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Posted On: 06/09/2004

Leica Geosystems and Caterpillar Inc. complete 123-channel data collection project

The Metrology Division of Leica Geosystems on June 8 announced that it has successfully completed a landmark data collection project with Caterpillar Inc. The four-day activity captured a D9 bulldozer's track-in-motion data, as well as other relevant 3D coordinate data derived from the bulldozer's surface and movement. This data acquisition effort generated 123 channels of data gathered simultaneously from instruments fixed to the ground, moving with the tractor chassis, and more than 40 channels of two-stage telemetry data rotating with the track.

Caterpillar engineers will ultimately use the data to create detailed 3D dynamic models to perform analysis, predict traction performance, and evaluate new and existing product designs in a highly sophisticated way.

Two Leica LTD800s were used to measure simultaneous forces exerted on the bulldozer track shoe, and at the same time, measured simultaneous displacement (position and angle) of the track shoe to the ground. In tandem, both trackers monitored two reflectors attached to the track shoe. The first laser tracker captured X, Y and Z coordinates, while the second tracker captured the pitch and roll of the track shoe.

Leica's SYNC board technology enabled the laser trackers to synchronize data collection with other external sources measuring at a defined rate. The SYNC board technology is a part of the development of Leica's new series of wireless, armless, hand-held probes and scanning devices.

In addition to the laser trackers measuring the track-to-earth interface, force transducers measured all 6 degrees of freedom between the ground and track shoes. The metrology instruments were synchronized to operate concurrently.

Data captured by the laser trackers could be plotted against time, and Cat engineers could easily view the vector residing between two points in time. The length vector would show the stability of the bulldozer during the entire process.

Overall, the data acquisition effort produced 100 Mb of nearly 1.5 to 2 million points. Each measured track rung generated about 20,000 data points. Twelve data channels were dedicated to gather track shoe dynamic forces, while the other 111 channels were dedicated to tracking the speed of the bulldozer body and measuring torque, force and other factors.

The open architecture interface of emScon, Leica's embedded system control software, was used to create a customized plug-in program meeting Caterpillar's documentation requirements. The software used Visual Basic scripts to embed measurement data into an industry standard spreadsheet for easy access and examination.

For more information, visit www.leica-geosystems.com/metrology.