Exchange Area form

Configuration Gate Exchange Areas Exchange Areas view Exchange Area form

The Exchange Area form enables you to add or edit exchange areas, exchange lanes (also referred to as xlane) and exchange area related other details, including overall buffer size and exchange lane buffer size. You also use this form when configuring a truck callup process with staging areas (on page 1).

To add or edit an exchange area:

1. In the Exchange Area field, enter a unique identifier for the exchange area.This ID must include a decimal with at least one character beyond it, for example L00.1. It cannot include a hyphen "-", slash "/", or any other non-alphanumeric character.

Avoid using a yard bin name for a CHE handler ID or an exchange lane ID.

2. In the Yard field, N4 lists the yard to which the exchange area belongs.

3. From the Lane Assignment Sequence drop-down list, select one of the following options to determine the sequence in which N4 must select the vacant lanes in the exchange area:

• Ascending: N4 assigns gate transactions to exchange lanes in an ascending order.

For example, N4 tries to assign exchange lanes 1-10 in an ascending order, such as 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10.

• Descending: N4 assigns gate transactions to exchange lanes in a descending order.

For example, N4 tries to assign exchange lanes 1-10 in a descending order, such as 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 9, 7, 5, 3, and 1.

• Random: N4 assigns gate transactions to exchange lanes in a random order.

If the value is Null – and you are using RTG Optimization with the RTG Sequencer and RTG Dispatcher – a truck must be parked in the assigned lane for a move to be dispatched.

4. Optionally, in the Truck Flow Seq Nbr field, enter the truck flow sequence number.

When the gate has multiple exchange areas and if the truck visits more than one exchange area, N4 uses this number to determine the sequence of exchange areas.

5. Optionally, in the Truck length (TEU) field, enter the maximum TEU limit allowed for a truck in the exchange area.

If you enter a Truck length (TEU) and use chassis profiles, the AssignExchangeLane (on page 1) business task assigns only exchange lanes with a TEU limit that allows the chassis profile TEU for the truck. In addition, the RejectChassisProfileNotSupportedAtExchangeArea (on page 1) business task rejects a truck visit or transaction if the chassis profile TEU exceeds the Truck length (TEU). For more information on chassis profiles, see Chassis Profiles view (on page 1).

6. n the Buffer Size field, enter the number of trucks that may still be released to the exchange area buffer, which is a physical space in the yard where trucks can wait while their assigned exchange lane queue frees up. If you want to allocate exchange lanes automatically through the RoadCallup background job, you will need to set Buffer Size to the the number of active exchange lanes for the exchange area.

7. Optionally, in the Exchange Lane Buffer Size field, enter the number of trucks (appointed to go to the same exchange lane) that are allowed to go to the exchange area buffer and wait for their appointed exchange lane to become available. N4 stops sending OTR trucks to the exchange area buffer when the number of trucks (appointed to go to the same exchange lane) is equal to or exceeds the Exchange Lane Buffer Size value.

The value entered here applies to all lanes in a particular exchange area. It should be less than the value specified in the Buffer Size field.

For example: The buffer size is 5 and the exchange lane buffer size is 1.

1. When the first truck (T1) comes in for exchange lane A, the N4 callup process allows the truck to move forward to the yard. Because appointed exchange lane A is already available, the truck drives directly to it. At this point, the exchange area buffer has 0 trucks.

2. When a second truck (T2) arrives for exchange lane A, the N4 callup process allows the truck to move forward to the yard. Because appointed exchange lane A is already occupied by T1, T2 will wait in the exchange area buffer. Now the exchange area buffer has 1 truck.

3. When a third truck (T3) arrives for exchange lane A, the N4 callup process does not allow the truck to move forward to the yard because only 1 truck heading for exchange lane A can wait in the exchange area buffer at a time.

4. When a forth truck (T4) arrives for exchange lane B, the N4 callup process allows the truck to move forward to the yard. Because appointed exchange lane B is already available, the truck drives directly to it.

5. T1 is still occupying exchange lane A, so the total number of trucks in the exchange area buffer is still 1 (T2).

6. When a fifth truck (T5) arrives for exchange lane B, the N4 callup process allows the truck to move forward to the yard. Because appointed exchange lane B is already occupied by T4, T5 will wait in the exchange area buffer. Now the exchange area buffer has 2 trucks.

The cycle continues, and as trucks complete their receival/delivery, trucks waiting in the exchange area buffer can move forward to the appointed exchange lane. This then frees up slots in the exchange area buffer to allow more trucks to be called up. In this example, up to 5 trucks can be waiting in the exchange area buffer at a time.

8. Optionally, in the Lane Assignment Tolerance field, enter the number of acceptable exchange lanes adjacent to the original exchange lane that a truck visit was assigned to go to, where:

• 0 (default) is the minimum value, indicating no tolerance. In this case, a truck is only allowed to park in the appointed exchange lane.

• Any other value indicates that a truck may park in an adjacent lane. The maximum value is the total number of exchanges lanes in the associated exchange area.

For example: If a truck is appointed to go to TP 5 and Lane Assignment Tolerance is set to:

1: The truck may also park in TP4 and TP6. If a truck's appointed exchange lane is TP8 and this is the last TP in the transfer zone, and if Lane Assignment Tolerance is set to 1, then the truck may only go to TP7 and TP8.

2: The truck may also park in TP3, TP4, TP6, and TP7.

If it does not matter which exchange lane a truck goes to, set Lane Assignment Tolerance to the total number of exchange lanes in the exchange area.

When the business task RejectWrongExchangeLane (on page 1) is included in the gate configuration, it rejects exchange lanes based on this field. However, this business task only validates the exchange lane, not the exchange area. To validate an exchange area upon a truck's arrival at the exchange lane, you must include business task RejectWrongExchangeArea (on page 1).

9. Click Save.

The Lanes section lists the details of the gate lanes associated to the exchange area. You can use the Exchange Lane form to add or edit the exchange lane information for an exchange area.