Ruggedized, high-performance wireless networks for warehouses, manufacturing facilities, distribution centres, and industrial campuses.
Industrial environments are among the most technically demanding spaces to design wireless networks for. Metal racking, machinery, concrete floors, high ceilings, moving equipment, and extreme RF interference from motors and industrial controls all work against reliable wireless connectivity. Yet industrial operations depend on Wi-Fi more than ever: warehouse management systems, barcode scanners, autonomous guided vehicles, forklift-mounted terminals, RTLS asset tracking, and worker safety platforms all require continuous, reliable wireless coverage across every square foot of the facility.
A poorly designed industrial wireless network creates productivity losses that are immediately visible: scanners that drop connections mid-pick, vehicles that disconnect from fleet management systems, and workers who cannot access their applications in certain areas of the facility. Getting industrial Wi-Fi right is a direct operational requirement.
Industrial Wi-Fi design starts with an in-person site survey conducted with the facility operational rather than empty. RF conditions in a warehouse with full racking, active forklifts, and running machinery are fundamentally different from an empty building, and designing from an empty-building survey leads to coverage failures once operations are running. We use Ekahau Sidekick spectrum analysis to characterize the actual interference environment and map coverage requirements across the entire facility floor plan.
Access point selection for industrial environments prioritizes ruggedized hardware designed for the temperature, vibration, and contamination conditions of the facility. AP mounting locations are chosen to maximize coverage while surviving the physical hazards of the industrial environment. We deliver validated designs that we stand behind with post-installation surveys confirming every square foot of required coverage meets specification.
Metal racking creates two distinct problems: it attenuates signals that try to pass through it, and it reflects signals that bounce off it, creating multipath interference. We address this by designing AP placements that account for the racking layout, positioning APs at heights and locations where signal propagates along aisles rather than trying to penetrate through rack faces. We also pay careful attention to channel planning to avoid co-channel interference from reflections, and we validate coverage with a fully loaded rack configuration during the survey phase.
Industrial environments require APs rated for the environmental conditions of the facility. For standard warehouses, this typically means a hardened enclosure rating such as IP67, operating temperature tolerance for cold storage or high-heat manufacturing areas, and physical mounting options appropriate for high ceilings or racking. We select hardware based on the specific conditions of each facility and recommend APs from enterprise vendors including Cisco, Aruba, Ruckus, and Juniper Mist, all of whom produce ruggedized models suited to industrial deployment.
Industrial machinery, including motors, variable frequency drives, welding equipment, and conveyor systems, can generate significant RF noise that raises the noise floor and degrades Wi-Fi performance. We use spectrum analysis during the site survey to characterize the interference sources, measure their frequency and amplitude, and design channel plans that minimize the overlap between interference and Wi-Fi channels. In some cases, we also work with facility engineering teams to assess whether equipment can be shielded or repositioned to reduce interference impact.
Autonomous guided vehicles and forklift-mounted terminals require seamless, continuous connectivity as they move through the facility. This imposes strict roaming requirements on the wireless network, as transitions between access points must occur quickly enough that the vehicle's connection to its management system is never interrupted. We design industrial networks with explicit attention to roaming boundaries, ensuring APs are placed such that every point in the vehicle's travel path is covered with strong signal from at least one AP, and that roaming transitions happen predictably and quickly.
Real-time location systems (RTLS) use the wireless network to track the location of assets, including tools, equipment, inventory, vehicles, and personnel throughout the facility. Some RTLS systems use Wi-Fi signal strength measurements from multiple APs to triangulate tag positions. Others use dedicated tag readers or additional infrastructure layered on top of the Wi-Fi network. Regardless of the technology, RTLS accuracy and reliability depend on having consistent, well-characterized wireless coverage throughout the facility. The Wi-Fi network design must account for RTLS requirements from the beginning, not as an afterthought.
Warehouses, manufacturing plants, and distribution centres require wireless expertise that goes beyond standard commercial deployments.