Communication system and method for correlating wireless communication performance with vehicle system configurations

The system comprising:

• one or more processors configured to determine wireless message characteristics of wireless messages communicated with first vehicles in one or more first vehicle systems an locations along a route where the wireless message characteristics were determined, the wireless message characteristics and the locations determined during movement of the one or more first vehicle systems along a route, the one or more processors also are configured to obtain a size of the one or more first vehicle systems, and to determine a signal propagation profile based on the wireless message characteristics, the locations where the wireless message characteristics were determined, and the size of the one or more first vehicle systems, wherein the signal propagation profile represents one or more relationships between the wireless message characteristics, the size of the one or more first vehicle systems, and the locations along the route;
• wherein the one or more processors also are configured to determine the relationship representative of the signal propagation profile between the wireless message characteristics, the locations where the wireless message characteristics were determined, the size of the one or more first vehicle systems, and relative positions of the vehicles in the one or more first vehicle systems during the movement of the one or more first vehicle systems along the route.