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Case Study - Trimble MS976 GNSS Smart Antenna

Beisheim successfully tests Trimble ProPoint technology in critical GNSS areas

Read this story in German here

Dozer equipped with Trimble MS976 GNSS Smart Antennas

The German industrial and commercial construction company, Helmut Beisheim GmbH & Co. KG, has honed a particular specialty in, among other things, working with the construction machinery in the immediate vicinity of high industrial halls. Bebra-based Beisheim has three dozers and four excavators equipped with the Trimble® Earthworks Grade Control Platform 3D machine control, and leveraged the Trimble MS975 Smart Antennas for GNSS positioning for the past few years. However, satellite signals can often no longer be received in the shadows of high industrial halls. In these unfavorable GNSS environments, Beisheim previously used a 2D configuration with laser receivers to complete the planned landform around the halls. However, converting to laser control can result in downtime due to assembling the electric masts and aligning the laser receivers.

A dozer next to a building.In a test with the new Trimble MS976 on-machine antennas with Trimble ProPoint technology, GNSS signals could be received even in the most unfavorable environments so that work could be carried out with a consistently high accuracy of 1-3 cm. For the test, a Komatsu dozer with 3D Dual GNSS configuration was equipped with the new antennas on the cabin roof. The driver drove the dozer with the side-mounted receivers to within a few centimeters of a 14 m high hall and had uninterrupted GNSS reception. Surveying engineer Jürgen Plant is enthusiastic and pleased about the future time savings that come with not having to convert to the laser configuration. Once the MS976 GNSS antennas were installed, he has been using them flexibly for all of the company's excavators and dozers, depending on requirements. 

At the end of the day, this use case is a great example of how, with the current MS976 GNSS antennas, the Trimble ProPoint technology that has already been proven successful in rover systems can also be used for machine control with Trimble Earthworks in environments where there was previously no or insufficient satellite reception. Using the MS976 GNSS antenna could be a good solution for many construction companies that work with earthmoving machines in borderline areas such as near industrial halls, in inner city locations, under tall trees or in the mountains.