Archive for category: Topcon

Topcon Positioning Group and Bentley Systems announce the second collaborative Constructioneering Academy initiative. The session is scheduled for April 12, 2018 in Brisbane, Australia.

The Constructioneering Academy is designed by Topcon and Bentley Institute to allow construction industry professionals to learn best practices for constructioneering, a process of managing and integrating survey, engineering, and construction data, to streamline construction workflows and improve project delivery.

“Coming off the heels of the success of our first Constructioneering Academy session in Livermore, California, we are very excited to continue the Academies that allow Topcon and Bentley personnel to interact directly with attendees to cater the experience to their interests and needs,” said Ron Oberlander, senior director of Topcon Professional Services. “Our goals include educating attendees on how to optimize digital insights to improve project outcomes, and streamline asset lifecycle workflows by integrating surveying, engineering and construction data — ultimately, they will transform design-build performance, enhance project efficiency and reduce costs.”

Alan Lamont, vice president of Advancement Academies for Bentley adds, “This session in Brisbane uniquely offers attendees a full end-to-end project workflow, integrating Bentley’s constructioneering design offering and hands-on experience with Topcon’s equipment. The Constructioneering Academy, in conjunction with Topcon, is one of a series of global Digital Advancement Academies offered by Bentley Institute, establishing collaborative environments which facilitate the adoption of best practices and standards across infrastructure industries.”

For additional information, visit constructioneering.com  

 

Position Partners is pleased to announce that Andrew Jones has joined the company as the second Business Development Manager in the Monitoring Solutions Team. In his new role, Mr Jones will be responsible for the New South Wales and Southern regions.

Mr Jones has built a 20-year career as a geologist in the mining industry and comes with an extensive array of operational experience both domestically and abroad.

With a background in mines rescue and emergency services, Mr Jones is passionate about providing solutions contributing to the safe operation of projects.

Whilst in Mount Isa, Mr Jones gained experience in both underground and open cut mining processes whilst catering for challenging geotechnical conditions requiring various monitoring solutions. This included mining an open cut over a historic underground operation whilst needing to guarantee the structural integrity of nearby critical surface infrastructure.

Mr Jones has since consulted throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East to companies in a variety of commodities and extraction techniques. Mr Jones also gained exposure to the civil engineering industry whilst consulting to quarrying and cement companies.

Mr Jones holds a Bachelor degree in Applied Science and a Masters in Mineral Economics, he has a strong appreciation in both the technical and commercial aspects of operating a project safely.

Position Partners centralised Monitoring Solutions Team supports customers with tailored solutions for the civil, geospatial, mining and building industries.

Position Partners offers two industry-leading monitoring solutions including Senceive, an innovative wireless platform and Topcon Delta, a comprehensive optical and GNSS-based system with advanced reporting and integrated communications technology.

Mr Jones added: “I’m excited to be a part of the growing team at Position Partners and look forward to providing clients with solutions from the vast range of products we supply. I’m keen to draw on my varied operational experience to assist clients with their onsite strategies.”

 

 

 

Many prospective 3D machine control system buyers quickly grasp the concept that a GPS/GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) antenna or LPS (Local Positioning System) prism mounted on the blade of a motor grader allows the position of the cutting edge of the blade to be known in real time.

However, how the computer in the machine cab knows where grade is and how it gets that information deserves an explanation.

What does a 3D machine control system do?

A 3D machine control system essentially bypasses the traditional process of grade staking.

Instead of giving site plans to the surveyor, who uses these plans to manually set the stakes and then having the machine operator visually read those stakes, a 3D grade control system puts the site plans on a screen directly in front of the machine operator.

An on-board computer in the machine’s cab has a digital copy of the site plans stored in its memory and a machine receiver combined with various on-board sensors tell the computer the position of the cutting edge of the blade.

The computer then makes a determination of how far the cutting edge is from grade and sends a signal to the hydraulics to drive the blade to grade. This comparison is done several times per second, creating a real-time 3D grade control system.

Preparing the site plans for the on-machine computer

In order for the 3D machine control system to have useful information to work with, the site plans first must be prepared in a format that the on-machine computer can understand.

A site model, or DTM (Digital Terrain Model), needs to be created either from 2D printed paper plans or from the engineer’s CAD (Computer Aided Design) file.

When starting with 2D printed paper plans (Fig 1), information on the 2D printed paper plans will have to be manually transferred to a computer.

Figure 1

 Co-ordinates, along with templates and alignments must then be turned into digitised linework (Fig 2). There are several software packages on the market that can do this.

Figure 2

Transforming site plans into a DTM

Once in the computer, this linework can be further transformed into a DTM through a process often referred to as TIN-ing. TIN stands for Triangular Irregular Network and is the description of a mathematical method of creating surfaces from a set of points.

Lines are drawn between three close points to create a surface between them. This process is then repeated using adjacent points until the whole site plan has been turned into a 3D surface, comprised in turn of tiny, triangular surfaces (Fig 3).

Figure 3

In some projects, the engineer can make a CAD file of the site available allowing a DTM to be generated more easily.

However, it is important to remember that the engineer’s CAD file shouldn’t be loaded directly into the computer as it will need to be stripped down to only the relevant grade information.

Formatting the DTM

Manufacturers of 3D machine control systems often use proprietary formats (types of DTMs) in their on-machine computers. This is because DTMs created for purposes other than grade control often are large and difficult to use in a real-time application.

In order for the system to run well, the on-machine computer will often require a specific format and will often differ from those of other manufacturers.

This is normally not an issue, as most manufacturers supply conversion software with their 3D grade control system, which will convert an industry-standard DTM to the specific format required in their on-machine computer. If conversion software is not supplied, this is something that can be purchased separately.

Additionally, these software packages also contain a data model viewer that is very helpful in controlling the quality of the data you put into your 3D machine control system.

A viewer allows you to look at the completed model from all angles, spin it around and zoom in and out. If there is an error in the data, it is usually easy to spot as it will show up as a ‘wild’ grade break.

Preparing data models and the training required

While a machine operator can learn the basics of a 3D machine control system in about a day, learning how to prepare the data models can take a bit longer.

If you are preparing your data models in-house, it is advised that you give the task to someone with CAD experience. The trick in learning how to make a good data model is knowing which pieces of information the machine wants.

When considering the purchase of a 3D machine control system, be sure to ask your supplier about the data preparation.

Your supplier should be able to give you a good understanding of the data flow as it relates to that particular system and let you know which options are available for training on how to prepare the data models.

The data is a very important part of your 3D machine control system. It need not be difficult, but it helps to be educated about the process so you can better implement the technology in your company.

Topcon’s new GX-75 touchscreen is a large, 10-inch, full colour display to make getting to grade for your machine control applications more efficient and user friendly than ever! 

With a design similar to the popular GX-55 control box, but with a larger display, the GX-75 includes ingegrated LED lightbars to give operators a quick visual reference to grade. 

The larger screen allows operators to see more of the design at once, with a fast and responsive interface that’s as easy to use and versatile as ever. 

“We think the larger screen will be very popular for our Australian customers and we’re pleased to announce that it’s been tested and approved for the local market so it’s ready to start flying of the shelves,” said Joel Seddon, Position Partners Machine Systems Product Manager. 

“We will also be running a competitive trade-up special in the New Year so contractors can take advantage of the latest and greatest technology for a very reasonable price,” he added. 

For more information about the new Topcon GX-75, contact your nearest branch or call 1300 867 266 today. 

Customers that own old Civilcad CAD survey software licences have a couple of weeks left to upgrade them to MAGNET Office. After 30th September 2017 there will be no upgrade options available and customers wishing upgrade to a MAGNET Office licence will be charged a new licence subscription fee.   

Upgrades for other legacy software platforms including TopSURV, Topcon Tools, Survey/Site Master and Topcon Layout will also be discontinued. 

If you would like to discuss upgrading your legacy software, contact your nearest branch before the cut off date of 30th September 2017.