Retail stores seek to improve profitability while simultaneously improving their customers' shopping experiences. They must respond to the influence of online channels, compliance to trade regulations, and the ever-changing marketing plans of the brands they sell.
By combining new technologies for the sales floor with real-time management tools available in the cloud, store operators can meet their goals while simultaneously reducing costs, increasing turns, and managing all operations more effectively. They can use combinations of interactive devices, such as digital signage, electronic shelf labels, portable scanners, smart tags, smart lighting, and cameras, to implement these new systems.
To connect these new devices to the cloud services that manage them, stores need secure and scalable communications networks which do not interfere with current infrastructure. Wi-Fi HaLow provides such networks using the world-wide industry standard IEEE 802.11ah.
IEEE 802.11ah (Wi-Fi HaLow) supports the unique needs of a variety of IoT devices. Wi-Fi HaLow uses the lower license-free radio frequency bands below 1 GHz, compared to traditional Wi-Fi at 2.4GHz. HaLow also uses narrower channels (down to 1MHz) than traditional Wi-Fi (20MHz) and incorporates new sleep modes and a higher number of addressable devices.
What are the benefits?
Lower RF frequencies travel farther and penetrate through objects and materials better than higher frequencies at a similar amount of power. Narrower channels also improve connection distance and tolerance to noise. The new sleep modes make it possible to operate devices with coin cell batteries and improve their shelf time. The higher number of addressable devices (over 8,000 per Access Point) improves total capacity for store systems which could include over 100,000 devices.
A small number of Wi-Fi HaLow Access Points can be added to existing stores without impacting the current Wi-Fi floor coverage plan. Since HaLow operates in the frequencies below 1GHz, it is impervious to the unpredictable 2.4GHz RF noise of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Zigbee brought into the store by customers' smartphones.
Digital Signage: High-resolution digital display technology can be used to provide helpful information to a customer. They can be updated to conform to changes in the merchandising floor plans and be portable and reconfigurable, without power cords or big batteries.
Electronic Shelf Labels ("ESL"): Electronic labels mounted on display shelves can replace paper tags with updatable pricing information. Automated updates can be pushed over the airwaves to these labels from a remote location, saving the significant time and labor costs of manual changes.
Handheld Scanners: The price scanner is no longer bound under the glass plate at a check-out counter at the front of the store. A shopper can pick up a scanner and pre-scan items they place in the cart as they shop.
Building Automation: HVAC, Lighting, Access Controls, Cameras. Large stores managing HVAC, refrigeration and access controls can use Wi-Fi HaLow systems to aggregate these functions onto a network with more total device capacity, better reach and penetration through the building.
Inventory Control and Logistics: RFID has provided an excellent technology for loss prevention and tracking in the store for decades. Using Wi-Fi HaLow as a back-haul data path, an RFID reader can be placed in more flexible locations on the floor, and can communicate wirelessly.
Wi-Fi HaLow is the wireless networking solution that will truly enable all devices of a modern retail store. From handheld scanners, to ESLs to building automation, HaLow connects devices cost efficiently and securely throughout a large area creating a superior customer experience and a competitive advantage.
