CONEXPO-CON/AGG

Doosan has launched the DL420-5 CVT wheel loader at ConExpo-Con/Agg. The new loader will roll off the production line in the fall of 2017. With an operating weight of just over 50,000 lb and a breakout force of more than 47,000 lbf, the new model was designed for power and adaptability. Doosan Construction Equipment marketing manager Aaron Kleingartner gives us the lowdown on the machine's brand new CVT transmission.

At ConExpo-Con/Agg 2017, Roads & Bridges visited Case Construction Equipment to see some of their latest offerings showcasing in Las Vegas. If you are attending ConExpo-Con/Agg, be sure to visit Case at Booth N11825 in the North Hall.

The third and final Infrastructure Insider live presentation, sponsored by Case Construction Equipment, was held in the Case booth at ConExpo-Con/Agg. The topic this time was Innovation in the World of Construction. Roads & Bridges Editorial Director Bill Wilson spoke with Mark Christian, sales engineer for commercial UAV firm Airware, and Gary Kassen, an engineering director with CNH Industrial.

This past January, Autodesk, in cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), tested autonomous UAVs at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. The seven flights that comprised this proof-of-concept trial represented the first civilian UAV flights approved by the FAA for a Class B airspace.

The purpose of these flights was to aid in the mapping plans for two new parking garages, as well as a relocating a public transit station, both of which are part of a $6 billion program for expansion and general improvement of the airport property.

The UAVs, or drones, which were programmed and flown by 3D Robotics measured the project area much faster than traditional measuring methods and have aided project planners in pushing their process forward.

Autodesk and 3D Robotics is on hand at the 2017 ConExpo-Con/Agg (in the Gold Hall) to display and discuss the 3DR Sightscan System, which was used in the Atlanta airport trial.

Roads & Bridges spoke with Autodesk Strategic Project Executive Tristan Randall and 3D Robotics’s Jeremiah Johnson about the proof-of-concept trial and what makes the 3DR such a unique system.

“This system,” Randall said, “is fully autonomous, so it do not require an active operator. The drone is programmed and then it follows its programmed course, and merely needs monitoring. It runs off an iPad app, and gathers data over GPS. This was the first Class B restricted airspace trail allowed by the FAA, and it was accomplished in only half a day, as opposed to the significantly larger period of time traditional methods would have taken.”

“Since we focused on pre-construction areas,” said Johnson, “and since the area was pre-programmed, there was no disruption of airport operations and there were no required closures of lanes. We worked with Atkins, the civil engineering consultant, to make it happen.”

Now that the proof-of-concept has been successful, Autodesk and 3D Robotics plan to move forward with further applications of the system, and to ultimately devise a digital repository for high-megapixel imagery.

Day 2 of ConExpo-Con/Agg got under way with the second of three Infrastructure Insider live presentations, sponsored by Case Construction Equipment. Roads & Bridges Editorial Director Bill Wilson spoke with Nevada Department of Transportation Public Information Officer Tony Illia and Senior Project Manager Dale Keller, who discussed Nevada’s Project Neon.

Be sure to check back with us for the third and final Infrastructure Insider.

Roads & Bridges was on hand on Day 1 of the 2017 ConExpo-Con/Agg in Las Vegas. Editorial Director Bill Wilson offers a glimpse of some of what the R&B editorial staff saw as the convention got under way.