¶ What is the Meshmerize Automated Store and Retrieval System solution?
Automatic Store and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) are highly automated systems to deliver high volumes of loads at low cost in warehouses. Having highly reliable robots is crucial to deliver the high volume of loads. Warehouses can vary in size, from 30 x 30 x 5m to 200 x 200 x 40m, and also in the number of shuttles which ranges from 5 to 200. These shuttles, which can be single item shuttles or pallet handling shuttles, move at high speeds over 4m/s. Usually, they are connected to a warehouse management system (WMS) which controls not only the items to be loaded or unloaded but also the position and paths to avoid crashes and to ensure a efficient path selection.
With the shuttles moving through a dense, metallic cage at high speed, the arising problem is that traditional Wi-Fi connections cannot keep up with the speed of the shuttles. Consequently, the shuttles are experiencing disconnects or are deliberately slowed to avoid disconnects. Those disconnects, or network outages which cause robots to stop, lead to warehouse sections being out of operation, cascade effects of other robots stopping, and necessary manual intervention to recover the fault. All this significantly decreases the possible warehouse throughput, which leads to a loss or profit and increasing costs due to manual labor involved.
Meshmerize provides a software upgrade for industrial Wi-Fi hardware used in AS/RS systems. By creating a multi-path Mesh to connect to multiple Access Points simultaneously, Meshmerize creates a very reliable, low latency overlay network. As a result, disconnects due to fast movement (roaming) are reduced to practically zero so that the shuttles can move at full speed with no manual intervention being necessary. Meshmerize directly contributes to an increase of the throughput and minimizing manual labor costs.
With the addition of the management tool Hive, the network can be analyzed, controlled, and optimized easily, making the use of Meshmerize even more convenient.
Key solution benefits:
- Multipath routing for excellent reliability
- Highly mobile systems: fast roaming by cooperatively connecting with neighboring robots
- Software product: hardware-independent, compatible with most industrial access points and robots
- Truly wireless network coverage expansion through seamless integration of wireless equipment
- Resilient network backup for mission critical operations
¶ Solution Deployment
¶ Hardware Selection
Implementing Meshmerize in warehouses offers flexibility in the hardware selection, allowing customers to choose from a selection of devices that suit their specific needs.
¶ Static Nodes
The primary devices are installed as static hardware throughout the site to provide comprehensive network coverage. They are strategically positioned, taking into consideration factors like size and obstacles. There are more detailed tips and suggestions below.
The key hardware requirements for static nodes are below
| Key device specifications | |
| WLAN | 802.11 n/ac/ax |
| Number of Radios | 2+ |
| Power | POE (optional) 9-48 VDC |
| Antenna | Omni / Directional / Helical depending on placement |
| Suggested Hardware | Acksys AirSeries |
For more information on the Meshmerize-enabled devices visit the individual device pages.
¶ Static Nodes Installation
When installing the static access points in the warehouse their locations should be strategically selected to fully unlock the maximum potential of the mesh network. As they operate as the wireless backbone of the network they build the foundation for the failover which needs to be supported by every intermediate wireless link.
To enhance signal strength and reach, the devices are equipped with directional antennas, ensuring focused and efficient connectivity. If it is possible, create an “RF grid” with radios having directional antennas on both X and Y directions of the warehouse grid and on multiple levels if it's a tall structure.
Through the usage of directional antennas distances between individual access points can reach greater distances. We recommend a survey measurement to determine the distance of the next device to be installed according to the signal strength. This can also be achieved through testing with end user applications such as speed tests. However, access point placement in general should always follow a chain of line of sight connections between adjacent devices. Reaching around bends will affect the overall performance of the network. If possible, static devices should be connected via Ethernet to the fiber backbone to ensure maximum network performance and breakage isolation in case of a fiber disconnect. Installing static access points without a connection to the backbone network will reduce the maximum possible service provided by the wireless network.
Ensure that the antennas are mounted in a way that they are secure and protected from any robots moving along their path.
As Meshmerize can operate in a stand-alone mode or can be integrated into the preexisting network infrastructure the separation of the networks should be considered. Contrary to fixed cable-based networks the performance of the mesh network using the multi-path routing is significantly more sensitive and will deteriorate when carrying a surplus of network services through the wireless mesh. Therefore, it is recommended to disable or separate common network discovery services and similar broadcast traffic out from the wireless mesh network as to reduce the number of unnecessary traffic transmitted over the air. This will reduce the load on the Wi-Fi to fully utilize its resources.
¶ Mobile Nodes
In addition to the static hardware installations, Meshmerize also offers to equip mobile nodes, such as shuttles, with hardware to further enhance connectivity in the warehouse. These mobile devices can be equipped with different hardware options to establish additional connections, improving both reliability and coverage in the most challenging areas. The shuttles are quite small, and given that they take stuff on top of them, it’s quite hard to make a call on what antennas would be suitable, because it’s really hard to assess where they can be installed. Consider the Omni / Dash/ Puck antennas for the shuttle, depending on where you’ll be mounting them.
The key hardware requirements for mobile nodes are below
| Key device specifications | |
|---|---|
| WLAN | 802.11 n/ac/ax |
| Number of Radios | 2+ |
| Antenna | Omni / Dash/ Puck |
| Power | 9-48 VDC |
| Suggested Hardware | Acksys AirSeries,Moxa AWK 1137C |
For more information on the Meshmerize-enabled devices visit the individual device pages.
¶ Mobile Nodes Installation
For obvious reasons, the mobile nodes must be securely mounted inside the robots such that they don't face turbulence or heat. It is also important to mount the antennas for these nodes in strategic locations. It is important to mount the antennas such that they are facing outwards, and will not be hindered by the loads being carried by the robots.
If possible, mount multiple antennas on multiple directions of the robot. This can positively impact the wireless connectivity.
Also ensure that the antennas are mounted in a way that they are secure and protected from any obstacles that may be present in the path of the robot.
¶ Software
To deploy your Meshmerize devices you first need to install Meshmerize and create a default configuration. Depending on your selection of hardware Meshmerize might already be installed out-of-the-box requiring only the activation. In case Meshmerize is not included in the factory firmware, please check the respective device page of your device for instructions to install a MeshmerizeOS for your device. Note that all Meshmerize instances at this point will be unlicensed.
The Meshmerize Quick Start Guide will help you to get started with your first Meshmerize installation. It includes instructions on how to first connect to your devices, set up Meshmerize, install a license, and customize the configurations.
¶ Configuration
To ensure smooth operations of the wireless network you should adapt the wireless configuration of the devices according to your deployment and its surroundings. This is to ensure that the network avoids unwanted external interference. Make sure to configure the mesh network to operate on an isolated Wi-Fi channel for your deployment. Additional networks transmitting on the same frequency will drain available resources and reduce the overall network performance of the wireless installation. The highest possible Wi-Fi transmission speeds are enabled only by selecting the least occupied available frequency.
¶ Safety and Redundancy of network options
To mitigate impact of eventualities like hardware failure and outages, it is prudent to provide backup networks. Since Meshmerize runs on OpenWRT or similar linux systems, it is possible to utilize the network managers to provide multiple redundancies in wireless networks. In many cases, it might be useful to use the secondary radio to transmit logging and heavier messages, while also hosting a “hotspot” on every mobile node that will allow site operators to securely connect to the applications running on the robot for maintenance purposes.
¶ Hive
Hive is a comprehensive network management tool which allows you to monitor, configure and control the network. It is available as a cloud-hosted service as well as a self-hosted variant if access to the internet is not possible at your site. Please refer to the Getting Started Guide to see how to connect your devices to Hive.
Hive will allow you to run a collection of provided actions to configure and customize the device settings for all devices in your deployment according to their role in the network. This will ensure proper configuration for all devices fine-tuned for the AS/RS use case eliminating manual configuration with individual device handling.
¶ Support
For any open questions or custom requirements and configurations please refer to the Meshmerize Wiki Documentation or directly contact the Meshmerize Support.
¶ Mesh Performance
Depending on your choice of hardware the Meshmerize AS/RS solution provides reliable network coverage and fail-over ability in case of a fiber breakage.
| Minimum / Average / Maximum expected Throughput Mbits/sec | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hop | 2 hops | 3 hops | |
| Acksys Air Series | 24/34/40 | 6/10/15 | 2/4/7 |
| Moxa AWK 1137C | 20/39/47 | 1/5/11 | 1/3/8 |
| Minimum / Average / Maximum expected Latency ms | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hop | 2 hops | 3 hops | |
| Acksys Air Series | 2/3/6 | 3/5/10 | 5/6/9 |
| Moxa AWK 1137C | 1/5/85 | 2/6/43 | 2/7/30 |
Please note that the above performance numbers assume a correct setup and configuration. Your actually measured numbers depends on a variety of factors beyond the Meshmerize software's control, including wireless environment, hardware selection, antenna positioning, and other. Meshmerize does not warrant for specific wireless or network performance aspects such as data throughput, packet loss, or scalability in arbitrary deployments, as these elements are affected by above factors.
If your measured service quality deviates from our provided numbers please ensure that your setup follows our recommendations. If performance issues persist contact the Meshmerize Support.