For decades manufacturers and their suppliers rely on GPS and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) to track trucks, trains and shipping containers of raw materials and finished goods. Here are some innovative new ways that GNSS is enabling the automation, efficiency and productivity behind lean manufacturing and Industry 4.0.
How GNSS Enhances Navigation for Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs)
Inside factories, automated guided vehicles (AGV) use everything from rails to lasers to magnets to navigate as they move pallets and hoppers of raw materials and finished products. But outside, GNSS can provide the granular location information necessary for AGVs to safely operate in docks, intermodal yards and other places around factories, refineries and other industrial facilities.
In other applications, such as food and package delivery, GNSS provides AGVs with the data necessary to create virtual geofences and map their surrounding space. This enables them to determine the spatial boundaries of a specific area and identify physical obstructions nearby — capabilities that are equally applicable when moving pallets around intermodal yards crammed with trucks, people and rail cars.
Using GNSS to Optimize Sustainable Supply Chain Logistics
Logistics operations produce roughly 8% of global CO2 emissions. Manufacturers and their suppliers are increasingly using GNSS to make their supply chains more sustainable.
One example is SODAQ, whose solar-powered trackers use GNSS to provide highly accurate updates about the location of containers and other equipment used to transport raw materials. These insights help ensure that the right products arrive at the right time with the least amount of emissions and other waste along the way.
GNSS-Powered Drones for Real-Time Inventory and Asset Tracking
Drones equipped with machine vision and artificial intelligence (AI) can fly over stockpiles and rail sidings to collect information about supply levels of raw materials. These supply chain insights are key for lean manufacturing — also known as just-in-time manufacturing (JITM) — because factories such as automotive plants operate with tight inventory levels. If something runs out, production quickly grinds to a halt.
Lightweight GNSS patch antennas help ensure that drones fly safely and free up payload capacity for more of the increasingly sophisticated AI tools they carry.
GNSS and RTK Precision in Agricultural and Industrial Robotics
Although factories have used robots for decades, they’re increasingly common in outdoor applications such as agriculture. One example is Agovor’s autonomous electric tractors and trailer attachments that perform tasks such as spraying, mowing, and hauling.
These tractors and attachments use GNSS augmented with a real-time kinematic (RTK) correction service to perform work with precision as high as 10 cm. This ensures that plants aren’t run over and that tasks such as spraying occur in exactly the right places. (To learn more about RTK and other options for increasing precision, see “Attention to Detail: Leveraging Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) Technology to Maximize GNSS Precision.”)
GNSS Timing for Just-in-Time Manufacturing and 5G Synchronization
JITM isn’t the only way that GNSS can help with timing. All constellations provide highly accurate timing information. For example, GPS signals provide time data that’s accurate to 100 billionths of a second.
This makes GNSS ideal for applications such as time stamping the arrivals, departures and other movements of assets around factory grounds to support JITM. Another example is providing the precise timing information for synchronizing infrastructure in the private 4G and 5G networks that some manufacturers are deploying inside and outside their facilities. Leveraging GNSS also eliminates the need for dedicated devices to support time sources, such as atomic clocks and atomic clock receivers. (For a deeper dive, see “Right on Time: Understanding GNSS Timing Fundamentals.”)
Many industrial applications need both location and timing information because they’re mobile, while others require only timing because they’re fixed, such as a security gate. From an antenna perspective, similar considerations apply to both use cases.
For example, when comparing antenna models, gain is important spec because it improves the signal-to-noise ratio and reduces Time to First Fix (TTFF). The more effective it is at pulling in signals weakened by physical obstructions, the easier it is for the GNSS receiver to do its job.
To learn more about Taoglas’ industrial GNSS solutions and customer success stories, visit https://www.taoglas.com/markets/smart-industrial.
