Before Visiting a Customer Site
The site survey step is essential event for gathering all the missing information about the installation site. Be prepared to put down all the questions for customer with respect to the RTLS deployment.- Before you leave, make sure the customer have the right person with you at site to answer all your questions. It maybe a technical person having the knowledge on IT infrastructure or and industry expert who know about the operations of the Site.
- Anchor and Tag placement matters a lot, so keep that inmind while assessing the possible installation locations suggested by customer.
Standards of Deployment
During the Site Survey, it’s important to keep in mind the following deployment guidelines:- Maintain an obstacle-free line of sight between the Master anchor and adjacent Anchors (at least 3).
- Install Anchors above the localized objects (at least 2 meters, but no more than 6 meters).
- Mount Anchors surrounding the Master anchor ideally at the same height (variation of 1 meter maximum).
- Ensure that the height of all Anchors within the localization cell is below the lowest obstacle (e.g. lightning, ventilation system, ceiling, pipelines, etc.).
- Keep Anchors away from walls or ceilings, ideally by 50 cm but no less than 20 cm (shorter detachment causes higher signal attenuation and inaccuracies caused by reflections).
- Maintain a square-like geometry when designing Anchor deployment.
- Ensure a clear line of sight between Tags and Anchors (at least 3 Anchors) and orient the anchors correctly (becaseful not to bend the antenna). Incorrect Anchor deployment can be very costly.
To-Do List for performing a Site Survey
Large scale area project comes up such as 10000 m2, it will need about 100 anchors. It is always better to ask a floorpan from the customer to know the actual shape & size of project. It is a good practice to write down a note about anchor installation areas , possible height from floor area, type of mounting brackets, obstacles and safe distance from the walls. For conducting a Site Survey, you should have the following items:- Finished any NDAs (perimssions, if needed)
- Arrange any special clothes or PPEs( helmets, footwear, gloves etc.) as a part of your own health and safety.
- An Excel sheet to record information about all anchors
- A detailed floor plan of the site in A3 format or chart paper, Pencil, eraser, and highlighters for marking and annotating the floor plan.
- A laser meter for measuring distances.
- A camera or smartphone, if taking pictures or videos is permitted.
Travelling to Customer Site
The Locus Customer Support team provides valuable guidance to partners and assists with the Site Survey process. In situations where there are many individuals and the next steps are uncertain, the CS team can help to bring clarity and order. Things to remember while performing site survey:- Put a meeting between Locus team and partner/customer so as to understand the expectations from RTLS deployment
- Clarifying responsibilities among partner/Locus team/customer
- Hving an open discussion about the use-case with the key person
- Making a discussion on placememnt of tags and anchors, regarding the possibilities of tag placememnt and LOS with Anchors
- Taking photos and quick measurements from laser distance meter. Try to cover, walls , light systems, pipelines near ceilings, pillars, obstacles.
- Walk witha responsible person from the customer and follow each spot for potential anchor installation places
- Take a note for each measurements on the printed floor plan with pencil.