Coverage

Coverage design answers a different question from capacity: "How many radios are required to provide usable coverage across the physical site?"

Step 1 Capacity established the capacity-driven radio count. This step determines the coverage-driven radio count. Together, these establish the range that the architecture must accommodate.

The final radio count is determined by whichever requirement is greater:

Final radio count = max(capacity-driven count, coverage-driven count)

Do this in the Calculator

1

Set the Site and Coverage Parameters

In the Site & Coverage panel, set:

• Deployment Type: Indoor or Outdoor
• Environment

  • Indoor: Open Office/Showroom, Warehouse (Low Racks), Warehouse (Dense Racks)
  • Outdoor: Open Campus/Yard, Parking Lot/Loading Dock, Industrial Perimeter
• Clutter Level · (Independent of Environment) Low / Medium / High
• UL Device Class: Handset / External Antenna / CPE
• Region: US (CBRS) or UK/EU/AU
• Total Site Area: In sq ft, sq m, or acres

Figure: ROM Calculator: Site & Coverage Panel

2

Review the Coverage Estimate

In the Estimated APs panel, review:

• Coverage estimate: Shows the number of APs required to provide coverage based on the selected site characteristics.
• sq ft/AP: Shows the effective coverage baseline and multipliers used by the calculator.

For example, the calculator may display a calculation such as:

25,000 × 1 (clutter) × 1.25 (auto) × 1 (stance)

This provides visibility into how the calculator arrived at the coverage estimate.

NOTE: In case of segmented sites, the calculator evaluates one Environment / Clutter combination per run. It does not automatically segment a mixed site into different coverage zones. If a site contains a warehouse floor, office area, loading dock, and outdoor yard, evaluate each zone separately and combine the resulting requirements.

IMPORTANT: Do not treat the entire site as a single coverage zone when different areas have significantly different propagation characteristics, mounting conditions, or operational requirements.

Understanding the Methodology

Gathering Coverage Requirements

Before estimating the radio count, capture the physical and operational characteristics of the site.

• Total area: Record the total site area and separate indoor and outdoor areas where appropriate.
• Site segmentation: Identify areas that require separate coverage treatment, such as warehouse floors, mezzanines, loading docks, offices, yards, and outdoor operational areas.
• Indoor/outdoor mix: Identify the proportion of indoor and outdoor coverage and any transition areas between them.
• Terrain and clutter: Document conditions that can affect propagation, including open floor areas, racks, machinery, containers, walls, terrain changes, and building-to-building distances.
• Ceiling and mounting height: Record AP mounting heights and identify significant variations across the site.
• Mobility profile: Identify how devices move through the coverage area: Stationary devices, pedestrians, forklifts, AGVs, vehicles, or other mobile devices.
• Coverage requirements: Identify where service is required and the performance expected in each area.

Common mistake to avoid: Do not treat the entire site as a single coverage zone. A warehouse floor, loading dock, office area, and outdoor yard may have very different propagation characteristics, mounting heights, obstructions, device densities, mobility patterns, coverage requirements. Segment the site first, then estimate coverage for each zone.

Coverage Rules of Thumb

The following values provide initial planning estimates for radio count. They are not substitutes for an RF design. Actual radio count depends on frequency, antenna configuration, mounting height, propagation environment, required signal level, interference, mobility, and application requirements.

Indoor Coverage Estimates

Clutter	Example	Avg. Height	Coverage per AP	AP Density
Low	Open office space, minimal walls, mostly LOS	125 ft	~25,000 sq ft	4 APs
Medium	Open warehouse spaces with low to medium shelves, miscellaneous layout, some partitions	80 ft	~20,000 sq ft	5–6 APs
High	Manufacturing floor / Warehouse with dense walls, high metal racks, cold storage, heavy machinery	50 ft	~7,000 sq ft	13–15 APs

Outdoor Coverage and Capacity Estimates (Omni Antennas)

Design Intent	Area	Radius	AP Count	Notes
Coverage-Oriented	~1,000,000 sq ft	~800 ft	~1 AP	Assumes 47 dBm EIRP, wide-area mobility. Corresponds to "Open Campus / Yard" in the table below.
Capacity-Oriented	~300,000 sq ft	~440 ft	~3–4 APs	Higher device density, uplink-heavy applications. Corresponds to "Parking Lot / Loading Dock" in the table below.

Outdoor Range by Directional Antennas (33°–120° Beamwidth)

Device Class	Range	Conditions
Smartphones/Tablets	2,500–5,000 ft	Standard beamwidth, Line of Sight (LOS) or near-LOS, RSRP to -110 dBm
CPE with High-Gain	Up to 12,000 ft	Specialized antennas, optimal alignment, high-SINR, LOS required

Outdoor Coverage Estimates by Environment

Environment	Height	Radius	Area
Open Campus / Yard	20–30 ft	700–800 ft	~1,000,000 sq ft (coverage)
Parking Lot / Loading Dock	12–20 ft	400–500 ft	~300,000 sq ft (capacity)
Industrial Perimeter	25–35 ft	500–750 ft	400,000–800,000 sq ft (mixed)

Outdoor Coverage Considerations

The estimates above assume omnidirectional external antennas unless otherwise specified.

When planning outdoor coverage:

• Set AP spacing according to the actual coverage and capacity objectives.
• Account for buildings, foliage, machinery, vehicles, containers, and other RF obstructions.
• Consider directional antennas where range, uplink performance, or interference control is a priority.
• Consider the frequency band and applicable regional regulatory requirements when estimating achievable coverage.
• Validate outdoor propagation before finalizing AP and antenna placement.
• Consider uplink performance as well as downlink coverage, particularly for surveillance, telemetry, and industrial applications.

How the Calculator Estimates Coverage

The ROM Calculator starts with a baseline area per AP and applies multipliers based on the deployment characteristics.

The coverage formula used by the calculator:

APs_cov = ⌈ Area ÷ (Base × Clutter × Auto × Stance) × (1 + Buffer) ⌉

Where:

• Base = 25,000 / 17,500 / 10,000 sq ft/AP indoors (Coverage / Balanced / Capacity-oriented design intent: auto-derived, scored from Density + DL/UL throughput + Use Case, no manual goal needed), or an outdoor environment baseline × the same intent factor (1.0 / 0.70 / 0.45).
• Clutter = Low 1.0× · Medium 0.8× · High 0.6×.
• Auto = min(DLscale, ULcap), where DLscale reflects your Channel BW (US) or AP Power Class (EMEA), and ULcap depends on UL Device Class (Handset 1.1× · Ext. Antenna 1.25× · CPE 1.5×).

  Region	Formula
  US (5G)	DLscale = 10^(10·log10(BW/20)/10) , 20 MHz=1.0×, 40 MHz=2.0×, 100 MHz=5.0×
  EMEA (5G)	ΔP = 10·log10(P/5W); DLscale = 10^(ΔP/10): e.g. 40 W ≈ +9 dB

• Stance = Your Planning Stance multiplier (Conservative / Prudent / Opportunistic, set in the Planning Parameters panel, see What to Bring).

Next Step

Next, proceed to Step 3 Architecture to determine how the capacity-driven and coverage-driven radio counts come together into a deployable Onyx network. Architecture resolves where you land between the capacity floor established in Step 1 Capacity and the coverage ceiling established here: determining the Shared Cell or Multi-Cell configuration, fronthaul topology, Onyx Edge server requirements, switching, and backhaul needed to support the final radio count.