Proposal

Name:

Acquisition of RTK Global Positioning Units

FiscalYear:

2014

Audience:

Engineering and Computer Science, College of

Submitter:

Nagarajan, Sudhagar

Budget Manager:

Asseff, Lynn G.

Project Manager:

Bloetscher, Frederick

Proposal Approvers

Dept. Chair:

Yong, Yan

Local IT:

N/A

Dean:

Ilyas, Mohammad

Facilities:

N/A

OIT:

Campbell, Glen R.

Proposal Funding

Year 1:

$ 32,240.00

Year 2:

$ 0.00

Year 3:

$ 0.00

Total:

$ 32,240.00

Proposal Funding versus Average

Questionnaire

Narrative
This proposal requests funding to acquire three survey-grade Global Positioning System (GPS) rover units.  These GPS units will supplement existing one base and two rover GPS units to meet the requirements of courses in at least three different programs (geomatics engineering, civil engineering, and environmental engineering).  Courses that can use this technology include:  including: Civil Engineering Design 1 CGN 4803C for location of property data and elevations, Civil Engineering Design 2 CGN 4804C for roadway, stormwater and pipe design, Environmental Engineering and Science ENV3001C for location of sampling sites, and Infrastructure CGN 6930. Note we have actually used this technology on a loaner basis for Infrastructure CGN 6506.  The units can be used for new classes in Advanced hydraulics (for pipe location), and Transportation 1 and 2 (TTE 3404, 4404).  The units will supplement Geomatics courses:  Satellite Positioning SUR 4531/SUR 4531L, Engineering and Construction Survey SUR 3205/SUR 3205L, Fundamentals of Surveying SUR 2104C, Plane Surveying Lab SUR 2101L, Introduction to Terrestrial Laser Scanning SUR 4150C, Hydrographic Surveying SUR 4302/SUR 4302L, Geomatics Engineering Design 1 SUR 4670 and Geomatics Engineering Design 2 SUR 4672.

A typical setup for GPS surveying involves one GPS unit to be mounted as a base station and the other GPS units to be deployed as rovers. The rover station is continuously moved to survey topographical features such as road crowns, manholes, lamp posts, parking lots, buildings, river banks, etc. just to name a few.  The units can be linked to cell phones to gather visual data as well as GPS information making field work far more effective.  120 points can be collected in 4 hours.  The existing facility at our department restricts the usage to only two rovers (therefore, only two students) at a time. In bigger classes, the students were forced to use GPS rovers in groups. This has not only limited the hands on experience, but also, increased the wait time for the students. As GPS surveying has become an important part of today’s Civil, Environmental, and Geomatics Engineering practice, it is important that our students are given a proper amount of hands on experience to make them competitive and successful after graduation. In fact, during our recent ABET review, the evaluator expressed concerns over the alarmingly low GPS unit to student ratio.

Network Real-time Kinematic Surveying (N-RTK) is a GPS surveying technique to achieve centimeter level accuracy without having to establish a base station of our own on a known control point. This technique uses permanent base stations that are setup by federal, state and local government authorities and available for free. However, the GPS units need to have the capability to receive GPS corrections from those permanent stations. This is one of the most common techniques used by the engineering and construction industry today as it saves time and effort in the field. The existing three GPS units we currently own do not have the capability to perform N-RTK and therefore our students are lacking that important practical experience. In order to fill that gap and improve the experience in using the GPS, this proposal requests funding of $ 32,240 to acquire three N-RTK capable GPS rover units. A detailed quote is attached. We are receiving upto 30% of discount on these units.

This application aligns very well with FAU’s strategic plan 2012-1017, especially Goal I.

Goal I: Enrich the educational experience: The additional network capable GPS units will provide every student with of the proper amount of hands on experience in using GPS units to perform engineering and construction surveying. This will also enable students to better understand modern GPS positioning and surveying techniques.

Facilities
Not Applicable
Hardware Requirements
Not Applicable
Software Requirements
Not Applicable
Personnel Costs
None
Other Costs
None
Timeline
As soon as funding becomes available the units will be acquired. We anticipate Spring 2015 delivery.
Sustainability
N/A
Resource Matching
No matching
Implementing Organization
The Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering

Proposal Budget

Fiscal Year 1 Fiscal Year 2 Fiscal Year 3 Total
Hardware One-Time $ 32,240.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 32,240.00
Hardware Recurring $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Software One-time $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Software Recurring $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Personnel One-time $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Personnel Recurring $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Other One-time $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Other Recurring $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Totals $ 32,240.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 32,240.00

Supporting Documentation

Filename Size Description
Leica_Viva_GS14_DS_us.pdf 623,307b Datasheet for Leica GPS units
Quote_29810_export_Leica_GPS.pdf 40,885b Quote for Leica GPS units