GPS in the Construction Industry

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GPS in the Construction Industry

• By Nate Plooster
• Senior Student, FSU

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Topics

• History of GPS
• Concepts of GPS
• How GPS is used in the construction industry
• Future of GPS

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History of GPS

• GPS is the responsibility of the Joint Program
  Office (JPO), a component of the Space and
  Missile Center at El Segundo, California.
• In 1973, the JPO was directed by the U.S.
  Department of Defense (DoD) to establish,
  develop, test, acquire, and deploy a spaceborne
  positioning system.
• Since the DoD is the initiator of GPS, the
  primary goals were military ones.

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History of GPS

• Geometry of the satellites consists of 24 evenly
  spaced satellites placed in a circular 12-hour
  orbit inclined at a 55 angle to the equatorial
  plane.
• This provided the best coverage for the least
  expense.

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Concepts of GPS

• Simple resection process using the distances
  measured to satellites.
• Each of the 24 satellites carries four atomic
  clocks on board.
• An atomic clock works using a cloud of atoms,
  usually cesium or rubidium. The natural
  resonances of these atoms serve the same purpose
  as the pendulum in a grandfather clock. A laser
  beam piercing the cloud can count the
  oscillations and use them to keep time.
• These atomic clocks are so accurate that it would
  take 30 million years for one to gain or lose a
  second

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How GPS is Used in the Construction Industry

• Applications in construction include
• Survey staking
• Marking of sites for grade alignment or width and
  height of highway beds
• Grading retention ponds
• Machine Guidance Systems

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Machine guided excavation system

• Leica DigSmart is a level and dual slope solution
  providing excavator operators with real-time
  depth, reach and slope information, in relation
  to any reference, on an easy-to-read graphical
  display mounted in the cab.
• According to Leica, the Leica DigSmart can
  increase the productivity of the machine up to
  30-50.

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Excavator Video
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Machine guided grading systems

• Mounted on a grader or dozer, this system can
  provide the operator with real time grade and
  project information.
• The cut and fill values against the required
  blade position are clearly indicated on the
  onboard computer.
• The Leica GradeSmart 3D system,
• in an automatic configuration,
• will move the machines blade to
• the desired surface position in
• real time.

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Automatic paving systems

• Some paving applications include curb and gutter
  machines, roadpavers, milling machines, and fine
  grade trimmers.
• Three dimensional solutions using GPS for curb
  and gutter machines eliminate the need to set
  string lines for any kind of offset concrete
  paving application.

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Automatic paving systems

• GPS is used along with the Leica PaveSmart 3D
  system onboard a paving machine.
• Uses the architects CAD file directly for laying
  out curb and gutter, barriers, and sidewalks.

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How GPS is Used in the Construction Industry

• A project that implements many of these
  technologies was the Diavik Diamond Mine project
  in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
• Mckim and Creed, a surveying and engineering firm
  based out of Wilmington, North Carolina was
  contracted to provide the surveying services for
  the project.
• One of Mckim and Creeds tasks was to develop a
  positioning system for the crane.
• The mechanical system used to place the gravel
  filter blanket at the bottom of the lake
  consisted of a Manitowoc 2250 crane centered on a
  90 foot by 90 foot barge.

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Diavik Diamond Mine Project
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Equipment management

• Another important role that GPS plays in the
  construction industry is keeping track of
  equipment at the job site.
• The National Equipment Register reports that the
  total value of heavy construction and farm
• equipment stolen annually
• is as much as 1 billion in the
• United States.

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Future of GPS in the Construction Industry

• Advances in GPS technology and the Height
  Modernization project will allow increased
  positional accuracy and more reliable
  calculations.
• Moreover, with the advent of the European GALILEO
  and Russian Glonass systems, GPS developers and
  users have increasingly pondered the benefits of
  merging the NAVSTAR, Glonass and GALILEO systems.
• Some of the benefits would include more available
  signals that will allow GPS users to access more
  satellites from remote areas, additional signal
  power that will lessen the impact of expected
  signal noise and interference, and improved
  signal redundancy.

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Any Questions?