By combining the exact position of the timber truck with the harvester’s measuring system via GPS “pucks” on the truck roof, Digital Timber Tracking ID is followed.
Image: Bitzer Productions
Digital timber tracking of wood products to the growing site in the forest is about to become a reality in forestry. But how does it work? Skogforsk’s Thomas Parklund, specialist in the field, explains.
According to Thomas Parklund, it is basically a system with a technology that provides the opportunity to follow the digital identity of the logs throughout the production flow. This, in turn, makes it possible to trace logs and, for example, sawn timber products throughout the production chain.
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Thomas Parklund explains step by step:
Precision in the forest: The harvester uses RTK-GNSS (Real-Time Kinematic) for highly accurate positioning of the log. When the tree is cut, each log receives an exact coordinate linked to the log’s digital ID and to the harvester’s measurement data. The information is stored in the cloud.
The smart forwarder: When the forwarder picks up the wood, the system registers which logs are moved and connects them to the correct data in the cloud. In this way, the identity can follow the timber from felling to cutting.
Digital rollers and geofencing: Instead of manual roll-overs, digital rollovers are created at roads. When the timber truck drives into a digitally defined area, a so-called geofence, the system can connect the log to the correct roller – and even where in the roller the log is located.
X-ray as fingerprint: In industry, the logs are scanned with CT log or other measurements. By matching the industry’s measurement data with the harvester’s data, it is in many cases possible to connect logs back to the right roller, and in some cases to the right log – and in that case, the right stump.
Thomas Parlund sees the opportunity to be able to connect position data with the harvester’s measurement system as the most important technical prerequisite for digital traceability.
“Then you can follow each log’s unique digital ID and thereby get information about, for example, length, diameter, tree species and cutting location,” he says.
What does it take for the technology to work on a larger scale?
“There is a need for common standards for how the information should be described, read into the next link in the process chain and shared between different actors. The technology already exists, but the big challenge is to get the entire chain to speak the same language,” says Thomas Parklund.
What pitfalls do you see?
“The biggest bottleneck is rarely the actual measurement in the forest, but the transitions between different systems and actors. Data must be able to follow the timber from harvester to forwarder, road transport and to industry without losing identity.
Sorce-Skogsforsk
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Written by loggers for loggers and dedicated solely to the equipment used in forestry operations.