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Warehouse Wi-Fi planning: racking, height and roaming
Last updated: October 9, 2026.
Warehouses have tall ceilings, metal racking and moving stock. Signal changes as shelves fill, so plan with margin and verify on site.
What matters in a warehouse
- Metal racking blocks and reflects signal, so model aisles as obstructions.
- Set the real mounting height; the planner accepts 2 to 15 m.
- Handheld scanners need continuous roaming coverage, so check the secondary-AP heatmap layer.
Settings to try in the planner
- Environment: High attenuation if racking is dense.
- Draw racks as Lift or heavy core (18 dB) or Concrete (10 dB) as a conservative assumption.
- Minimum RSSI: -67 dBm.
- Always confirm with an on-site survey.
Worked example with the planner's numbers
Take a ceiling access point at 20 dBm EIRP on 5 GHz, the planner's 8 dB link margin, a path-loss exponent of 2.7 and a target of -67 dBm. In open space the signal stays above the target for about 15.2 m. Walls then cut that reach (the planner scales wall loss by 1.2 at 5 GHz):
| Path | Reach at -67 dBm | Share of open-space reach |
|---|---|---|
| Open space | 15.2 m | 100% |
| Through a full row of metal racking (modelled as 18 dB) (18 dB) | 2.4 m | 16% |
| Through a concrete wall (10 dB) | 5.5 m | 36% |
Racking shortens the reach sharply, so aisles parallel to the access points get the signal and aisles behind a rack row may not. These are model values for planning; confirm them with an on-site survey.
Upload your floor plan and try it free: Open the Wi-Fi heatmap planner
Forecasts are planning estimates. Validate with an on-site survey before buying or installing equipment. See also the AP placement guide, the RSSI guide and planner pages by brand.
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