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Objectives
The SATMODO project is aimed specifically at the round-wood timber harvesting market, by facilitating ”live” monitoring of harvest processes. To date the SATMODO project addressed current harvesting issues in remote areas by utilizing both cellular and satellite transmission technology as a means of providing data transmission pathways for the live harvest data from the Harvester Machine. The SATMODO project has been extended to facilitate the “live” monitoring of the work progress and security of the Forest Forwarder machine. This system will help assist in more efficient and better management of the forest resources by offering an end-to-end solution from forest to supplier. The new security sensor system is also being developed to offer a practical solution to monitoring the interference of forwarder vehicles in remote locations.
The project objectives are to improve the management of timber harvesting for both forest owners and harvest machine operators by improving the links with the supply chain. Forest harvest machines are monitored in real-time or near real-time using satellite and cellular networks providing information back onto a central web platform. This information can help reduce waste and ensure the right proportion of logs are harvested by allowing individual machines or groups of machines to be monitored. An in-vehicle device is installed in each harvest vehicle also facilitating in-vehicle mapping (boundaries & hazards) for the machine operator.
In the current phase of the project, forest forwarding machines are being monitored in real-time or near real-time using the same techniques as the harvesting machine. This information can further help increase efficiency by ensuring the flow of logs is monitored for pick up by timber trucks. It will also help to manage and ensure the right logs are forwarded to the best locations. An in-vehicle device will be installed in each forwarder vehicle which will also facilitate in-vehicle mapping and positioning of boundaries and hazards for the machine operator. The added security features will provide timely alerts to owners/managers of interference with machines in remote locations.
Challenges
- Efficient product installation and deployment
- Building confidence in hardware performance including the new security sensors
- Demonstrating the software performance and server performance to the users
- Developing a quality service and excellent performance reports
Plan
The new developments will last for additional 12 month. The project will have a 2 month pilot phase in which 6 forwarder machines will have the enhanced SATMODO on-board to validate the system performance.
Current Status
The initial SATMODO harvesting machine project is completed.
The harvesting machine pilot stage successfully demonstrated the following,
A. Monitoring of cut to length harvest machines in real-time or near-real time in order to collect “live” harvest activity data from them
B. That there is a valid business case for the SATMODO system through the delivery of improved harvest management and process control
C. That SATMODO performs satisfactorily in the delivery, processing and presentation of data derived from the harvesting process from any forest location using satellite and GPRS data transfer
The project extension to the forwarder machines commenced in July 2013 and the Critical Design Review (CDR) was successfully completed in December 2013.