Coverage
Coverage turns up in 2 fields: hydrography, telecom & it. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Coverage in hydrography
The portion of the seabed actually measured or imaged by a survey, expressed as a percentage of the area.
How much of the seabed the sensors have actually seen. Bathymetric coverage of 100 percent means the swaths touch or overlap with no unmeasured gaps; 200 percent means every point is covered twice, normally by independent passes. Singlebeam surveys measure only a thin strip along each line, so features between lines can be missed. Coverage plots are checked every day so holidays are found before the boat leaves the area.
"Coverage plot shows a sliver missing along the pier face, we need a slow pass tight to the fenders."
Coverage in telecom & it
The geographic area where a wireless network provides a usable signal to client devices.
The physical footprint within which a radio frequency transmitter, such as a cellular base station or Wi-Fi access point, delivers sufficient signal strength for reliable communication. Engineers map this area using predictive modeling software and verify it with field measurements. Factors like terrain, building materials, and antenna tilt directly dictate the boundaries.
"We need to add a picocell in the basement because the macro network coverage doesn't penetrate the concrete foundation."