Free Warehouse CCTV Layout CCTV Design Tool
Tall racking, mixed lighting and dock-door blind spots make warehouses unforgiving. This layout covers loading bays, aisle mid-spans and outdoor yards with the right camera mix — bullets at the dock, fisheyes overhead, IR bullets for the perimeter.
8-24
Typical cameras
2,000-10,000 sqm
Typical area
Tall racking blocks line-of-sight
challenge
Recommended camera zones
| Zone | Camera type | Qty | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loading dock | Bullet / Varifocal | 2-4 | One bullet per dock door at 4–5 m height, angled to read truck plates and trailer numbers. |
| Racking aisles | Dome / Fisheye | 4-12 | Fisheye every 3–4 aisles at ceiling apex, or one dome at each aisle end for axial coverage. |
| Yard / perimeter | Bullet / IR | 2-4 | IR bullets at fence corners, 8–12 mm focal length, 30–60 m night range. |
| Office / shipping desk | Dome | 1-4 | One discreet dome over the dispatcher's desk for goods-in/goods-out evidence. |
Key challenges for
Tall racking blocks line-of-sight
Pallet stacks 6–9 m high create shadow corridors. Mount cameras above rack-top height and stagger them so every aisle has a clean axial view, not a side-on glimpse.
Mixed daylight and sodium lighting
Dock doors flood one half of the floor with daylight while the back stays under amber sodium. Use cameras with True WDR (≥120 dB) and warm-light correction so faces don't go orange.
Forklifts and pallets cause occlusion
A pallet jack parked under a dome blocks half the frame. Plan two complementary angles for any high-value zone — one wide overview, one tight identification shot.
Large outdoor yard area
10,000 sqm yards swallow standard 4 mm lenses. Use varifocal bullets at the corners pulled in to 50–100 m range, with a thermal or IR PTZ for after-hours coverage.
Pro tips for
Mount cameras at 5–7 m, not 9 m — every extra meter halves your usable pixel density.
Pair every dock-door bullet with a fisheye 3–5 m inside, so loading is covered from outside-in AND inside-out.
Avoid white walls behind dock doors — backlight kills WDR. Paint matt-grey or angle the camera off-axis.
Use corridor-mode (vertical 9:16) for racking aisles — it triples pixel density on the floor stripe that matters.
Plan PoE switch + UPS in a separate locked closet, not the dispatcher booth — it's the first place an insider tampers.
Frequently asked questions
How many cameras does a 5,000 sqm warehouse need?
Roughly 12–18 cameras: 4–6 dock-door bullets, 6–10 fisheyes/domes for racking, 2–4 perimeter bullets. Add 1 PTZ if your yard exceeds 100 m on any side.
What focal length for racking aisles?
2.8 mm or fisheye for short aisles (≤20 m), 4 mm for medium, 6–8 mm for aisles longer than 30 m. Always favor a wider lens with corridor mode over a tight one — pixel density on the floor stripe matters more than peripheral overview.
Do I need ANPR at the truck gate?
Yes if you have ≥10 deliveries/day or chronic theft of inventory in transit. A dedicated ANPR bullet at the truck gate (50–100 m read range, 1/1.8" sensor) reads plates day and night. Generic bullets won't decode plates above 30 m.
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