Number of events in Monte Carlo simulations for analysis of interference between radiocommunication systems

Abstract Monte Carlo simulations are widely used in analysis of interference between radiocommunication systems. The method performs n random experiments, each called an event, snapshot, or trial, to estimate the statistics of some parameter of the problem (for instance, the interference level). There is no formalization about the number of events necessary to run a simulation. In practice, this is often done based on the intuition of the analyst about the model. In this paper, we propose how to choose a number of events for Monte Carlo simulations. We address this issue by understanding that the protection criteria for radiocommunication systems are usually related to a quantile of the result, and then calculating the number of events for which it is also possible to estimate a confidence interval for it. Results show that, for a confidence level of 99.9%, it is possible to estimate confidence intervals for p-quantiles for p up to 99.89% with 10000 events.