Caterpillar Inc.

Dean G Povey

Craig L Koehrsen

Bryan James Everett

Andrew J Vitale

Joshua Struble

Mark H C Banham

Matthew A Holmes

Ananth Purushotham Kini

Michael Siemer

Anath P Kini

A traffic system is disclosed for use with a plurality of mobile machines. The traffic system may have a locating device configured to generate a location signal indicative of a location of each of the plurality of mobile machines, and an onboard controller configured to regulate operation of each of the plurality of mobile machines based on the location signal. The traffic system may also have a communication device, and a worksite controller in communication with the locating device and onboard controller via the communication device. The worksite controller may be configured to calculate a directed graph of the worksite based on the location signal and known routes for each of the plurality of mobile machines. The worksite controller may also be configured to determine a congestion metric based on the directed graph, and to selectively command the onboard controller to implement a responsive operation based on the congestion metric.

Traffic system having congestion management

A traffic control system is disclosed as having a locating device configured to generate a location signal indicative of a location of each of a plurality of machines. The traffic control system may also have an onboard controller configured to regulate operation of the plurality of machines based on the location signal, a communication device, and a worksite controller. The worksite controller may be configured to determine a first route for a first of the plurality of machines, and to determine if a first lane of the first route is blocked by a second of the plurality of machines. The worksite controller may also be configured to determine if a second lane of the first route intersects with a second route of the second of the plurality of machines, and to selectively grant permission for travel of the first of the plurality of machines through the second lane.

Traffic control system having deadlock avoidance functionality

A control system is disclosed for use with a machine. The control system may have a communicating device, a locating device configured to generate a first signal indicative of a location of the machine, a sensor configured to generate a second signal indicative of contact of the machine with a berm, and an onboard controller. The control system may also have an offboard controller configured to generate a first set of coordinates of a dump target, and to assign the first set of coordinates to the onboard controller for use in controlling the machine. The offboard controller may also be configured to detect contact of the machine with the berm based on the second signal during reverse travel toward the dump target, and to generate a second set of coordinates of the dump target to correspond with a location of the machine at a time of contact detection.

Machine control system having autonomous edge dumping

A control system is disclosed for use with a machine at a worksite. The control system may have an offboard controller. The offboard controller may be configured to receive information regarding a berm at the worksite, determine starting and ending points spaced apart along an edge of the berm based on the information, and determine a maximum orthogonal distance from a virtual line extending between the starting and ending points to the edge of the berm. The offboard controller may be further configured to selectively validate the starting and ending points based on the maximum orthogonal distance, and to designate a center of the virtual line between validated starting and ending points as a dump target.

A control system is disclosed for use with a plurality of machines operating at a worksite. The control system may have a plurality of communicating devices, and a plurality of onboard controllers, each mountable to the plurality of machines. The control system may also have an offboard controller in communication with the plurality of onboard controllers via the plurality of communicating devices. The offboard controller may be configured to selectively assign each of a plurality of sequentially arranged dump targets for use by each of the plurality of machines based on an order in which the plurality of machines arrive at a dump location. The offboard controller may be further configured to make a determination that lanes extending to two dump targets of the plurality of sequentially arranged dump targets overlap, and selectively skip assignment of one of the two dump targets based on the determination.

Growing community of inventors

Queensland, Australia

Dean G Povey