Site Controller: A System for Computer-Aided Civil Engineering and Construction.

摘要

A revolution in earthmoving, a $100 billion industry, can be achieved with three components: the GPS location system, sensors and computers in earthmoving vehicles, and SITE CONTROLLER, a central computer system that maintains design data and directs operations. The first two components are widely available; I built SITE CONTROLLER to complete the triangle and describe it here. Civil engineering challenges computer scientists in the following areas: computational geometry, large spatial databases, floating-point arithmetic, software reliability, management of complexity, and real-time control. SITE CONTROLLER demonstrates that most of these challenges may be surmounted by the use of state-of-the-art algorithms, object databases, software development tools, and code-generation techniques. The system works well enough that Caterpillar was able to use SITE CONTROLLER to supervise operations of a 160-ton autonomous truck. Software engineering, Surface modelling, Earthmoving, Civil engineering, Construction.