Many Mobile devices are also designed to "WiFi roam" within the
warehouse, which means that moving between WiFi Access Points ( APs)
should not cause the signal to be dropped, but continue to work
seamlessly and continuing to send and receive information to the ERP or
WMS. This depends on using "industrial WiFi" where the APs work
behind the scenes to manage the data so that the user is never
disconnected. True industrial mobile devices from companies such as
Zebra and Datalogic,also contain dual antennas, so that data is
transmitted on one antenna while the other is negotiating with the
local APs to select the best performance and range.
Many Mobile devices are also designed to "WiFi roam" within the
warehouse, which means that moving between WiFi Access Points ( APs)
should not cause the signal to be dropped, but continue to work
seamlessly and continuing to send and receive information to the ERP or
WMS. This depends on using "industrial WiFi" where the APs work
behind the scenes to manage the data so that the user is never
disconnected. True industrial mobile devices from companies such as
Zebra and Datalogic,also contain dual antennas, so that data is
transmitted on one antenna while the other is negotiating with the
local APs to select the best performance and range.
If you are implementing a new WLAN, the process should start with a
full wireless site survey. The design of your WiFi network will depend
on the vendor or systems integrator knowing how the warehouse is laid
out, what potential sources of interference exist, and what types of
stock will be stored there. For highly dynamic warehouses, all
potential stocking and staffing scenarios should be considered in
advance to ensure the network can perform under all circumstances.
If you are implementing a new WLAN, the process should start with a
thorough wireless site survey. The RF design of your network will
depend on the vendor or systems integrator knowing how the warehouse is
laid out, what potential sources of interference exist, and what types
of stock will be stored there. For highly dynamic warehouses, all
potential stocking and staffing scenarios should be considered in
advance to ensure the network can perform under all circumstances.
Once the network is up and running, it should be regularly audited and
tuned. This requires additional site surveys, which can uncover new
sources of interference or additional coverage problems.
Typically, these issues may include dead zones with no coverage,
competition for bandwidth, or sluggish throughput. Depending on the
nature of the problem, you may need to increase your access point
density or increase AP power. That’s because many smaller handheld
devices don’t have enough power to effectively communicate with the
access points. The wireless infrastructure should be configured to
serve the lowest-powered mobile devices that will be used in the
facility.
The network should also be designed with redundancy in mind, so that if
there is a problem with a single AP, mobile devices can quickly roam to
a neighboring AP and minimize downtime. If the wireless
infrastructure will carry voice in addition to data traffic, the
network should be configured to prioritize the more latency-sensitive
voice traffic.
If your warehouse WiFi is letting your Warehouse Operation down, call
for a free consultation on 01200 441977 or email
sales@dashcomputer.co.uk
