Summary

This chapter gives you the groundwork for installing your RFID network. The site assessment, understanding how various RFID components are going to be installed, and determining what is likely to happen after they are installed are critical scientific data that can save you hours of trial and error and headaches when your system doesn't perform up to snuff.

The first topic you learned about was the "how"-how the business process is going to be documented and where RFID will fit into the process. Understanding and documenting will help you determine where all the touch points are and who needs to be involved. Remember, most likely you will be looking at three key areas: information technology, facilities, and business processes.

After you know how the business processes are executed, you need an understanding of the "where." The blueprints or engineering data will give you an accurate view of the facility and provide a clean slate for laying out the RFID network topology.

Last, you need the "why." Why is the system behaving the way it does? The reason, as you learned, is that there are a lot of invisible RF waves flowing through the air at any point, and you have to determine whether those are going to interfere with your RFID network, or vice versa. The path loss contour mapping will give you an opportunity to see exactly what would happen if you turned a reader on and fired it up at each interrogation zone.

Having the how, where, and why under control will allow you to lay out a plan for moving forward with your RFID deployment. This data also will help you provide a document to your client that shows what is happening in their RFID world and will give you a future reference in case you need to come back in and change or adapt the system later.