General
Challenging installations come in different forms. In general the following may affect
- The more objects, such as walls, doors, coolers etc., are occluding the direct line of sight between a logger and a gateway, the less wireless signal strength can be expected.
- The further away the logger is from the next gateway, the less signal quality
- Humidity in the environment. The more humid, the less signal quality
Unless there are specific problems, such as described in chapters "Problems" and "Challenging Environments" below, most issues can be solved by the following methods:
- Moving logger and gateway closer together, if possible.
- Moving obstacles and/or move logger/gateway to reduce effect of occluding objects between the devices.
- Try Controlant supported antennas with increased gain to increase signal quality
- Add a new gateway closer to the logger
- Aligning antennas of gateways and loggers parallel, as shown in the picture below.
For further information on installation challenges with wireless devices, please refer to the page 1.3.1 General Wireless Setup
Problems
If logger is close to gateway and, under normal conditions, should communicate with gateway the following issuse might apply.
| # | Problem | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is antenna broken? | If antenna is broken or has been damaged, signal quality can be significantly affected. A new antenna should be installed instead of the broken one. |
| 2 | Is antenna securely attached to logger (SMA plug)? | Make sure that antenna is securely connected to logger. If the antenna is loose or incorrectly attached to logger, the signal quality will be significantly reduced. |
| 3 | Does the environment contain interfering noise? | If there are multiple other wireless devices or other equipment that emits electromagnetic signals (industrial machinery and devices, burglar systems etc), it is possible that radio signal of the Controlant devices is being affected. Bringing devices closer together and adding extra gateways will improve signal quality. |
| 4 | Is logger broken? | If there are visible damages to the logger, even though it transmits data, such damages might affect wireless communication. In such cases, if the user is experiencing problems with wireless communication, a replacement is suggested. |
| 5 | Is logger placed closed to metal? | Wireless signal strength may be affected when logger and antenna is placed up to metal. To make sure that that is not the issue, you can try to move the loggers and gateways from the metal surface. |
Challenging environment
In some cases, users want to monitor in spaces where wireless connectivity is hard to ensure. In such cases, different installation methods can be used.
| # | Environment | Proposed Solution |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Closed environment (coolers, storage rooms etc) with either metal or concrete walls/surface | The proposed solution is to install a logger with a probe on the outside of the environment and lead the probe into the environment. |
| 2 | Environment with lots of metal and/or liquids in shelves. | The proposed solution is to install a logger with a probe on top of the shelves and move gateways as high as possible, such that it has as direct way to the gateway as possible, and lead the probe to the desired measurement point. |