Today, the operations in production sites, warehouses, logistics centres, container terminals, retail store chains and gas stations rely on industry-grade WiFi networks. A diverse WiFi-connected devices support vital business and industrial processes. Any instability in connectivity can lead to process disruptions, operational inefficiencies, employee frustration, and customer dissatisfaction – potentially hitting your bottom line. Thus, maintaining a ‘healthy’ network is essential.
Technical issues with wireless networks performance and experience from end-user perspective are quite common across industries. The problems typically originate from:
- inadequate network planning and configuration (incl. oversizing)
- limitations of wireless capabilities in network equipment and devices
- environmental factors such as facility internal structure and obstacles
- interferences from external wireless networks, systems and devices
- slow or disrupted access to externals IT systems and services
In more detail these challenges can be categorized into three main areas:
WiFi Network Infrastructure
Industrial WiFi networks require robust equipment with high reliability, proper RF planning and careful configuration taking into consideration the structure of the facility, physical obstructions and device capabilities. The common problems include:
- Insufficient wireless network coverage
- Wrong network configuration and updates
- Weak signal strength in specific areas
- Clogging channels causing slow speeds
- High radio channel utilisation in 2.4/5GHz
- No use of full spectrum of channels on 5GHz
- Frequent changing of channels due to ARM
- Lack of Tx/Rx power balance or too high power
External Network Environment
Unlike office environments, industrial WiFi settings often experience difficult environment conditions that can casue disruptions and bad operation performance even with if the initial network planning was done properly.
- Interference from neighbouring networks
- Disturbances from clients’ device (active scanning)
- Signal alnternation and blocking by various obstacles
- DFS Events (e.g. radar interference with 5GHz channels)
- Poor Internet access – low download and upload speed
- Slow or no response from IT services (DNS, Database)
Connected Device Capabilities
The number as well as differences and limitation in the capabilities of WiFi-connected devices such as scanners, handhelds, power tools or autonomous guided vehicles operating in the wireless networks are often the source of serious technical problems including:
- Poor support for the 802.11r/v/k protocols
- Low flexibility and speed of device roaming
- Frequent roaming between access points
- Lack of support for all channels on devices
- Various WLAN cards and Android versions
Conclusions
The complexity of wireless network infrastructure across different industries directly correlates with the intricacies of their business processes and the IT systems that support them. They are also influenced by the characteristics of the facilities they operate in, as well as the dynamics of the processes. To avoid and mitigate network and device problems all these factors need to be addresses during the network planning and configuration pgases as well as after during network operation and further optimisation.
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