Measuring dock dwell times at a logistics site with radar and LiDAR

At a distribution centre, the time a truck spends on site is split between the gate, the waiting area and the dock. Most sites know when a truck was booked and when the paperwork was signed, but not how long it actually waited or how long the dock was occupied. This note explains how those dwell times are measured with radar and LiDAR.

What is measured

• Gate counts: trucks, vans, cars and people in and out of each gate, per hour and per day.
• Dwell in the waiting area: from the moment a truck enters the waiting area to the moment it leaves it.
• Dwell at the dock: from arrival at a dock to departure, per visit and per dock.
• Occupancy: how many places in the yard, the truck parking and the car park are taken, now and over the day.

Each crossing and each visit becomes an event with a time, a zone and a vehicle class. A daily summary gives, per dock and waiting area, the number of visits and the average and longest dwell.

Why radar and LiDAR

LiDAR and radar measure distance, position, shape and speed. They need no light, so the counts continue at night. Radar is largely unaffected by rain and fog; dense fog and heavy snow shorten what LiDAR sees, so the two are positioned to cover for each other. Neither captures faces or identifiable images. We do not read number plates: a visit is followed as an anonymous track from gate to dock, where the sensors cover the route between them. A camera can be added where the site wants one, with what it sees and stores agreed in advance.

Where the sensors go

A combined radar and LiDAR unit at each gate counts every crossing by class and direction. Units over the docks and the waiting areas time each visit and measure occupancy. All sensors connect to an edge computer on site, which does the processing; the console and the exports run on servers within the EU. The exact positions come out of a site visit.

What you get

A web console with the site map, live tracks, zones you draw yourself, alarms and the event log, and CSV exports of the events and daily summaries for your own tools. Whether the data can also flow into your yard or dock system is checked during feasibility.

Start with a pilot

A pilot covers one gate or one area, for example the main gate or a dock area, for a duration agreed in advance. Before anything is installed, we write down how success is measured: for example our dwell times against your manual records, or our gate counts against your gate logs. At the end you receive a report and decide whether to extend the system, keep it or have it removed.

Site flows: gate counts, dwell times, occupancy → · How a pilot works →