The company that sought an IoT solution for tracking sludge transport
Founded in 1949, John Holland is a leading engineering, contracting and services company operating throughout Australia and New Zealand, ranging from the most hostile and remote environments to the most densely populated urban centers. John Holland prides itself on finding innovative solutions to complex problems.
From infrastructure to railroads to construction, John Holland's projects generally involve the movement of tens of thousands of metric tons of sludge over the life of each project.
All excess dirt, soil or debris that is contaminated or not suitable for reuse is defined as spoil/waste. The waste must be removed from the construction site and properly disposed of. Proper disposal of spoil/waste is highly regulated within jurisdictions where John Holland operates to ensure that these (sometimes contaminated) materials are not illegally disposed of.
"Conventional processes for tracking spoil are labor-intensive, time-consuming and carry significant risks in terms of delays, excessive costs, illegal dumping of spoil and missed opportunities for spoil reuse," said Fazil Hassan, Digital Development, John Holland.
The process requires the manual recording of thousands of records to keep:
- Category/ type of sludge
- Transportation of originating sludge to an approved landfill site
- Authentication of legitimate carriers
- Verification of legal landfill sites
- Regulatory compliance reporting
AC.FLEX trackers: an indispensable part of an integrated solution
The labor-intensive and error-prone process of tracking sludge prompted John Holland to look for a complete solution, with performant and robust hardware combined with an online management system in which all data can be easily viewed and analyzed.
Our battery-powered FLEX.R and FLEX-Y GPS devices provide the solution for the hardware, efficiently and accurately tracking (in real-time or otherwise) the movement of sludge from extraction to disposal. The recorded data is sent to software that processes and displays everything in convenient dashboards.
GPS tracking and tilt detection
The rugged, battery-powered devices attach to heavy equipment to collect accurate data on excavation and landfill locations.
Because these trackers are usually mounted on contractors' assets, John Holland needed wireless devices that are easy to install and move, so they can be flexibly deployed on different machines as needed.
Designed for low power consumption, the AC.FLEX-Y and AC.FLEX-R use the latest low-power cellular connectivity (LTE-M and NB-IoT) and a range of intelligent power management features to significantly reduce battery changes and operating costs. In addition, the devices feature built-in battery life monitoring to alert when batteries are running low, ensuring no data is lost.
Thanks to tip detection on the devices, John Holland can determine when and where a vehicle is unloading spoil.
An unloading location is recorded when the gyroscope position of the device is within a predetermined tilt position, which indicates that the truck is tilting its bucket. The location data from the loading and unloading events are then compared with geofence datasets to assign the type of soil being transported (clean, contaminated, etc.) and the name of the landfill location.
Both licensed landfills and all construction zones on John Holland projects are also all geofenced and tagged with the appropriate soil classification, allowing warnings of illegal dumping if trucks with soil dump outside regulated areas.
Examples of tracked events
- Truck loading - a GPS-based algorithm that uses the coordinates of the truck and excavator
- Load discharge - determined by 'real-time' return of tilt sensor data from the IoT device
- Unauthorized sludge disposal - a GPS-based algorithm that identifies a sludge truck unloading in an unauthorized geolocation
After theory, the benefits in practice
"Real-time confirmation of sludge type, quantity and waste location means we no longer have to wait 1-4 months for information from our subcontractors to see if we have managed our spoil/waste appropriately," said Tham Gunasekera, Senior Environmental Advisor (EA), John Holland. "Immediate notification of an incident where waste is disposed of incorrectly can also save €1000 - €2500 per dump truck load per incident."
The platform also provides easy access to spoil movement data, which can then be used to compare and validate contractor billing. The platform also provides an opportunity for improved sustainability outcomes by reusing spoil between projects and optimizes the use of plant and personnel.
