Warehouse Racking Coverage

[ipcamnewb22]

I'm looking for ideas/suggestions on how to cover a section of warehouse racking. The racks are approx 40' tall and 170' long, with a 5' travel/picking aisle between them. The lighting is not outstanding, but will probably be updated to LED in the future. I have 13 aisles that I need to cover on each side of the building. The objective is to reduce theft and cover as much of each aisle as possible. I don't need to be able to read t-shirts at 170', but I need to be able to tell who was in the area when we find empty product.

If anyone has ever deployed a camera solution in an area like this, please let me know.

The attached image is similar to my environment for reference.

Thanks in advance

 

[Flintstone61]

I deployed/wired, about 50-60 Cisco WAP's in a Warehouse like that with 2 man Lifts, passing cable with telescoping push sticks over the racks and along ceiling.
but not Cams.
13 Aisles with 3 cams each could get you basic " who dunnit " coverage. Other people will chime in. @Holbs
I'm thinkin 39 cams. Probably don't have to be ultra expensive for what your doing.
39 - $60 cams will still be about $2300 bucks.
39 $100 cams would $3900 .....plus pulling 39 cable runs,
and possibly some backbone cabling between Switches going back to the Recorder.
i don't know if you can get it done with 2 cams per Aisle.

 

[mat200]

I'm looking for ideas/suggestions on how to cover a section of warehouse racking. The racks are approx 40' tall and 170' long, with a 5' travel/picking aisle between them. The lighting is not outstanding, but will probably be updated to LED in the future. I have 13 aisles that I need to cover on each side of the building. The objective is to reduce theft and cover as much of each aisle as possible. I don't need to be able to read t-shirts at 170', but I need to be able to tell who was in the area when we find empty product.

If anyone has ever deployed a camera solution in an area like this, please let me know.

The attached image is similar to my environment for reference.

Thanks in advance

Welcome @ipcamnewb22

See the DORI section of the Cliff Notes, determine what you need D O R or I ... my guess you want R judging by your comment " .. but I need to be able to tell who was in the area when we find empty product. .. " R Recognize someone familiar ..

170' long = you'll need significantly more cameras than 2 per aisle ..

 

[Dingoboy77]

I'm looking for ideas/suggestions on how to cover a section of warehouse racking. The racks are approx 40' tall and 170' long, with a 5' travel/picking aisle between them. The lighting is not outstanding, but will probably be updated to LED in the future. I have 13 aisles that I need to cover on each side of the building. The objective is to reduce theft and cover as much of each aisle as possible. I don't need to be able to read t-shirts at 170', but I need to be able to tell who was in the area when we find empty product.

If anyone has ever deployed a camera solution in an area like this, please let me know.

The attached image is similar to my environment for reference.

Thanks in advance

I work in a very similar scenario with some of my locations having single items picked from the locations, not just entire skids of product. The general approach for random product is a setup like this:

The racking aisle in this picture is 300' long with a 10' wide aisle and I can see people doing whatever I need to see them doing with the exception of when their machine obstructs the view. Another thing to note in my scenario is that I already know who is driving the machines (operators are assigned machines and each machine is numbered with 10" reflective numbers) so DORI is far more forgiving. For my single item pick/high dollar value areas (some of which are only 12" wide, I have the same setup (4 cameras in the same layout), however, the aisles are only 150' long and in a secured cage.

 

[Dingoboy77]

Another suggestion is if the ceiling I beams are so thick you need to tap the holes but the cross beams are so thin that you can't thread them to mount your cameras, a couple of years ago I started doing this because I got sick of drilling holes in the ceiling when the company decides to move/put up racking constantly.

 

[ipcamnewb22]

Welcome @ipcamnewb22

See the DORI section of the Cliff Notes, determine what you need D O R or I ... my guess you want R judging by your comment " .. but I need to be able to tell who was in the area when we find empty product. .. " R Recognize someone familiar ..

170' long = you'll need significantly more cameras than 2 per aisle ..

The R isn't as big of an issue as the O. Our current security system can be used to identify the operator before they enter the aisle. I just loose visibility of what they are doing while they are in the aisle.

 

[ipcamnewb22]

I work in a very similar scenario with some of my locations having single items picked from the locations, not just entire skids of product. The general approach for random product is a setup like this:
View attachment 137034
The racking aisle in this picture is 300' long with a 10' wide aisle and I can see people doing whatever I need to see them doing with the exception of when their machine obstructs the view. Another thing to note in my scenario is that I already know who is driving the machines (operators are assigned machines and each machine is numbered with 10" reflective numbers) so DORI is far more forgiving. For my single item pick/high dollar value areas (some of which are only 12" wide, I have the same setup (4 cameras in the same layout), however, the aisles are only 150' long and in a secured cage.

This is helpful, thank you. Do you have a camera model you would recommend for this setup?

 

[Dingoboy77]

This is helpful, thank you. Do you have a camera model you would recommend for this setup?

I will tell you what I use, however, you will likely need to experiment to get your system to fit your application. The Amcrest in the photo is #IP5M-T1179EW-28MM. Its a nice camera, but the audio can be a bit sketchy in a warehouse (pallets banging, etc). I also use a lot of SV3C # B08POE-5MPL-A. Both are decent cameras but I like the video and audio from the SV3C just a little bit better. Neither are used/useful for catching motion at night, but all of our warehouse lighting is set up with motion sensors so it doesn't really matter. I even use the SV3C for my exterior, because our parking and building accesses are all gated and have physical controls (gates, speed bumps, funneled traffic, etc.) to mitigate the need for expensive cameras for motion at night.

 

[Holbs]

another option would be to use a drop down kit to bring cameras down much lower than the normal height of red iron warehouse ceilings. At some warehouses, we come down to 10' above floor if no picker lifts, at the center of the aisle at 50' distance apart. Axis has a great 360 camera for these type of installations. This Axis 360 is the only 360 camera I have installed and seen in action. Unknown how various of manufacturers look. For goodness sake, do not go DOME in a warehouse. The dust on the dome cover will accumulate no matter what you do.
If you are looking watch every inch of every aisle to get coverage, expect to buy lots of cameras with whatever route you go.