1. A computer readable medium configured to execute instructions for a method to determine bit error rate (BER) for a given channel of a communication system, the method comprising: determining a first statistical representation of at least one deterministic source of noise for the given channel; defining a parametric statistical representation having parameters that model non-deterministic noise for the given channel; estimating values for the parameters of the parametric statistical representation to provide a second statistical representation for the non-deterministic noise based on at least one of measurements or simulations performed for the given channel; and estimating the BER of the given channel as a function of the first and second statistical representations; and performing the measurements on the given channel to estimate a second BER for the given channel based on a comparison of data transmitted and received over the given channel, the second BER being estimated to a level of accuracy that is higher than the BER estimated as a function of the first and second statistical representations.