Smart Construction – Enhanced Safety and Intelligent Connectivity

• Safety – Radar technology for environment detection

• Connectivity – Intelligent vehicle interconnection

Ideally, the construction machinery of the future should not only be climate neutral, but it should also operate safely and efficiently. In order to ensure this, ZF is already developing future-oriented technologies today and demonstrates once more its aspiration as a technology leader with system capability.

Safety - Radar technology for environment detection

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Rear Observation Assist

Gen5 Short-Range Corner Radar sensors support functions such as the „Rear Observation Assist”. Environment can be detected within a range of up to 90 m (295’) in a grid of 20 cm (8”) and an opening angle of +/- 75 degrees.

• Short-Range Radar sensor for an extended environment detection

• New high-performance forward-looking radar system for early object detection

Connectivity – Intelligent vehicle interconnection

ZF shows how vehicles can be intelligently connected and how vehicle manufacturers as well as construction companies can be supported by new communication technologies and platforms. Thanks to its broad portfolio, ZF can interpret trends across all sectors and thus creates synergies in an agile way.

• Reduction of vehicle downtime through predictive maintenance and condition monitoring

• Rapid data transmission for specialists

• DIY support, e.g. through online access to operating manuals

• Avoidance of secondary damage

• Enhanced maintenance intervals

ZF offers two variants of connectivity solutions.

ZFlink – Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)

The new ZFlink (BLE Dongle) connects construction machinery with smartphone or tablet using the OBD2 diagnosis interface. With ZFLink and the associated mobile device application (ZF App), vehicle data, operating conditions and service data can be read and analyzed at any time. In case of active error codes ZF can help in solving the problem by one ́s self (DIY). If a DIY solution cannot be found, data can also be transferred to the next ZF service point. To this ZF uses a specially developed ZF app. It is intended to provide the end user with a simple diagnosis assistance in addition to numerous analysis tools.

ZF Connectivity Unit

The open ZF IoT platform makes it possible to implement new, digital services and to use hardware systems more efficiently through data analysis and smart algorithms. Thanks to its extensive portfolio, ZF can use this technology to analyze cross-sector trends and intelligently create synergies. Let's take the example of data analysis for off-highway vehicles: construction machinery drivelines are monitored across their entire product life cycle via cloud. That contributes to reducing downtime, as potential problems or even damage can be recognized and fixed at any early stage.