Plan your coverage before you order.
A few simple rules let you ballpark the anchors and gateways a site needs — enough to budget and scope with confidence. The exact placement plan is produced from your drawings and an RF survey; this is how to get close before that.
Anchors
Surround the space you want to track.
Anchor spacing: 10–15 m
Place anchors 10–15 m apart for sub-5 m positioning. 25 m is the absolute limit for mesh connectivity alone. Closer spacing means tighter positioning.
The polygon rule
A tracked tag must sit inside a polygon of more than three anchors. Coverage is about surrounding the space, not just dotting the perimeter — plan the grid so every tracked area is enclosed.
One grid per structure
Every level, shaft station and separate building needs its own anchor grid — coverage does not pass through rock, slab or solid floors. Add anchors at every exit and access point to power the unauthorised-removal alert.
Mounting
Mount anchors and gateways 3–4 m high, clear of large metal masses, within the anchor grid they serve. Use IP-rated enclosures underground and in harsh areas.
Gateways
One backbone per level.
How many gateways
Minimum one gateway per level, building or separate structure. Sethala designs two per level so a single gateway failure doesn't blind the level.
How much a gateway covers
One gateway serves up to 30,000 m², checked against your tag count and reporting cadence in the placement plan.
How they connect
Wired Ethernet or fibre with PoE is preferred. Where cabling is impractical, managed enterprise Wi-Fi (WPA2/3-Enterprise, verified signal at the mount) is acceptable — consumer or ad-hoc Wi-Fi is not.
Rough sizing
Ballpark your kit by floor area.
Indicative counts at ~12 m anchor spacing, to help you budget. Real quantities depend on layout, obstructions and tag density — we confirm them in the placement plan.
| Tracked area | Typical example | Anchors | Gateways |
|---|---|---|---|
| ≈ 1,000 m² | Workshop, clinic wing, small store | 8–12 | 1 |
| ≈ 5,000 m² | Warehouse floor, hospital ward block | 35–50 | 1–2 |
| ≈ 20,000 m² | Large facility floor / mine level | 140–180 | 1–2 |
Add tags per asset or person you want to track. For the full network, power and internet requirements behind the grid, see the Site Readiness guide.
Have your site drawings?
We'll turn them into a placement plan.
Send us your floor plans and the assets or areas you need to cover, and we'll come back with an anchor and gateway layout and an exact hardware list.