Imagine a situation where a warehouse worker is walking through the warehouse with a scanner. In a large warehouse, there can sometimes be more than 40 access points. If two of them aren’t working properly, the employee will notice that his scanner isn’t responding well in certain areas of the warehouse. And a moment later, when he walks 10 or 20 meters further, the mobile device starts working again. You can imagine how frustrating and time-consuming this is. In practice, the underlying problem is almost always that there isn’t adequate Wi-Fi coverage throughout the entire warehouse or that there’s a source of interference. To the warehouse worker, it will seem as though the app on their mobile device is glitching; it looks as if the screen has frozen. The fact is that they cannot perform their work properly. But what is the solution to such a problem?

To install or check a Wi-Fi network, we conduct a site survey. This is an assessment to determine where access points should be placed to ensure adequate network coverage throughout the area and to identify any sources of interference. Sources of interference are common in industrial environments and warehouses. Examples include electric roll-up doors combined with wireless door openers or practical systems such as security systems. If coverage is insufficient, or if there are sources of interference, this results in the same problem: sometimes a mobile device works, and sometimes it doesn’t.

In addition to ensuring sufficient coverage and avoiding sources of interference, it is important that the network components are properly interconnected and that there is sufficient overlap in the coverage of access points. This is necessary for seamless roaming, which means that the connection is transferred from one access point to another. This is also a key aspect in these types of industrial environments, because you want this to happen seamlessly. In practice, it shouldn’t matter for the equipment’s operation whether an employee is, for example, driving a forklift, passing through a roll-up door, located elsewhere in the warehouse, or moving from point A to point B. Because—and this is how practical it is—the connection must remain strong even when the employee is crouching with their back to the transmitter.

Sometimes it’s necessary to design a Wi-Fi network before the building is even constructed. For example, when you’re building a new warehouse, you naturally want to have a wireless network in place there. You’ll want to have the Wi-Fi network installed during construction because once the warehouse is set up, it will be nearly impossible to access it properly—if only because of the enormous number of racks, the forklifts driving around, and other equipment.

Based on our many years of experience, we have a solution for this. Using data from measurements taken in similar situations, we can provide sound advice based on the
architectural drawings, the racking plan, and the type of goods that will be stored in the space
. We specify where the access points should be placed and guarantee that there will be sufficient coverage.

DatAction understands better than anyone the challenges involved in setting up a Wi-Fi network in a warehouse or factory. We’re happy to explain the technical capabilities of your wireless network. To get your network working perfectly (again), we look at factors such as the optimal configuration for the wireless equipment, whether there are any sources of interference, and whether the wireless network is seamlessly integrated with the wired network. Even if a wireless network isn’t yet in place, we can conduct a site survey to determine the number of access points needed and their optimal locations. It’s important that the access points have sufficient overlap with one another to ensure smooth roaming for mobile devices. We implement all of this in accordance with the latest technical developments, ensuring that your network is secure and future-proof.