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COVER STORY
Chief among the improvements made to
iOPS is the company's tactical dashboards,
which allow hundreds of data points on
multiple pieces of equipment to be sorted
and presented efficiently to each level of
an organization.
" How do you present that in a way
that means something to the customer? "
Poulsen posits. " They don't necessarily
want to know all the numbers. Like what's
the temperature of the exhaust? What's the
temperature of the coolant fluid? Somebody
in their organization wants to know, but
the management levels don't really need to
know that. They want to know that things
are operating, how well they're performing,
how well not just the equipment is
performing, but how their operators are
performing.
" That's some of the kinds of things we
can address. "
Collecting Data
The range of data that can be collected from
GSE assets is vast.
" Link is able to retrieve a goldmine of data
such as localization, speed, trajectory, historical
routing, battery state-of-charge and stateof-health
and much more technical data such
as including current level, battery and motor
temperatures, fault codes, etc., " Mahjoub says
Many data points can assist with costs
savings, environmental goals and safety
initiatives.
Poulsen notes geofencing and speed-monitoring
can ensure that ground support
equipment is operated correctly based on its
physical location.
" iOPS really effects the safety of the operation, "
he says. " It makes it more efficient and
also gives the ability to actually have the customer
save money. "
Poulsen adds that monitoring fuel levels
and usages is helpful because sometimes
operators let equipment idle in between
uses. When this happens, information is
reported back to an operations manager, who
can address the issue with ground personnel.
Similarly, monitoring deicing fluids can reduce
operational costs.
" The combination of controlling the usage
of the fuel and also the usage of the deicing
fluid helps things be more environmentally
appropriate, " Poulsen adds.
But with numerous data points on each
piece of equipment, managing the information
can seem daunting. To help customers consume
this information, dashboards become
important for GSE fleet management.
" Link has pre-set dashboards in the areas
of safety, fleet supervision and equipment fault
diagnosis, " Mahjoub explains, noting customized
reports can be created or alerts via email
or SMS can be triggered by specific events.
Poulsen refers to JBT's tactical dashboards
as " perspectives. " The interface can be adjusted
based on the data a customer is looking for.
" Everybody within a company has a different
perspective on the data that they need to
use on an everyday basis, " Poulsen explains.
" You might have a corporate manager. He
needs to know the things related to money
and finance. An operations manager at an
airport needs to know where his equipment
is, whether it's up and running, whether it's
ready to go, who's using it right now, how it's
being used and that sort of thing.
" We have these different perspectives that
we create that essentially only present the
data that's needed by that particular function
within a customer's company, " he continues.
" The highest level person in the company
actually needs to know less specific data about
that equipment than the guy that's down there
in the field, repairing that equipment. [The
service technicians] need to know those things
- like temperatures and wear information - so
they can do their job. "
Since too much data runs the risk of overwhelming
new users, the concept of dashboards
is designed to declutter data and make
information easier to digest.
20 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022
Applying Data
The purpose of telemetry is not just displaying
data, but more importantly analyzing
the data. The way data is applied to
GSE is important, and Poulsen uses routine
maintenance as an example.
" Traditionally, people have gone by usage
hours - how many hours has that equipment
been used? - to determine a maintenance
activity, " he says. " What we're doing
now is combining multiple sub-level elements
that might look at engine temperatures,
might look at engine RPMs, might
look at fuel usage. We can look at things
like how many times has a joystick been
moved back and forth. "
All of these sub-level parameters that
contribute to the wear on of a piece of
equipment can be considered when determining
exactly when maintenance needs
to take place.
" One parameter might tick down quicker
than another parameter based on how it's
being operated, " Poulsen says. " That will
also trigger things like an email alert. "
Mahjoub points to improved safety and
security as a key application of telematics
as speeding, parking violations and vehicle
access control can be monitored.
" Also, allocation of GSE equipment
can be optimized considering the various
missions scheduled for the day vis-a-vis
state-of-charge of the battery or pending
maintenance, " he says.
" Telematics enable efficient opportunity
charging in between missions, which is a
key for electrification of ramp motorized
GSE, " Mahjoub continues. " Another benefit
Photo courtesy of JBT
december2021january2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of december2021january2022
