Real-Time Anticollision System for Mobile Cranes during Lift Operations

To reduce the rate of collision accidents between mobile cranes and immobile obstacles in construction sites during lift operations, this paper develops a real-time automated anticollision system that can warn crane operators about potential collisions and automatically implement collision-avoidance strategies. This system does not require additional devices and can be installed in existing crane controllers. Before the lift operation, the location and shape data of all immobile objects in the work area are collected by a boom head and stored in track-sector database of the system based on the position parameters of the boom head. During the operation of the lift, the proposed system calculates a three-dimensional safe zone for the crane, including boom, cable, and lift object based on the object data in real time, and the movement and position of the crane including boom, cable, and lift object are consistently monitored and predicted in real time through weighted linear-regression models. If the predicted position of the crane is reaching the boundary of the precalculated safety operation zone, three different levels of decelerations and an emergency stop will be automatically executed in order, according to the distance between crane and the obstacles, by the lifting controller to prevent the crane from potential collisions with immobile obstacles. A tentative application of this real-time anticollision system at real construction sites has demonstrated its ability to prevent collisions between cranes and immobile obstacles in work zones during lift operations. (c) 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.