EpoSat© is the system from Epoke© A/S for automated spreading. By means of EpoSat©, spreading is carried out by the spreader computer without driver operation. Thus the driver may concentrate on driving the vehicle and on operating the snow plough, when required. As a result, increased traffic safety, optimal spreading and improved level of service for the road-users are achieved.

Software for Route Editing

EpoSat© permits a variation of the spreading quantity thus making it optimal according to the present weather and road conditions. In this way accurate dosing may be achieved, resulting in reduced costs, a positive environmental effect and an improved level of service for the road users.

Functionalities

The driver may switch to manual spreading mode at any given time, if required. If the driver is forced to leave the route, for example, due to a traffic accident, spreading by means of EpoSat© will automatically resume when the driver reenters the route.

Advantages – EpoSat©

• Increased traffic safety
• Improved work environment for the drivers
• Always optimal and uniform winter road maintenance
• Reduced salt consumption, reduced costs and reduced environmental damage

The automated spreading is very accurate. With EpoSat© a change of setting will take place within +/- 5 meters from the desired position, which corresponds to the driver reacting within 3/4 of a second when spreading in manual mode at a speed of 50 km/h (=14 meters per second).

Eposat GPS controlled automated spreading system consists of two components- EpoSat office software package and an EpoSat hardware package to be installed on each spreader.

EpoSat office software package for installation on customer’s PC:

• Includes a digital map displaying roads, road names, cities, forests, watercourses etc.
• Includes Omni Drive card reader and one EpoCard for reference route recording
• Includes 1 year license for EpoSat and digital mapping software

PC requirements for EpoSat software installation:

• Processor minimum 2.0 GHz (recommended 2.8 GHz)
• 256MB RAM
• DVD Drive
• 1 GB free space on hard drive
• Color screen- 1024*768 resolution
• Software: Windows 2000 or newer

Prior to the winter season, the spreading routes are driven through with the typical settings for start/stop of spreading, spreading width, spreading quantity and spreading symmetry. The routes are recorded and may subsequently be edited on a PC using the accompanying software program.

In the software, the recorded routes are displayed on a digital road map. The winter maintenance manager may now optimize the spreading routine by moving or entering new points in the recorded route, or by changing the spreading quantity or spreading width on certain road sections.

When the editing has been completed, the routes are transferred to the spreader computer again, and may then be used by the driver for automated spreading.