Metal racks, high ceilings, moving forklifts and handheld scanners that drop their connection between aisles - industrial WiFi fails in ways office WiFi does not. Here is how to design it, and how iberry builds and runs it.
Racks full of metal and liquid stock block and reflect WiFi, so an access point that covers the aisle when the racks are empty may not reach the far end when they are full. Scanners and tablets move constantly, and if they cling to a distant access point instead of handing over to the nearest one, the scan fails. High-bay ceilings put access points too far from the floor, and machines, motors and welding add interference.
Most warehouse WiFi problems are design problems, not equipment ones: access points placed for the empty building, set to full power, all on overlapping channels, with every device on one flat network.
Plan coverage aisle by aisle for the building as it is used, not as it looks on the plan. Access points go along or at the end of aisles, mounted lower than the roof where ceilings are high, with directional antennas where aisles are long.
Moderate transmit power and enough overlap that a moving scanner always has a strong access point nearby, with fast roaming enabled where the devices support it.
Outdoor or ruggedised access points for loading bays, cold stores, dusty production floors and yards.
Every access point on its own cable back to a PoE switch, kept under 100 metres, with fibre between buildings. See LAN and structured cabling.
Handhelds and the warehouse management system on their own network, prioritised so a picking scan is never queued behind a video.
PLCs, sensors and other connected equipment on a network with no internet access unless they need it.
Personal logins for staff internet, with time and speed limits and filtering on shift workers' access.
Cameras and recorders on their own network, unreachable from staff or guest devices.
A voucher or OTP network for truck drivers and visitors at the gate and loading bays, kept apart from everything else.
One managed firewall between all of them and the internet, with site-to-site VPN to head office and failover to a second line.
Hardware is MikroTik, TP-Link Omada or Ubiquiti UniFi. In India our own engineers survey and install. Elsewhere a local electrician or IT partner fits the cabling and access points to our plan, and iberry configures, monitors and changes everything remotely.
It depends on rack height, what is stored, ceiling height and how many devices move around - not on floor area alone. A survey with the racks in use decides it; any figure given without one is a guess.
Usually because they hold on to a distant access point instead of roaming to a closer one, or because racks block the signal when they are full. Lower power, better placement along the aisles and roaming settings fix most cases without new hardware.
No. Machines, scanners, staff, CCTV and visitors should each be on their own network, with firewall rules deciding what may talk to what. That keeps a staff phone's malware away from production equipment.
Yes. In India our own engineers survey and install. Elsewhere a local electrician or IT partner fits the cabling and access points to our plan, and iberry configures, monitors and changes everything remotely.
Published plans in India start at ₹30,000 one-time with ₹15,000 yearly maintenance; outside India every project is quoted on its own, because the hardware is usually bought locally.
Send the floor plan, rack and ceiling heights, the devices that need WiFi and what problems you see today. See also office network setup.
Ask for a Quote