Using hierarchical data mining to characterize performance of wireless system configurations

•We present a statistical framework for assessing wireless systems performance.•A performance database of targeted WCDMA simulation runs is collected.•Hierarchical data mining is used to find acceptable performance regions.•The mined regions’ shapes illustrate the joint influence of parameters.•Data mining assists the characterization of wireless systems performance.

This paper presents a statistical framework for assessing wireless systems performance using hierarchical data mining techniques. We consider WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) systems with two-branch STTD (space time transmit diversity) and 1/2 rate convolutional coding (forward error correction codes). Monte Carlo simulation estimates the bit error probability (BEP) of the system across a wide range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). A performance database of simulation runs is collected over a targeted space of system configurations. This database is then mined to obtain regions of the configuration space that exhibit acceptable average performance. The shape of the mined regions illustrates the joint influence of configuration parameters on system performance. The role of data mining in this application is to provide explainable and statistically valid design conclusions. The research issue is to define statistically meaningful aggregation of data in a manner that permits efficient and effective data mining algorithms. We achieve a good compromise between these goals and help establish the applicability of data mining for characterizing wireless systems performance.