Warehouse
Connectivity for Safety and Innovation
Challenges
Diverse spaces:
Warehouses are most commonly a combination of large open spaces for loading and unloading and densely packed spaces for storage of goods. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all coverage option, as each environment needs a different approach to deliver comprehensive coverage.
Need for Green:
The materials used to make a warehouse energy efficient, are also the materials that are best suited to keeping wireless coverage out. This makes in-building solutions essential to deliver any kind of reliable, quality connectivity.
Mission Critical:
Warehouses are typically safe places to work, but accidents can happen, and when they do, connectivity is essential. In the event of an emergency, warehouse operatives and emergency services need true mission-critical connectivity that works consistently and reliably.
Fire Safety:
A big driver for their upgrading connectivity solutions among our warehouse customers is a need for communication systems offering full site coverage that will continue to operate in the event of a fire. Failure to ensure this runs the risk of the building being closed.
Retrofitting:
Many of our warehouse customers are looking to retrofit connectivity systems into existing buildings. They need a solution that can work around existing physical barriers, while dramatically improving their whole site connectivity.
Future proofing:
As with many industries, we are seeing greater adoption of connected machinery to improve operations. With the infrastructure to ensure safety in place, connectivity can be expanded to support additional use cases, like robotics and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs).
Indutry Trends
Marrying environmental and connectivity needs
An increasing drive towards energy-efficient warehouses makes connectivity a challenge, with insulating building materials like Low-E glass and foil-backed plasterboard presenting a physical barrier to in-building coverages.
- Combined DRS and DAS systems allow reliable wireless in densely packed and open spaces.
- RADIAFLEX offers contoured coverage that works around physical barriers to wireless.
- RFS’s predominantly passive systems are energy-efficient, further supporting green goals.
True Mission Critical
To ensure site safety, warehouses must have mission-critical coverage across the entire site. Wireless connectivity solutions that meet regulatory requirements and keep staff safe:
- Extend across every area of the site to give complete coverage in an emergency.
- Meet the highest global standards for low smoke, flame, and fire retardance.
- Support all communications technologies and frequencies up to 6 GHz.
RFS Solutions
Passive RF Components
RFS passive RF components operate in all frequency bands from 555 MHz to 6 GHz and provide optimal passive intermodulation (PIM) performance to reduce interference and support the highest throughput levels end-to-end. Our comprehensive portfolio includes all components required for an end-to-end, 5G-ready distributed antennas system, including: combiners, hybrid combiners and couplers, directional couplers, diplexers and triplexers, power splitters, loads and attenuators.
RADIAFLEX® Radiating Cables
RFS RADIAFLEX is the industry’s most advanced portfolio of 5G-ready radiating cables for contoured wireless coverage in buildings and underground. RADIAFLEX cables support all services up to 6 GHz with high performance, making them ideal for multiband, multi-operator applications in any indoor environment. With a variety of different bending radii, performance levels and outer conductor types to choose from, there’s a RADIAFLEX radiating cable for even the most challenging coverage requirements.
RADIAFLEX® Radiating Waveguide
The RFS RADIAFLEX radiating waveguide is a distributed antenna system for tunnels, mines, large building complexes and other challenging locations. The broadband solution simultaneously supports multiple one-way and two-way communications systems, so a single waveguide can be used for all applications. A specialized manufacturing and longitudinal seam welding process developed by RFS ensures optimal electrical performance and good bending properties.
Connectors and Accessories
RFS OMNI FIT™ Premium and OMNI FIT Standard connectors are well-known for their precision-engineered performance, ease of installation and long life in the field. They can be used with copper and aluminum cables, and are the perfect complement to our CELLFLEX and CELLFLEX Lite coaxial cables. The connectors support all frequencies up to 6 GHz, making them ideal for smooth evolution to 5G globally. A comprehensive range of adapters, grounding kits, hangers, clamps and tools complete the portfolio.
HYBRIFLEX® Solutions for Buildings and Campuses
RFS HYBRIFLEX solutions for building and campuses make it fast and easy to bring fiber and power to distributed antenna system (DAS), distributed radio system (DRS) and small cells deployments in these environments. The solutions target requirements for high-density, plug-and-play fiber, mission-critical connectivity and indoor/outdoor cross-campus connectivity. They support all wired and wireless technologies and frequencies and are optimized for high-bandwidth Radio over Fiber (RoF) applications.
CPR-Compliant Radiating and Coaxial Cables
RFS CPR-compliant radiating and coaxial cables feature a specially developed jacket that allows them to achieve best-in-class ratings for burning droplets (d0), low smoke emission (s1) and corrosivity (a1), the most important criteria for fire safety in cables that are installed indoors and underground. All RFS CPR-compliant cables are also designated as low-smoke, zero-halogen (LSZH) and meet International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards for flame spread, smoke acidity and low smoke emission.
Passive DAS
RFS’ end-to-end DAS portfolio includes the company’s world-renowned CELLFLEX® coax cables, RADIAFLEX® radiating cables and plenum-rated cables, as well as broadband and ultra-broadband antennas, and high-performance components. All solution elements are designed and proven to work seamlessly together to simplify and accelerate deployments in buildings and tunnels.
References
Major UK retailer
UK | 2023
One of the largest warehouses in the UK, with around 1,000 employees, needed to upgrade its connectivity infrastructure to ensure it was able to deliver the true mission-critical coverage needed to keep the facility and its staff safe. RFS was able to work with the customer to deliver a two-part solution. RADIAFLEX radiating cable overcame the challenges the customer faced trying to achieve complete coverage in the storage space within the warehouse, combined with a DAS system that provided complete coverage in the open loading areas of the site.
Resources
Indoor Connectivity - RF / Fiber / Hybrid - Solutions for Buildings and Tunnels
Brochure
Complete Connectivity Solutions for Warehouse
Brochure
Secure and Safe Connectivity for a Manufacturing World Leader
Case Study
Delivering Connectivity for Industrial Applications
Blog
Complete connectivity for one of the UK’s largest warehouses
Case Study
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