Chapter 8: Testing One, Two, Three: Developing Your Own Lab
4. Go back to your center point and strike two lines from corner to corner through the center of the grid so that you have lines at 45
The final result looks like the pattern shown in Figure 8-1.
Setting up areas for computer monitors
The next order of business is setting up workbenches and areas for various computer monitors. I say monitors because ideally you should have print- and-apply machines, readers, and test equipment hooked up to those moni- tors as well as to servers and desktop computers. Here are some general guidelines for setting up these areas:
Workbenches:These can be something as simple as folding banquet tables or as sophisticated as built-in sturdy wood-framed workbenches with shelves and tool storage areas. Your imagination — and your budget — are the only limitations.
When setting up your workbenches, make sure that they are located near ample power and situated along the edge of the lab so they don’t take up any more floor space than necessary. If you can cluster your workbenches in two areas — one near the server rack and the other at the opposite end of the lab — two or more people can work at the same time without tripping all over each other.
Workstations:Set up the different workstations by category, such as software/networking, hardware setup and configuration, and lastly a dedicated testing area. If the four corners of your room all have ample Figure 8-1:
The floor grid pattern of your primary lab space helps you record accurate test results.
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power and connectivity, put the server rack in one corner with the soft- ware/networking stations, put a reader setup and configuration area in the corner with the least connectivity, put a SKU testing station in another corner, and the last corner you can decide on as you discover your specific needs.
Bins, shelves, and other storage:Next, fill the walls along the edges with bins, shelves, and other storage for tools and equipment. It seems like you can never have enough storage, and some things, such as antennas, require careful consideration when making storage areas. Figure 8-2 shows a simple solution for keeping various types of antennas well organized and protected. Cardboard shelves from an office supply store make per- fect storage space for only a couple of dollars. If you want to protect cer- tain storage areas from RF energy, you can build screens of any thin metallic material; however a screening solution also creates reflection, which may affect the rest of your testing environment, so be careful.
Set up the test equipment
After your lab is located, designed, and partially outfitted, it’s time to put all that fancy electronic gear to work. The third step is setting up your lab gear.
Before you set up the test equipment, consider whether you’ll ever need to move the gear:
Figure 8-2:
Inexpensive and effective antenna storage from your local office supply store.
If you know something will be a permanent fixture in the lab,set it up like a permanent fixture. Put it in a rack, tie down the cabling and wire neatly, and protect it from impact and grime.
If you know something will be used out on location (like spectrum analyzers and signal generators),think about creating an area that is analogous to a docking station for a laptop. Pick a spot where the gear will be useful while in the lab but can quickly be removed and taken afield. See the sidebar, “Protecting your gear on the go,” for details about protecting gear if you need to move it often.
In the lab, deploy testing stations that enable you to do both scientific testing and application testing:
Scientific testing covers things like profiling RF interrogation zones out of various antennas, determining the variability of tag types, and tag pro- duction performance.
Application testing covers things like understanding reader configura- tions for a dock door and building mock portals.
For scientific testing, you need enough electricity to power several readers and antennas on the very edge of your grid. For the application testing, you need access to power and network connectivity.
Reader testing station
A reader test station is where you can test antenna patterns on the grid, cer- tify the power output and bandwidth range, and in general play with your readers while recording performance. Here are some tips for choosing a loca- tion for the reader test station:
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Protecting your gear on the go
Any equipment you think might be needed out in the field, like signal generators and spectrum analyzers, should be protected while en route.
The best bet is to buy a Pelican case and either custom cut the foam or have a spray-in-foam shop spray in foam so that the unit is well pro- tected. Pelican cases can be checked baggage on a plane, shipped via most overnight carriers,
and locked up when the gear is left in a ware- house. Consider it a couple hundred dollars of insurance for your costly lab gear. Buy the case when you buy the electronics, and you’ll never worry about how you’re going to get a case to Waterloo, Iowa, in a day when you’re all the way out in Alamo, Texas.
The ideal location is near the network gear, so that you can store and access important data easily.
If one area of the lab has a concentration of power and network connec- tivity, that’s where to put a server cabinet and create your reader test station.
To get the best test results, put the readers at the far end of your floor grid if possible, as opposed to the middle. It doesn’t matter which end of the room you choose, just as long as you can make use of the longest distance from one end of your testing area to the other by putting the reader at one end and a tagged object at the opposite end.
To set up the reader station, follow these steps: