In construction and earthworks, the ability to accurately and efficiently shape the land according to the planned design is what separates a successful project from a costly one. Traditionally, achieving this precision meant relying heavily on survey crews and manual staking. While effective, this process is time-consuming and prone to interruptions.

What if your heavy equipment could become an extension of your survey team, capturing data and guiding operations with pinpoint accuracy in real time? That capability is the power of transforming your equipment into a land surveyor.

How to Turn Your Equipment Into a Land Surveyor

Turning your existing equipment into a land surveyor means equipping it with advanced technology that enables it to know its exact location on the jobsite and the precise position of its blade, bucket or other ground-engaging tool. This technology, often referred to as equipment or grade control, empowers operators to achieve the intended grade with increased accuracy, reducing the need for constant manual checks and rework.

It also helps you save time, enhance jobsite safety and monitor progress with automated pass counts, production tracking and as-built data.

Core Components to Retrofit Your Fleet

Retrofitting your fleet to take advantage of this advanced technology involves a few key components:

• GNSS/GPS receivers and antennas for centimeter-level positioning: As the heart of the system, these components provide the equipment with its precise location on the globe.
• In-cab displays/controllers with equipment control software: This is the brain of the operation, where the design files are loaded, and the operator can see the asset’s position relative to the design surface in real time.
• Slope/laser sensors and prisms/total station guidance: For areas without a clear view of the sky, like in deep cuts or near tall buildings, these sensors provide an alternative method of precise positioning.
• Cloud-connected project and survey data management: These components, like Sodex SDX-cloud, enable the seamless transfer of design files to the equipment and as-built data from the asset back to the office, ensuring everyone works with the most up-to-date information.

The Step-By-Step Process

The process of transforming your fleet into a land surveyor involves:

1. Assessing site needs: The first step is to determine the specific needs of your projects. Decide whether you need a system that simply indicates to the operator where the blade needs to be or a fully automatic system that controls the hydraulics of the equipment to maintain the correct grade.
2. Installing hardware kits: Install the necessary hardware on your equipment to provide its exact location. You can install hardware on a wide range of assets, from dozers and graders to excavators, scrapers and compactors.
3. Loading and aligning designs: Load the digital design files into the in-cab controller, and calibrate the system to the established site control points.
4. Validating and collecting as-built data: Once calibrated, validate the system to ensure accuracy and start collecting valuable as-built data as the equipment works.

Equipment Retrofit FAQs

We’ve answered several questions on equipment upgrade:

• What equipment can I upgrade? You can retrofit most makes and models of dozers, graders, excavators, scrapers, compactors and trucks with equipment control technology.
• Do I still need land surveyors? Yes. Land surveyors establish site control, validate designs and perform quality assurance audits. While the equipment captures continuous field data, the surveyor confirms its integrity.
• Will it work without cell service? Yes. For sites without cellular connectivity, you can use a base station and rover with radios to provide the necessary correction data. Connectivity enhances cloud-based workflows and data sharing.

Hassle-Free Mixed-Fleet Integration

One of the biggest challenges in adopting new technology is ensuring it works with your existing equipment. Fortunately, modern equipment control systems are designed with mixed-fleet integration in mind.

A truly mixed-fleet solution provides:

• Cross-brand compatibility: Standardize your operation with advanced systems, like Sodex, that integrate with leading grade control platforms, including Trimble, to create a consistent workflow on any major equipment brand.
• Centralized data flow: Manage and push a single set of project files to every piece of equipment simultaneously, ensuring all operators work from the same up-to-date plan and minimizing version-control errors.
• Equipment monitoring and software alignment: Keep software versions and calibrations consistent across your fleet from one platform. This approach enables file compatibility and allows you to proactively monitor sensor health to maximize uptime.

Field Calibration for Trustworthy Results

Achieving trustworthy results in equipment control relies on:

1. Establishing site control: Set up a network of control points and confirm base station stability and reliability. This process, known as site localization, anchors the digital design to the physical jobsite.
2. Calibrating equipment to the site: Accurately measure the equipment’s unique geometry, like the dimensions of its blade or bucket, and enter these sensor offsets into the system, followed by verification passes to confirm its accuracy.
3. Checking accuracy: Regularly perform spot checks with a rover or other site positioning system to ensure the equipment continues to grade accurately. This continuous quality assurance, backed by as-built comparisons and tolerance reporting, confirms data reliability throughout the entire project.

Cut/Fill Maps and Earthworks Optimization

The real power of transforming your assets into land surveyors lies in the data they collect. Use this data to optimize your operations and make more informed decisions:

• Generate real-time cut/fill maps on the equipment: These maps provide operators with a clear visual guide, showing them exactly where they need to cut and where they need to fill to achieve the design surface.
• Optimize earthworks sequences: By analyzing the data, you can balance material movement, optimize haul routes and ensure you adhere to compaction targets, all of which contribute to a more efficient and cost-effective operation.
• Progress tracking and quality assurance: Detailed progress tracking, including volumes, pass counts and compaction documentation, allows you to monitor your project in near real-time. It also provides a comprehensive record for quality assurance and project sign-off.

Get Started With SITECH Southwest

As an authorized dealer for Sodex, Trimble and other construction technology brands, SITECH Southwest brings deep expertise to every partnership and provides local support across Arizona, Nevada and Southeast California.

We provide Sodex Innovations to help you transform your fleet into survey-grade performers. This technology turns your equipment into a fully autonomous surveying tool that captures as-built data in real time. While the equipment is operating, the Sodex system uses advanced laser scanners and camera technology to continuously scan the surrounding terrain, automatically uploading the data to the SDX-Cloud. This operation gives you a live, constantly updated 3D model of your worksite.

With this real-time data, you can track progress, verify cut/fill volumes, monitor stockpiles and make critical decisions on the fly, significantly reducing rework and maximizing efficiency.

Installation and Training

Our experts will seamlessly install the Sodex hardware on your diverse fleet of dozers, excavators and loaders, and provide hands-on equipment training, enabling your team to start capturing data.

Calibration, Validation and Support

We will ensure your Sodex system is accurately calibrated to your site control. We’ll also validate the accuracy of the point cloud data it produces and provide the ongoing support you need to trust your results.

Site Setup

Our team will connect your Sodex-equipped equipment to the SDX-Cloud platform, ensuring the real-time as-built data from the field flows directly to your project managers in the office.

Put Sodex to Work

Ready to use Sodex in your upgrade? Contact SITECH Southwest today to schedule a demo or site assessment. We’ll help you identify the ideal retrofit path and show you how Sodex Innovations can boost your worksite productivity and profitability.