Pose and Position Estimation of Dozer Blade in 3-Dimensional by Integration of IMU with Two RTK GPSs

Automation system in construction machine such as excavator, loader and other things has been developed to improve the performance and reduce the cost, time and manpower. Dozer is no exception. Dozer is a crawler equipped with a substantial metal plate known as blade used to push large quantities of soil, sand, or other materials during leveling, digging or conversion work. Dozer can be found on a wide range of sites, which are mines, quarries and road. Therefore, the cost and time consuming in dozer working are highly significant matter. However, in order to implement the automation system in construction equipment, guidance system for construction working has to be done before. Because the automation system can perform the operation and work better with information such as velocity, pose and posture etc. thorough the sensor. These system is called machine guidance system because guidance system is applied to construction machine. Shortly, if guidance system is done very well, the achievement of automation system could be better. Dozer is also no exception. This paper will describe the method for estimating the pose and position of dozer blade, namely guidance of dozer, by sensor fusion or integration of inertial measurement unit device with two RTK GPSs. And then the proposed method is verified by experimental result.