Learning Center

Excavation: bucket depth guidance for excavators

Excavation shows how far the bucket tip is above or below grade, for trenches, pads, ponds and civil designs. Live bucket-tip depth needs the DIG™ Kit; Ditch Assist Lite checks grade between cuts. The app never moves the machine. Here are the six ways to start a job and how to read the dig screen.

  • DIG™ Kit
  • Ditch Assist Lite

In the app Home › Excavation

Excavation (the IQ Excavator card) in the Ditch Assist® app shows the operator how far the bucket is above or below the target: big chevrons on the map, a CUT / FILL label, and an excavator-arm gauge down the side. You dig by hand. The app never sends anything to the machine's hydraulics.

It covers single trenches to a designed grade, a fixed grade from where you start, a flat pad or pond bottom, and engineered surfaces from a LandXML file.

DIG™ Kit or Ditch Assist Lite?

DIG™ KitDitch Assist Lite on an excavator
What's on the machineGPS on a pendulum mount on the stick, angle sensors on the stick and bucket linkage, DIG module by the cabAn Emlid Reach on the stick, no sensors
What the app followsThe bucket tip, all the time. The DIG module works out the tip from the GPS, the sensors and the link lengths you measured at calibration.The antenna. The bucket tip is only right with the stick and bucket back in the pose you calibrated in.
How you use itLive grade while you digStop and check grade between cuts
Set-upInstall the DIG Kit, calibrate it, connectDitch Assist Lite on an excavator
DIG Kit: how the parts connect An excavator digging a trench, seen from the operator’s left, with numbered markers. 1: a GPS receiver on the DIG pendulum mount at the top of the stick; the mount swings so the receiver stays level. 2: an angle sensor on the stick. 3: an angle sensor on the dogbone linkage above the bucket. Cables run over the boom to 4: the DIG ECU beside the cab, which works out where the bucket tip is from the GPS position, the two sensor angles and the link lengths measured at calibration. It sends that to 5: the tablet in the cab over its own Wi-Fi. A dashed construction line runs from the pendulum pivot down through the boom-end pin and the bucket pin to 6: the bucket tip, which the app shows against the design grade along the bottom of the trench. Wi-FiDesign grade123456
The DIG module works out where the bucket tip is from the GPS on the stick and the two angle sensors, and sends it to the tablet over its own Wi-Fi. The app shows cut or fill at the tip.
  1. GPS receiver. On the DIG pendulum mount at the top of the stick. It swings so the receiver stays level.
  2. Stick sensor. Measures the angle of the stick.
  3. Bucket sensor. On the dogbone linkage. Measures the angle of the bucket.
  4. DIG module (ECU). By the cab. Works out where the bucket tip is from the GPS, both angles and the lengths measured at calibration.
  5. Tablet. On the DIG module's own Wi-Fi.
  6. Bucket tip. The dashed line runs from the GPS pivot through the stick pins to the tip. The app compares the tip with your design grade.

A control module (the kit for scrapers) can also be connected in Excavation, but it only knows where the antenna is. The app warns Designed for a different kit; tap Pick Different unless you know what you're doing.

Before you start

Time: about 2 minutes to open Excavation and pick how you'll dig.

Open Excavation

Tap Excavation

On the Home screen, Excavation is the square on the right of the middle row, with a picture of a yellow excavator and the words IQ Excavator under its name. Tap it.

Home screen: nine square cards in three rows; the right-hand card of the middle row reads Excavation, IQ Excavator, with a yellow excavator picture
  1. Excavation. Right-hand square of the middle row, IQ Excavator.

A window opens called IQ Excavator — Connect. Already connected (or the simulator already running)? The app skips straight to the last step.

Tap Connect

Connect is the big dark-green button at the top of the window. In Excavation it looks for a DIG module first, then a control module or Reach. To practise, tap Simulate, the white button under it. Step by step for DIG, with every message: Connect the tablet to the DIG module.

Window IQ Excavator — Connect in the middle of the Home screen, heading Connect to Controller, with buttons Connect (dark green), Simulate, Bluetooth GPS and Manual Options
  1. Connect. Finds the DIG module (or Reach) on the tablet's Wi-Fi.
  2. Simulate. Practise with no machine.

Tap Continue

The window changes to System Check. Wait until all three rows have a green tick and the last row, GPS Accuracy, reads RTK Fixed. Then tap Continue, the big green button at the bottom. On a DIG module the first row reads Ditch Assist DIG.

System Check window with three rows, each with a green tick: Controller Connected (Simulator active), GPS Signal (22 satellites), GPS Accuracy (RTK Fixed — 0.8 HDOP), and a green Continue button at the bottom 1
  1. GPS Accuracy. Must read RTK Fixed before you dig to grade.
  2. Continue. Opens the six choices.

The window then asks How would you like to grade?. Tap the way you want to dig: the six choices are just below.

The six ways to start

Six wide buttons stacked: New Survey, Load Survey / Design, Resume Job, Enter Grade Only, Dig Level Area, Import Civil Design (LandXML), each with a one-line description 1 2 3 4 5 6
  1. New Survey. Survey the trench line, then design it.
  2. Load Survey / Design. Design from a saved survey, or dig a saved design.
  3. Resume Job. An excavator job you started, with its marks.
  4. Enter Grade Only. A fixed grade from where you start.
  5. Dig Level Area. One elevation, or a depth below the bucket.
  6. Import Civil Design (LandXML). An engineer's surface.
OptionUse it forGuide
New SurveyA drain, culvert or ditch trench that has to follow the ground and drain to an outlet.Dig to a design
Load Survey / DesignThe same, from a survey or design you already have (from any workflow).Dig to a design
Enter Grade OnlyA known grade (0% for level) starting where you put the bucket: footings, a tile trench at a set fall.Dig to a set grade
Dig Level AreaA pad, shop floor, pond or lagoon bottom at one elevation, or a fixed depth below where the bucket is.Dig a level area
Import Civil Design (LandXML)A finished-grade surface from an engineer (Civil 3D, Trimble and others).Dig to a LandXML design
Resume JobCarrying on yesterday's dig.below

Read the dig screen

Every option ends on the same screen. The map is north-up and your position is a plain dot (green on RTK Fixed, amber on Float, red with no fix) because the machine works from one spot.

Where to look while you dig:

Excavator dig screen: two big green down chevrons on each side of the position dot, a big 5.7 inch CUT label at the bottom of the map, the profile chart under the map, and on the right a tall gauge with a drawn excavator arm above a yellow-and-black FINAL TARGET band and a readout Target +5.7 CUT
  1. 5.7″ CUT. The bucket is 5.7″ above grade: dig deeper. With the big green down chevrons on each side of your dot. More chevrons, farther off.
  2. Readout on the gauge. The same number, signed: + is above grade, − is over-dug. Current and target elevations under it.

The tall gauge down the right side draws the excavator arm. Watch the tip of its bucket against the yellow-and-black FINAL TARGET band.

What you can tap, in the column on the right:

The same dig screen; the right-hand column reads Home, Stop, Nudge Up, 0 inches, Nudge Down, a Grade switch, and the DIG logo at the bottom
  1. Nudge Up. Raises the target by the Nudge Sensitivity setting (2″ to start) each tap. The total shows between the two buttons.
  2. Nudge Down. Lowers it the same way.
  3. Grade. The on-grade tone. On to start.
  • On grade means within ±1.5″ of the target: the big label on the map reads ON GRADE. The tone plays within Grade Alert Threshold (2″ by default) while the Grade switch is on.
  • Nudge moves the working target, shown as a cyan CURRENT line on the gauge. Tap the readout to switch it between Current Tgt and Final Tgt. Tap the gauge elsewhere to fold it to a thin GRADE rail.
  • The profile chart (design jobs) draws a green achieved line and shades the dug area green as you reach grade.
  • The DIG logo at the bottom of the right-hand column marks the Excavation grade screen. It's a label, not a connection light: it shows on the simulator too.
  • There's no Hold, Raise or Lower. Nothing moves the machine, so there's nothing to hold. Stop freezes the job and saves it.
Reading the Grade / Depth Guide The guide column as the app draws it in the light display mode. 1: the tip of the black triangle is the cutting edge of your blade or bucket. 2: the blue CURRENT line is the target for this pass; it only shows when Nudge or Auto-Nudge moves the target off final grade. 3: the black and yellow FINAL TARGET band is the design grade. 4: the readout gives how far the blade is from the target named on top, here Current Tgt plus 2.0 inches, CUT, then the elevations Current 805.50, Current Tgt 805.33 and Final Tgt 805.00. 5: tap the readout and it measures to Final Tgt instead: plus 6.0 inches, CUT. Reading the depth guide CUT CURRENT FINAL TARGET FILL Current Tgt +2.0" CUT Current Current Tgt Final Tgt 805.50 805.33 805.00 1 2 3 4 5 Cutting edge This pass Final grade How far off Tap it Final Tgt +6.0" CUT
Work the cutting edge down to the yellow FINAL band, or to the blue CURRENT line when you've nudged the target. On the Excavation screen the triangle is drawn as an excavator arm: read the tip of the bucket.
  1. Cutting edge. The tip of the triangle in this drawing; the tip of the bucket on the Excavation screen.
  2. CURRENT. The target with your nudge on it. It only shows while a nudge is set.
  3. FINAL TARGET. The design or grade you set.
  4. How far off. From the bucket to the target named on top. + means above it: dig more. − means below it. Green when close, amber to red when far above, blue below.
  5. Tap it. While there's a CURRENT line, a tap switches the readout to Final Tgt, the distance to the design (red while there's digging left). Tap again to switch back.

Elevation and benchmarks

With DIG the elevation at the top of the screen is the bucket's cutting edge: the module corrects it in hardware. There's no bucket-tip height to enter in the app, and Blade Height isn't used for digging.

Resume, Reset and settings

Saving is automatic: on Stop, when you leave the screen, and every so often while you dig. Tap Stop before you walk away.

To carry on a job you started:

  1. Tap Resume Job

    Open Excavation as above. Resume Job is the third choice under How would you like to grade?. (When nothing is loaded, the dig screen's right-hand column also has an orange Resume button that opens the same list.)

  2. Tap Resume beside your job

    The list holds excavator jobs only. Named jobs end in "(Excavator)"; a job you didn't name shows as just "Excavator". Tap the orange Resume on the right of yours. It brings back the design or target, your marks, the nudge and the achieved overlay.

    Resume Job window listing excavator jobs: Shop pad level (Excavator), Saved Fri, Oct 16 9:54 PM, excavator, 167 cells, with an orange Resume button and a bin icon; more jobs below
    1. Resume. Loads the job.
    2. The job's name. Ends in "(Excavator)".

  3. Tap Skip or Calibrate

    It always asks Calibrate GPS?. Same day and base setup: tap Skip, in the bottom right corner beside Calibrate. Otherwise put the cutting edge on the benchmark (or a known control point) and tap the orange Calibrate (how).

    Calibrate GPS? window: If your RTK base station location has changed since this design file was created, you should calibrate to ensure accurate grading. Drive to a point where the design elevation matches the original ground (a zero-cut/fill location), lower your implement, then calibrate. Buttons Skip and Calibrate 2
    1. Skip. Same day, same base setup.
    2. Calibrate. Another day, or the base moved.
  • Reset, in the right-hand column when you're stopped, asks Reset All? and returns to Home with nothing loaded. Saved files stay.
  • Settings: Excavator Grade Alert (under ALERTS, on to start) and Excavator Grid Cell (under IMPLEMENT, 11 m) are the excavator rows. Grade Alert Threshold sets the tone's band for both.
Digging to a Slope-IQ™ design with the DIG Kit: chevrons, the bucket gauge and the achieved grade filling in.

If something goes wrong

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