Precision engineering
3D scans and digital modelling for efficient heavylift operations. Every centimetre and gramme counts in oversized and heavy-duty transports. Cologne Technical University is now running a research project, supported by the German ministry for digital and transport affairs, to help plan routes more precisely.
A 3D scanning vehicle, equipped with a mobile mapping system consisting of sensors and a multi-camera system, was on the roads in Germany recently to detect traffic bottlenecks. Its results formed the basis for a project entitled ‘Oversized and heavy transport 4.0. The digitally optimised planning, approval and execution of oversized and heavy-duty transports.’
Project manager professor Alfred Ulrich, of the Laboratory for Construction Machinery at Cologne Technical University, told the media that “today, state-of-the-art camera technology makes it possible to generate digital images of a road with accuracy to within a few centimetres. Some disturbance can be caused, however, by rain or snow, other road users, or the movement of the measuring vehicle itself.”
The project managers thus had to optimise the recordings by making changes to the hardware and to the structure of the vehicle, and by using suitable software. Data obtained concerning clearance heights or road markings could thus be automatically processed, evaluated and visualised. The result was a geo-referenced 3D point cloud (top image).
The next step saw the digital modelling of the transport. Various vehicle models were used, including one that transferred a 70 m wind turbine blade.
“We integrated the digital route and the digital vehicle into a common simulation environment and calculated the minimum turning curve. This indicates how much space a transport needs, for example when driving round a bend. To do this, we need completely clean data sets, so that a digitalised speck of dust doesn’t trigger a collision warning,” Ulrich elaborated.
The data generated in this way can be used to digitally plan a route, which also determines whether all of the bottlenecks on a route are passable (centre). If this is submitted to the authorities, it could speed up the approval process.
Faster round bends and past authorities
In addition, an existing navigation system from project partner Sommer was expanded in the course of the research project. “The display shows information on speed, height limits as well as the positioning of the escort vehicles. The system is available in 13 languages and may even be able to replace interpreters who would otherwise be required,” as managing director Helga Sommer explained.
The project partners also experimented with augmented reality. The driver sees the road through AR glasses and receives driving instructions from the results of the localisation at the bottom of the screen of the glasses (below). The research results are now being brought to market maturity in Sommer’s portfolio.