Using Radar Distance Measurement while Backing a Truck into a Loading Dock

Challenge: Backing into a Loading Dock Can Be Difficult When Weather Conditions Reduce Visibility
Even for experienced drivers, visually estimating the distance to a loading dock while backing up a truck or semi-trailer can prove to be difficult. Weather conditions can often make this process even more challenging, particularly if precipitation obscures the truck’s sideview mirrors.

Solution: Use a Radar Sensor Connected to an Easily Visible Warning Light

Radar sensors are used to reliably detect objects in all weather conditions. Banner’s T30R sensors are recommended to detect and track any type of truck. By fixing the 45-degree T30R-4545 sensor at a height just below the elevated surface of the dock, real-time radar measurements of the truck’s proximity can be received, and this data can be displayed to drivers using a bright visual indicator like Banner’s WLS27 Pro strip light. That way, drivers can easily see the stoplight indication on the WLS27 Pro as a bar of light that increases to a maximum threshold as the truck gets close to the dock. The use of an industrial radar detection helps ensure that even in challenging outdoor conditions, truck drivers can safely and smoothly back up and park their vehicle at the perfect distance from the dock, enabling highly efficient loading or unloading.

Key Benefits

A wider-angle sensor beam to detect cargo vehicles.
Some radar sensors, like the Banner T30R-1515, are designed to have a narrower beam for more focused identification, and in fact that model can be very useful if placed above loading dock doorways, pointing down, for discrete detection of the presence or absence of a truck. However, the T30R-4545 is specifically designed to detect objects in a wider 45-degree field of view, including trucks of any size or shape. Mounting the T30R-4545 horizontally, just below the surface of the dock, makes it possible to track the distance to the door in real-time as the truck backs into place.

Two sensing modes, including background suppression for focused detection.
The T30R offers two different sensing modes for vehicles: retroreflective and background suppression. In retroreflective mode, the sensor focuses its beam on a small area around a fixed point and sends a signal if an object interrupts that beam. This robust and reliable sensing method is perfect for detecting the presence or absence of a truck at a loading dock, even if it has nonmetal surfaces. The T30R’s background suppression mode allows for more specific identification of targets, by observing a cutoff distance where it will detect a vehicle and ignore anything else beyond it. The signal strength threshold can be adjusted to custom values to ignore false positives. For example, when the sensor is set up using this mode, it can ignore objects in range that are below a certain height from the ground, so that a tall truck triggers the sensor, but a shorter object like a car or a person does not.

Measurement Hold, for smooth display changes on LED strip lights.
Because trucks have various parts that stick out, as well as variations in the shapes and angles of their surfaces—think of the bumper, rear axle, wheels, and so forth—a single truck approaching a radar sensor presents several potential points of detection. If the T30R-4545 is being used to measure a truck’s distance to a loading dock as a driver backs up to the door, these multiple areas might occasionally cause the overall detection results to “jump” erratically, causing sudden fluctuations on a strip light or other indicator. Fortunately, Banner’s sensor configuration software has been designed with a feature called Measurement Hold, which uses an algorithm to compensate for this behavior. With Measurement Hold enabled and calibrated, the detection data points are smoothed out to match the actual continuous motion of a truck as a singular object. Correspondingly, a strip light configured to mimic the T30R-4545 output will display a gradual increase as a truck comes closer and a gradual decrease as it pulls away.

Reliable performance even in adverse weather conditions.
Radar technology has proven especially useful at sea and in meteorology, in part because it continues to function in the presence of storms, precipitation, and other atmospheric conditions. Some sensors that excel in controlled indoor automation facilities face extra challenges in more variable outdoor environments. For example, rain, snow, fog, and even sunlight can interrupt or interfere with photoelectric sensor beams, and wind and air-temperature changes can affect the speed of ultrasonic signals—even though they are beyond the frequency range of human hearing. Fortunately, FMCW radar detection, as used in the T30R series, delivers accuracy and reliable performance in any type of weather, making it an ideal solution for outdoor applications such as loading-dock distance monitoring.

Videos

Advanced Target Featuring Measurement Hold

T30R Application: Vehicle Detection

T30R Application: Loading Dock

Featured Products

T30R Series Radar Sensor

The T30R sensor is a longer-range alternative to ultrasonic sensors, and provides more reliable detection and position feedback in extreme outdoor conditions and other challenging environments. It features a shorter dead zone, better accuracy, and the ability to see a wider range of targets than traditional 24GHz radar sensors.

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