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RTLS Implementation Services

The difference between theory and reality in RTLS installations

The Problem: Generic grid-based anchor layouts look perfect on paper, with evenly spaced anchors providing uniform coverage across the facility. But implementing RTLS in real environments is never that simple. Machines block ceiling space, structural columns obstruct RF propagation, access limitations prevent ideal mounting, and cabling paths dictate practical anchor placement. Inexperienced vendors design theoretical grids in CAD, then discover during installation that anchors cannot be mounted where planned. The result? Rushed field decisions, compromised coverage, degraded accuracy, and installation delays.

Why Grid Layouts Work for Basic Asset Tracking but Fail for Advanced Use Cases:

For simple "Where is my forklift?" Asset tracking and grid layouts often provide acceptable results. Location accuracy of 3-5 meters is tolerable when you just need to know which general area an asset occupies. But when you scale beyond basic asset visibility into real-time process control, compliance-heavy applications, or safety-critical systems, generic grids fail spectacularly:

Labor Compliance Tracking: Measuring hours worked in specific cells requires sub-meter accuracy. Grid layouts that ignore physical boundaries, metal surfaces, and RF obstacles produce inaccurate dwell times, creating compliance risks and billing disputes.

Real-Time Process Control: Triggering automated actions based on asset location (opening doors, starting conveyors, activating assembly stations) requires precise, reliable zone detection. Generic grids that don't account for transition areas, metal interference, or boundary precision cause false triggers and process disruptions.

Safety and Alerting Systems: Proximity alerts, restricted area detection, and emergency response workflows cannot tolerate false positives or missed detections. Grid layouts often fail near corners, metal equipment, and access-restricted areas.

Digital Twin Integration: Real-time process visibility in manufacturing, logistics, flow optimization, and healthcare patient tracking require consistent sub-meter accuracy across the entire facility, not just in ideal center-of-floor locations.

LocaXion’s Site-Specific Approach: We design anchor layouts during the site survey phase by walking the facility, documenting machine locations, ceiling access constraints, structural obstructions, cabling routes to IDFs, and RF propagation characteristics. Each layout is tailored to your specific use cases rather than theoretical uniformity. The result is anchoring placement that installers can execute, coverage that meets accuracy requirements in critical areas, and an RTLS environment that scales from basic asset tracking to advanced process control, compliance tracking, and safety applications without requiring infrastructure redesign.

Why RTLS requires specialized installation knowledge

The Problem: RTLS anchors may look like simple network devices, but installation quality dramatically affects long-term accuracy and reliability. General electrical or low-voltage contractors with experience in security cameras or access control often lack RTLS-specific knowledge.

Common installation mistakes include incorrect anchor orientation affecting signal propagation patterns and mounting too close to metal structures causing RF reflections. Other issues range from poor cable strain relief leading to intermittent connectivity to inadequate power planning, causing PoE budget overruns.

These issues are rarely discovered during installation. Instead, they emerge during commissioning or go-live when users report accuracy problems. Troubleshooting and remediation at that stage become expensive and disruptive.

Locaxion's Contractor Training Approach: As a core component of our RTLS implementation services, we deliver pre-installation training for contractors to ensure success whether the work is performed by your internal facilities team or external vendors. Our standardized installation guides define exact specifications for mounting height tolerances, orientation requirements, and clearance from obstructions.

Training sessions cover hands-on installation techniques, common mistakes to avoid, troubleshooting connectivity issues, and verification procedures. Contractors leave prepared to execute installations consistently regardless of their prior RTLS experience.

The Result : This training ensures that every anchor and cable is installed exactly to specifications regardless of which contractor does the work. You eliminate installation errors that cause dead zones and signal interference. This leads to faster commissioning and long-term reliability. A few hours of training upfront prevent weeks of expensive troubleshooting later.

Network infrastructure isn't an afterthought

The Problem: Implementing RTLS requires robust network infrastructure. This includes VLANs for anchor traffic, IP addressing schemes, firewall rules for location server access, and security protocols for tag data transmission. Often, it also involves complex integration with existing IT management systems.

Many projects treat IT coordination as a late-stage task. Anchors get installed, and cabling is completed only for the team to discover that IT needs three weeks to configure VLANs. Security teams may require additional firewall documentation, or network addressing conflicts may arise with existing systems. The result is hardware sitting idle while awaiting approvals.

Why Early IT Coordination Matters: IT teams manage hundreds of network devices, security policies, and change control processes. RTLS is just one more system requesting network resources. Without advance notice, it enters the queue behind other priorities.

LocaXion's Proactive IT Engagement: Our RTLS implementation services involve IT teams early. We document network requirements, security protocols, bandwidth considerations, and integration points during the planning phase. We provide IT with everything needed for approval including network diagrams, security documentation, data flow descriptions, and compliance information. This planning covers enterprise architecture needs such as segregated VLANs for anchor management, Quality of Service (QoS) policies for time-sensitive positioning packets, and redundant network paths for high-availability systems.

Enterprise RTLS Network Architecture: Enterprise RTLS deployments require careful network architecture planning: segregated VLANs for anchor management and location data traffic, Quality of Service (QoS) policies for time-sensitive positioning packets, redundant network paths for high-availability systems, secure API endpoints for integration with MES, WMS, ERP, and CMMS systems, and network monitoring integration for proactive infrastructure management.

Why center-of-floor testing isn't enough

The Problem: Many projects validate accuracy by testing in ideal conditions. This usually means the center of the floor with a clear line of sight to multiple anchors and no metal obstructions. These static tests often show impressive performance of 30cm or 50cm. However, users then deploy the system in production and discover problems. Accuracy might degrade 3-5 meters in corners, or tags might jump between zones unpredictably near doorways. Areas near metal equipment suffer from intermittent tracking, and location updates often lag actual movement. Center of floor testing validates the technology works but does not validate it works where users need it.

LocaXion's Comprehensive Testing Protocol:Our RTLS implementation services include systematic testing across the entire coverage area rather than just best-case locations. Our protocol includes:

• Grid-based accuracy testing: Measuring position error across defined test points including corners, edges, and open areas.
• Workflow-critical location validation: Testing accuracy where it matters for your use cases such as work cells, staging areas, loading docks, and process transitions.
• Edge case & challenge area testing: High-metal zones, elevator shafts, near walls, doorways, ramps, and anywhere RF propagation is compromised
• Dynamic movement testing: Tracking assets moving at operational speeds like forklifts and carts to validate real time performance.
• Zone boundary precision: Validating geo-fence entry/exit triggers for automated workflows, alerts, and process control.

The Outcome:We document actual performance, identify areas requiring optimization, tune the location engine for your environment, and validate that accuracy meets requirements before production use. Issues discovered during testing are easy to fix. Issues discovered in production are costly and disruptive.

RTLS Accuracy Testing Best Practices:Professional RTLS accuracy validation includes heat map generation showing position error distribution across the facility, statistical analysis of accuracy metrics (mean error, 95th percentile, maximum error), environmental factor documentation (temperature, humidity, RF interference), tag orientation testing for worn, mounted, and carried configurations, and validation against industry standards (ISO 24730, ASTM E2795) for healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics applications.