Excavator control system transmits position data in real time

Altus Positioning Systems’s DigPilot 3D excavator control system uses an onboard Altus APS-3 compact, lightweight, portable 136-channel RTK receiver based on the Septentrio AsteRx2e GNSS engine that attaches to the excavator arm.

The APS-3 transmits position data in real time via a proprietary wireless format to a display monitor in the machine’s cab, permitting the operator to position the shovel to cut and fill the earth to meet a computerized model of the design specifications for the project. The unit is completely configurable from the data collector via Bluetooth to operate with the internal UHF radio or for network rover operation with the internal quad-band GSM/GPRS modem. Its removable 2GB SD memory card enables plug-and-play of raw data transfer for post processing.