From the Internet of Things, over cloud solutions and Big Data to mobile apps: advancing digitalization enables services and solutions for the off-highway markets to be designed more individually, more consistently and more transparently. A wide range of smart solutions that can be used to increase the efficiency, reliability, safety and comfort of mobile machinery.
The benefit that can currently be delivered depends strongly
From November 12 to 18 at Systems & Components, held within the agricultural machinery exhibition, Agritechnica, in Hanover, Germany, technology providers will be presenting a wide range of smart solutions that can be used to increase the efficiency, reliability, safety and comfort of mobile machinery.
Mobile machinery, especially that equipped with modern assistance systems, has access to large amounts of relevant data across numerous applications. This means there is plenty of potential for so-called “Big Data” analyses, where the processing of large data sets can provide meaningful insights. The question is what can usefully be done with all this information? The benefit that can currently be delivered depends strongly on the application experience of the technology provider.
Machine rental companies can create new business models
“It is important for us not to display arbitrary data just because a particular sensor happens to be installed. We want to provide the customers with useful information that they can use to manage their machinery fleet and thus run it as economically as possible,” explains Wolfgang Boos, Liebherr product manager.
Two questions in particular are at the centre of discussions at Systems & Components when it comes to use cases such as digital fleet management and machine-to-machine communication for agricultural and construction machinery: How can users benefit from Big Data in practice? In addition, how can artificial intelligence be meaningfully integrated into off-highway machines? Using modular, open systems, like those found at the trade fair, vehicles and their subsystems are networked with the cloud into the “Internet of Things”, and a range of functions can be individually configured. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) can design their own applications based on the technology provider’s validated software packages, and machine rental companies can create new business models.
Display work progress at the touch of a button
Access to smart sensor data over a telematics solution enables a whole range of intelligent functions, with fleet management and remote diagnostics being typical entry scenarios in the off-highway sector. Fleet management solutions track the position of the machinery fleet automatically, enabling the operator to simply and easily locate each machine. A geographical area, such as a construction site or a field, can be defined (geo-fencing) and all relevant data within this area is collected together. From this data, for example, the time, the number of operating hours, the type of operation, the fuel consumed and the CO2 emissions, contracting invoices or harvesting reports can be automatically generated. The telematics units used in the agricultural machines are linked to ISOBUS, over which they can access detailed machine data, and then transmit it to the fleet management system.
