1. Прочитайте текст и ответьте на вопросы

1. What problems is Russia’s timber industry faced with?

2. Why the majority of local fellers in the Far Eastern region of Russia did not make re-equipment of their wood harvesting machinery for the past five years?

3. What are the shortcomings of foreign technology, such as Timbco and Timberjack?

4. What are the disadvantages of helicopter logging in comparison with aerostat technology?

2. Найдите необходимую информацию и подготовьте мини-доклад на одну из предложенных тем

• Log driving

• Wood hauling

• Logging railroads

9. SATELLITE SYSTEM CONTROLLING

WOOD DELIVERIES

Ilim Group was the first company in the Russian Forest Industry to start implementing the satellite system controlling wood deliveries by installing so-called black boxes on its log trucks in Koryazhma several years ago. All trucks servicing the Koryazhma mill of the Group are equipped with black boxes. The Mill does not accept cargo if the green light on the black box is off. If the green light is off, the whole device is not in operation and the driver will be paid only for 30 km of the way regardless of the actual distance. Drivers carefully check the accuracy of the navigation system because their salary depends on it. The system pays off just in 7-8 months.

Position of the mechanical logging and wood transportation machine is determined by a built-in GPS-receiver. GPS-receivers included in the system receive signals from radio-navigation satellites in any weather conditions and determine the position of the vehicle. The received positions are continually entered in the power-dependent memory of the black box. The tracking control system allows finding both the vehicle's route and selective information, for example, for the last 24 hours. Moreover, it is developed in a manner to ensure that only the owner of the vehicles can control information thereon. This is ensured by the system of passwords without the knowledge of which it is impossible to contact the black box.

The black box is placed in a steel shock-resistant sealed case, equipped with a self-contained power supply battery and a voltage regulation system. When the power supply system is off, the black box immediately switches to the internal power source. The device keeps working in a standby power mode up to 7 days.

Logtruck, a monitoring satellite system of wood logging and transportation, is intended for multi-level control, assessment and analysis of logging, storage and transportation of wood The main objectives of the Logtruck system are: to ensure non-biased accounting for logged, stored and transported wood; increase the efficiency of mechanically-propelled logging and transportation devices and other machines, optimize current costs and reduce unreasonable losses; as well as ensure logging planning. The Logtruck system forms, transfers and processes data from all mechanically-propelled machines participating in the logging, loading and transportation of wood. There are 14 ships and more than 110 vehicles equipped with the satellite control systems in the Bratsk group. The Company was the first to implement the technologies developed in association with Geonavigator company. Its main purpose is to improve economical indicators of wood transportation, reduce wood costs by cutting down fuel costs and preventing illegal cuts. The pilot project of equipping logtrucks with black boxes was implemented in the Archangelsk Region and was broadly replicated in Bratsk.

To install the system on ships was more complicated than on overland transport. The company faced many technological and organizational problems which no one in Russia has previously resolved. However they were all successfully resolved.

In practice the system operates as follows. Let’s take, for instance, the Bratsk Mill of Ilim Group located in the Sukhoy Log bay. It stores the timber received by the company via Angara. Timber is unloaded onto the coast and transported to the Mill. The monitor located at the control point shows the map of the Bratsk district, the river, buoys, the optimal and the actual route of the ship. The information can be updated every 15 minutes. The controller can see the speed of the raft, the fuel amount and can track any deviations from the route and parking time. All this gives the company a significant economic effect.