Warehouses have very special needs when it comes to providing wireless coverage.

It is a challenging area in terms of RF - it often has high ceilings, lots of steel racks - RF interferences are constantly changing.

Warehouses are difficult areas for Wi-Fi use, and requires an engineered design to function properly. Industries are increasingly using bar code scanners that heavily rely on adequate Wi-Fi.

Warehouse Devices:

The devices themselves vary, but they are used to provide maximum performance for employees to perform their daily tasks.
From devices that use audio selection, to barcode scanners (e.g. Zebra scanners), there is a network of many active devices.

Any transmission problem can mean that employees are waiting for the network to recover. This can greatly impact productivity and become frustrating for employees.

It is a difficult problem to fix. Therefore, there are many excellent lessons learned that should be considered:

Predictability survey is definitely needed:

• If you don't design it properly, it won't work!
• A predictabilty survey will highlight any potential deadzones in your environment.

AP height is important:

• It is a compromise between providing a wide arc cover when using a high AP and reducing the transmit power.

Antenna types are important:

• While some APs use an internal antenna, in some areas, you will need external
• Size, gain, height and angle are all important.

Mount Design:

• There is no “universal” mount for all locations. Custom mounts will be needed for proper deployment.

Design Guidelines:

The type of access point, placement, angle, power and channel are all important.
Warehouses are difficult sites to support high-quality, high-performance Wi-Fi.

Predictive Design, Pre-deployment Survey and Post Deployment Survey are key steps that must be performed.

You have to design, scale, modify and improve the design. It’s a repetitive process, but can be used to gain reliable Wi-Fi in a difficult environment.

Of course, following these guidelines does not mean that everything will work without issues, some client devices will require extra attention to ensure they will function as intended.

Warehouses increasingly rely on good Wi-Fi. Poor Wi-Fi performance hurts your productivity and reduces the company’s profitability.

Good installation should provide the needs of the devices - and people - who are connected to the network.

We are always here to help - we design, install and improve many deployments, so reach out to LCT for any wireless infrastructure needs!