Wireless Pick-by-Light: Usability of LPWAN to Achieve a Flexible Warehouse Logistics Infrastructure

Pick-by-light is used for fast localization of items at the picking process in ware-house logistics. In general, pick-by-light systems are installed on racks or shelves which have to be powered by wires. This is very expensive and often involves complex installation procedures, wherefore wireless pick-by-light systems have gained a lot of research interest due to their flexibility, portability and low deployment costs. However, the existing wireless pick-by-light systems have limited range and introduce additional maintenance efforts, which make them inapplicable for bigger warehouses. This paper presents a wireless pick-by-light system based on LoRaWAN, a leading LPWAN standard, which is fully scalable. The proposed system offers long range due to unique LoRa RF modulation technique. In order to extend the battery life and thereby to minimize maintenance costs, the pick-by-light modules are built on power optimized LoRaWAN end devices. The system also suggests RSSI based asset tracking inside warehouses within the same framework for smarter routing of the human picker. In order to verify the proposed system, a prototype is developed and evaluated. The evaluation shows the technical implementation and its results.