Speaker
Description
Our project focuses on the development of a teleoperation system for a forestry delimber operating in full-tree applications in Canada. In many regions, full-tree processing involves repetitive tasks: feeding stems, delimbing, cutting to prescribed lengths, handling, and stacking. These operations require precision, are physically demanding, and take place in remote environments. The forestry sector faces a persistent shortage of skilled operators, limiting production capacity and increasing pressure on crews. Operational costs are significant, particularly due to long distances between cities and harvesting sites, often exceeding 120 km. Transporting operators to remote sites adds logistical complexity and expense.
A major constraint is the lack of reliable cellular connectivity. Harvesting sites are commonly located outside LTE or 5G coverage in Canada, preventing the use of conventional teleoperation solutions that depend on terrestrial infrastructure. This connectivity gap, combined with labor shortages and high costs, motivates the need for an alternative approach.
To address these challenges, we are developing a satellite-based teleoperation system for forestry delimbers. The objective is to enable a remote operator to control a machine in real time from an operations center near a mill or service hub. By centralizing operators in a controlled environment, this approach reduces travel time, improves working conditions, optimizes workforce allocation, and enhances operational efficiency. It also extends opportunities for experienced operators who may no longer wish to work full-time in remote forest conditions.
A key technical challenge lies in communications performance. Teleoperating a forestry machine requires continuous transmission of video streams and sensor data, including onboard cameras and lidars used for environmental perception and positioning assistance. Satellite networks introduce constraints in bandwidth and latency. To ensure feasibility, we developed advanced data compression and stream optimization mechanisms. The system architecture maintains low end-to-end latency to preserve precise and safe machine control while minimizing bandwidth usage. Our operational target is to keep total data consumption below 4 terabytes per month, including video and command streams required for teleoperation.
The platform incorporates adaptive bitrate strategies that adjust stream quality according to network conditions. Safety mechanisms guarantee predictable machine behavior in the event of communication degradation or temporary link interruption. Edge processing capabilities are integrated on the machine to prioritize critical control data over auxiliary sensor streams, ensuring stable command responsiveness under fluctuating satellite link conditions.
An initial validation phase is conducted using a Caterpillar delimber equipped with our teleoperation system on a controlled private site. These trials evaluated sensor integration, satellite communication robustness, control stability, and overall system performance under realistic conditions. Quantitative metrics collected during testing included end-to-end latency, packet loss resilience, and bandwidth utilization.
The next phase includes operational trials in an active forest environment scheduled for summer 2026, assessing performance under real production constraints and varying weather conditions.
This project demonstrates that reliable, safe, and economically viable satellite-based teleoperation of forestry delimbers is achievable in remote environments, supporting a structural evolution in heavy forestry machinery operations.
| Keywords | Teleoperation; Delimber; Low-latency |
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