8. Implementation screen

The Implementation Screen
When you begin implementation of your design, the display will show a cut/fill map as well as tools to assist in the implementation of the design. 
 
 Screen features of interest include include: 
 
 
 Setting Zero button. 
 
 
 Cross-slope nudge control buttons. 
 
 
 Vertical blade shift control buttons. 
 
 
 Cut/Fill Information & horizontal colour bar. 
 
 
 Progress Indicator. 
 
 
 On-Grade Indicator. 
 
 
 Blade and Tractor Indicators. 
 
 
 Map display. 
 
 
 Drain profile and cross section.

1. Setting Zero
Important: Before work can begin, the system must be “zeroed”. Both the T3RRA software and iGrade™ must be zeroed. 
 
 Important concepts: 
 
 
 Benchmarks .  
 
 
 Benchmarks are “control points”. These are known locations in or out of the field that can be returned to as required. They have a known location in the real world (hopefully marked by a peg, or some easily identifiable marker) and also have known locations on your digital map (marked by a digital marker). They are used to tie the real world and the digital world together. Whenever you are located at the benchmark in the real world, you should also be located at the same place on your digital map. If there is a discrepancy (either horizontally or vertically) then a correction factor can be applied to the digital map to correct it. We call this process “zeroing”. 
 
 
 Zero Cut/Fill Area . 
 
 
 A “zero cut/fill area” is a location in a field where neither cuts nor fills are expected. That is, part of the field where the design calls for the original elevation to remain untouched. The important thing about these areas is that they can be relied upon to always have the same elevation and thus can be useful to check against. 
 
 “Zeroing” is a generic term for making sure that the digital map, the actual field surface, and the GPS measured blade height are all aligned. In practice this means combining a number of factors to calculate offsets in the horizontal (X,Y) and vertical (Z) directions.  
 
 There are multiple ways to do this. The appropriate method depends on the circumstances of the survey, the design, and the implementation. We will explore the available methods and some example operational scenarios below. 
 
 After zeroing you should save the project. The zero offset is stored in the project and this will avoid needing to set zero again. If any of the GPS Receivers are adjusted, moved or replaced you will need to zero your system again. 
 Setting the Zero Offset 
 
 When you press the button to set zero during implementation you are presented with 5 methods of doing so. 
 
 
 
 1. Zero against the surface 
 This method is most useful if you have done your own survey using your own base station. Effectively all you need to do is to tell the system when the cutting edge of the implement is resting directly on the ground in an area of the field where no dirt has been moved.  
 
 Our recommendation is that you do this in a zero cut/fill area. On a cut/fill map this is a gray or green (depending on color-scheme selected) area. We also recommend that you zero in a location where you are over the wheel tracks of the path that was taken while surveying. Mark your zeroing point (benchmark) with a peg or a flag and drop a digital marker in the T3RRA software. You should then be able to return to this benchmark if you suspect that your GPS has drifted or developed an inaccuracy.  
 
 2. Zero against a marker 
 This method is best used when you have a digital marker that you know has the correct position and height associated with it. Potentially this marker may have been created in another software package (like T3RRA Design) or may have been placed by you. You also must be at the exact location in (or out of) the field that the digital marker represents. Ideally this will be marked by a peg, or other permanent object.  This method has the benefit of being able to optionally zero the control map in the horizontal direction as well.   
 One point to note here relates to dropping markers while surveying with a scraper. Normally you will survey with the scraper at full elevation. This means that markers dropped will be at the same height as the rest of the survey. This is good. You may be tempted to lower the cutting blade to the ground when placing a marker on the map while surveying. Do NOT do this. Do not alter the scraper elevation when surveying just to drop a marker. If you come back to the same location as the marker when zeroing DO place the blade on the ground prior to setting the zero. The difference in the scraper blade height when surveying (verse implementing) will be accounted for. 
 
 
 3. Zero against a known location   
 Sometimes you will have a location in the field where the height (and possibly horizontal location) is known. An example of this would be where a surveyor has surveyed the field and has left a survey peg to benchmark off. As long as you have imported the surveyors terrain file that peg can be used to zero the system. Drive to the peg, place your cutting edge on top of the peg (assuming the known height is at the top of the peg) and zero.  You can optionally add in the latitude and longitude to adjust the map horizontally if this information has also been supplied. 
 
 
 4. Zero using a known offset   
 The vertical offset used to zero can be calculated manually if you are aware of all the contributing elevation differences. In most cases it is far easier and less error prone to use another method. However there are instances where calculating this value is straightforward. For instance, if you use the implement receiver on a scraper pan to survey with the offset used for zeroing is simply the height of the blade above the ground while surveying.  
 
 This method can also be useful in another situation. If you have zeroed a project and recorded the resulting vertical offset you can manually enter it back into the project if needed. This might happen if you take the project into another program to alter (such as T3RRA Design) but it returns without the vertical offset (which may have been stripped out as part of the process). 
 
 
 5. Zero by nudging 
 Even after zeroing you may need to alter the vertical offset slightly. Compensating for GPS drift may be a reason to do this. Or you may want to alter the design surface height slightly to improve your cut and fill balance.

2. Cross-slope Adjustment
T3RRA software is capable of sending cross slope commands to iGrade™. It can operate automatically based on the cross slope observed on the map at the current location. It can also be switched to manual and a cross slope value entered.  
 
 To enable control (manual or automatic) you first must check the ‘ Output cross slope commands ’ box in the ‘ Settings > Machine ’ window. 
 
 
 
 Once you have checked this box, you will be able to set the cross slope nudge increment. This specifies the incremental amount each press of the left and right tilt buttons will add to the cross slope. Being able to set the nudge increment allows you to decide the size of each adjustment. 
 
 The cross slope controls are in the lower left section of the map screen. The left and right button rotate the blade to the left and right respectively (relative to the direction of travel). As the left and right buttons are pressed the current tilt value is displayed in the text box between the two buttons. The center button of these controls will turn automatic machine control on and off. 
 
 
 When automatic control is engaged, the nudge buttons will change to display the icon to the right. 

3. Vertical blade shift
The blade shift buttons in T3RRA Cutta and T3RRA Ditch serve to manually shift the height of the blade, either up or down. The distance a single press will shift the blade vertically (called the ‘ Blade shift increment ’) is set in the ' Settings ' window. As the up and down buttons are pressed the current shift value is displayed in the text box between the two buttons.This value can also be set directly by touching the text box with a finger.  
 
 Each project now has three blade shift slots (1, 2 and 3). Drag or swipe the blade shift up or down to switch between slots. 
 
 Blade Shift is generally used in one of two ways: 
 
 1) It can be used to limit the cut depth which T3RRA will try to reach in a heavy cut area. For instance, if you have a six inch cut to make but you can only realistically cut in 2 inch increments, then you can "shift up" four inches for the first pass, two for the second, and then zero for the third. In this way, you can shave down to grade without over-taxing your equipment. Remember to set it back to zero for areas of the field that have smaller cuts! 
 
 2) It can be used to offset transient GPS variations. If an operator feels like the GPS has drifted upward, then they can adjust for this using the blade shift.  
 NOTE: The ' On-Grade indicator ' does not account for the blade shift. So if you shift the blade up two inches from grade, and the blade then adjusts to that height, the on-grade chevrons will show the blade as being two inches above grade, not on-grade.  
 
 NOTE: Blade Shift should be used for temporary manual vertical adjustments. If the vertical adjustment is intended to be permanent then it is more appropriate to adjust the Zero Offset value.

4. Cut/Fill information display
In the upper left corner of the screen more information is shown about current ground height, design ground height and the amount needing to be added/removed. 
 The Horizontal color bar will display a color graded scale of cut and fill amounts and the white marker will show the height of the current location. 
  

5. Progress bars
In the upper right of the screen are 2 percentage counters that show the amount completed. These are only shown when ' Enable as-applied calculations ' is turned on.  
 
 
   
 NOTE: the percentages count up what has been implemented so far, not what is left to do. When pausing work part way through a job save the project in order to retain completion percentages. 
 
 
  

6. On-grade indicator
At the left side of the map screen there is a grouping of up/down chevrons that show the current blade height relative to the target design height. They show how far the blade needs to move, and in what direction, in order to be “on grade”. 
 If two GPS units are connected to the system two sets of on-grade indicators can be shown. This is configured in the ‘ Settings ’ window. 
 
 If the screen is displaying 2 sets of chevrons the left set will display data for the left/front GPS.

7. Blade and Tractor Indicators
When you are implementing a design, each implement will appear as a triangle pointing towards your current heading much like it did in surveying. The tractor is not displayed. The triangle indicators display GPS statuses with color changes. The inner triangle of the indicator shows the current VDOP status, while the outer edge shows the Fix Quality status. The inner VDOP status triangle changes color: 
 
 Grey - VDOP reading of 0 
 Green - VDOP reading between 0 and 1.5 
 Yellow - VDOP reading between 1.5 and 2 
 Red - VDOP reading is higher than 2 
 
 These readings are independent from the VDOP threshold set in the GPS info screen. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The outside edge of the triangle indicator shows the status of Fix Quality (normally only applicable to Plane and Survey). 
 In T3RRA Plane the Fix Quality may change depending on what is available. Depending on the type of fix quality the outside triangle will change to one of four colors: 
 
 Red - No fix is being made. (T3RRA Cutta and Ditch will only display this if something is wrong.) 
 Green - Fixed RTK (T3RRA Cutta and Ditch should only display this.) 
 Yellow - Float RTK 
 Orange - Differential GPS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 Behind the triangle is a “blade bar” that shows the location of the blade. The width of this bar corresponds to the width of the cutting edge as entered in the ‘ Settings ’ window. The exact position of the GPS is at the center of the rear edge of the triangle (or the center of the front edge of the blade bar). 
 
 In 3D the T3RRA software will show the GPS position of the blade as the center of the front edge of the blade bar. 
  

8. Map Display
When implementing the display will show a cut/fill map by default. The Cut/fill map will be displayed using the color settings you have set in the ' Settings >   Application ' window. Red/Green/Blue Magenta/Green (default color setting) The Magenta/Green color scheme may be easier to view for those users with red/green color blindness. The Red/Green/Blue color scheme may be preferred by users wanting a clearer delineation of “on grade” areas.

9. Drain Profile
When implementing a drain you are able to bring up a display on the screen that shows the profile and cross section of the drain. A small circular drag handle can be found at the bottom of the screen. Double tapping, or dragging this handle will display this screen. It shows both a cross section of the drain (window on the left) as well as a profile of the drain (window on the right). 
 The window on the left displays your current position relative to the drain centerline. It will indicate  whether you are currently on the shoulder or in the bottom of the drain.  
 
 The right section of the screen shows design heights and original heights for the drain’s full length.  
 The red line in the diagram is the designed drain, the blue line shows the pre-implementation level of the ground and the green shading area is what will either be cut or filled. 
 With this diagram you will be able to see cut depths along the length of the drain and estimate the number of passes required. 
 
 The blue arrow points to your current location and indicates the height of the blade. The blue arrow travels along the drain bottom and not on the backslope if one has been designed. 
 
 You can touch along the drain line to see the information at that location. 
 
 In the top right corner of the drain profile window there are 3 tools:  
 
 
 Reset .  
 
 
 Like the map above the graph you are able to zoom in to specific sections. ' Reset ' allows you to reset the view of the graph. 
 
 
 Follow Position . 
 
 
 Zooms into the blue arrow and follows it along the graph as it implements the drain design. 
 
 
 Drain selector . 
 
 
 Used to select the drain to be displayed. The closest drain is not automatically selected, this needs to be selected manually.