Bosch plays tag to boost construction productivity

The Bosch Asset Tracing Solution (known as TRACI) will provide contractors and site managers with an overview of all the high value assets on their site. It offers remote visibility of the position and status of vehicles, machines, accessories and special equipment such as excavators. This insight can be used to plan scheduling and transport routes efficiently while reducing downtime.

 

The complete solution comprises a compact sensor box (the TRACI tag), cloud-based evaluation software, and a suite of digital services. The TRACI tag is the main hardware component of the system: a retrofittable IoT unit. These tags use GPS acceleration, temperature and magnetic field sensors to track the vehicle or equipment they are attached to. This insight reveals the asset’s use, location, working status and operating hours, which users can access in real-time on a smartphone app or in a web browser. Add-on services like theft alert, maintenance alerts and condition monitoring can also be provided using the data gathered.

 

The UK construction industry contributes around 6% of the UK’s GDP. However, productivity is stagnant and margins are low. The UK Government’s Industrial Strategy released at the end of 2017 sets out a vision to boost overall productivity by supporting Construction and Infrastructure initiatives.

 

In order to reform and boost productivity, cost effective IoT solutions for larger, complex building sites are needed. TRACI responds to this challenge, and has been nominated for 'Product Innovation of the Year' at the London Construction Awards. The winners will be announced at the ceremony on 23 October.

 

Bharath Jayakumar, Manager – Sales, Commercial Vehicles & Off-Road at Bosch UK said:

 

“Monitoring construction machines is essential to the effective running of a construction site. Yet traditionally, simple data about these assets, of considerable value, may not be easily available to the contractor or site manager. Bosch TRACI provides all the relevant data needed to enhance the efficiency and utilisation rate of any vehicle fleet.

 

Battery-powered, autonomous tracking

The TRACI Tag is battery-powered for complete autonomy and can be retrofitted to a machine, its attachment or any other asset. The tag was also designed specifically for use in harsh environments, such as construction sites, meaning it’s especially resistant to shock, liquids and steam.

 

Cloud data sharing

A special feature of the Bosch TRACI is the use of LoRaWAN, an open IoT wireless network, to transmit data collected. There’s a growing LoRa network in the UK, being driven by industry collaborators, Digital Catapult’s Things Connected and The Things Network (TNN). Unlike Wi-Fi, a LoRa network has a range of several kilometres. Encrypted data is transmitted via the LoRaWAN network to the Bosch IoT cloud, where it is decrypted and can then be shared with customers via APIs.

 

Keeping tabs on vehicle fleets and machinery

In agricultural scenarios, Bosch’s asset tracing solution dovetails with existing agricultural machinery systems as well as with the sensor-based monitoring solutions provided by the Bosch startup Deepfield. It can also be used to record the operating hours of coupled machines (such as seeding machines without an independent power supply) and to determine when the operators should be reminded of important maintenance work. That can substantially lower the risk of breakdowns and expensive repairs. Bosch’s Connected Agriculture platform ensures an easy exchange of data and trouble-free interaction with existing Bosch solutions.

 

Future use for smart city solutions

TRACI’s robustness and a long service life point to potential use cases in other markets. Deployed in smart-city scenarios, for instance, the sensors can make the management of local-government vehicles and technology easier. They can capture movements in infrastructure such as power pylons, enabling fatigue and damage to be detected in good time. In open-cut mines, they can serve to check the condition of machinery and conveyor belts so that maintenance work can be performed as needed.