10-29-2019 10:07 AM - edited 07-05-2021 11:13 AM
Hello Experts,
I wanted to get your opinion based on your experience deploying wireless networks in large distribution Centers.
Our client warehouses are very large in size and many of them include rack tunnels or mezzanines between rack shelves.
While the rack shelves are as high as 40 feet in height, the tunnels or mezzanines are 10 to 12 feet in height. So we are deploying External ap's with external patch / sector antennas in isles But the question is what is the best practice or the recommended action to provide wifi inside these tunnels or mezzanines, should we put internal access points with very low power to cover these areas? or what is the best practice for this type of areas of the warehouse.
The same goes for the passways between the isles where we have noticed that wireless becomes very limited.
I certainly appreciate any comments or best practices for these areas.
10-29-2019 10:13 AM
To start with best is do Sight Survey to get an idea, how many AP required where they required?
10-29-2019 10:25 AM
Oh I agree with you and we have the ekahau to do the survey, but what I am asking is for experience, comments on what has been done and what has worked.
10-29-2019 02:22 PM
I have used combinations of different directional antennas both pointing down aisles and overhead pointing down.
I try and avoid omni in warehouses due to multi-path and wanting to control where the signal actually goes.
One thing i would confirm is the offset between what your survey sees the signal as and what the warehouse devices see it as, as i have seen some devices be different by up to 15 dBm.
There some really good resources on warehouse designs:
https://www.wlanpros.com/resources/warehouse-wi-fi-francois-verges-glenn-cate-wlpc-phoenix-2018/
I find if you can do APOS survey you will get best results, even if you cant do entire site, just do the types of sections in the shed so you can get baseline for your predictive.
Also watch out for layer 1 interferers in warehouses
11-02-2019 07:19 PM
Haydn,
Wanted to thank you for insight and for the links as well, have a good one.
10-29-2019 02:28 PM
10-30-2019 07:02 AM
Leo,
Our Clients are 5Ghz. Mostly hand held scanners and few laptops here and there all in 5ghz
11-02-2019 10:38 PM
11-04-2019 02:20 AM
Leo,
It seems that on all your responses you are limited to say is, get a survey done. :)
11-04-2019 12:17 PM
@cesar.fiestas wrote:
It seems that on all your responses you are limited to say is, get a survey done. :)
Any responsible person's response will always be "get a wireless survey done".
11-04-2019 01:01 PM
The reason Leo and others are saying "get a Site Survey done" is because a warehouse is a very complex wireless environment. Further to this with the dependance on the wireless in these environments today, a bad design can lead to loss of productivity or cost huge $$$ to the company.
This is coming from myself who has been doing Wireless Designs for Complex Warehouses for years and see first hand what happens when a site survey was not done or not done correctly.
If you watch those videos I shared you will see a number of best practices for warehouse design. But it might be cheaper, and less down time to just get the site survey done and get it right the first time. If you advise what region you are in I can probably recommend some really good companies and individuals to quote you on a site survey
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