulated during the working day.
3. Upon arrival at the base in the Wi-Fi coverage area, the refueller sends data to the monitoring server automatically. It takes about 15 minutes to send information.
4. The rest of the loaders and dump trucks regularly come to the parking lot at the end of the shift and upload the data directly to the server via Wi-Fi.
The data sent to the server is formed into reports and mining company fleet managers can make steps to optimize work processes. For example, three employees were constantly working in a career. They recorded all dump truck flights on a piece of paper. Of course, no one could guarantee the accuracy their counting, so they were replaced by the new monitoring system.
Reports in the monitoring system showed that employees underestimated the number of flights. They wrote down 1-2 less than what was actually done in a day.
