The introduction of Automation is gaining speed in many application fields due the latest technological, social and economic developments. The field of harbour terminals is not an exception, with up to 500 large scale terminals searching for new automation systems.This MSc thesis was carried out at Kalmar and it is taking into consideration company policies and procedures in order to provide a realistic scenario. However, the literature review was not limited to Kalmar solutions and is taking into consideration other practices, especially those related to networks and video and audio protocols.The main objective of this MSc thesis is the development of an automatic rubber tyred gantry crane. Special consideration is provided on how the crane can remotely be controlled and supervised within a specific area. The supervision is desired because by safety reasons the operator supervises the automatic movements of the gantry direction in X coordinate and the Y trolley coordinate for a potential “dead man´s” switch. The hoist direction along Z and the truck lane operation are remotely controlled by the operator.As an engineering requirement, Kalmar´s Software Architecture, and its reconfiguration features, play an important role at the time of configuring and installing the system. The Thesis pays special attention on how to solve network issues due the increase of crane´s load. The final approach is complemented by the development of a User Interface in order to host the increased amount of information due the new automation system. The Thesis also presents the results for testing the new solution on Cargotec final product, and outline the main issues reported during the testing period. The resulting solution is a market ready product.
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