A platform for managing an engine using a statistical distribution of knock intensities from prior combustion cycles, the platform comprising: an engine control system configured to operate the engine; a sensor configured to sense knocking within a cylinder of the engine during a combustion cycle; computing hardware comprising a computer readable, non transitory storage medium coupled to a processor and a memory, the processor configured to communicate with the sensor and the engine control system, the storage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by the processor to perform a method stored in the memory, the method comprising: identifying a window of at least three combustion cycles; measuring a knock intensity for each of a plurality of combustion cycles within the window; calculating a descriptive statistic (500, 502, 510, 512, 520, 530, 532, 534, 536, 540), the DS describing a statistical distribution of the measured knock intensities within the window, particularly a mean knock intensity, a standard deviation of the knock intensities, and/or a skew of the knock intensities; comparing the calculated DS to a desired DS, the desired DS representing a desired distribution of knock intensities; and adjusting a control parameter of the engine when the calculated DS deviates from the desired DS by an amount greater than a threshold. an engine control system configured to operate the engine; a sensor configured to sense knocking within a cylinder of the engine during a combustion cycle; computing hardware comprising a computer readable, non transitory storage medium coupled to a processor and a memory, the processor configured to communicate with the sensor and the engine control system, the storage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by the processor to perform a method stored in the memory, the method comprising: identifying a window of at least three combustion cycles; measuring a knock intensity for each of a plurality of combustion cycles within the window; calculating a descriptive statistic (500, 502, 510, 512, 520, 530, 532, 534, 536, 540), the DS describing a statistical distribution of the measured knock intensities within the window, particularly a mean knock intensity, a standard deviation of the knock intensities, and/or a skew of the knock intensities; comparing the calculated DS to a desired DS, the desired DS representing a desired distribution of knock intensities; and adjusting a control parameter of the engine when the calculated DS deviates from the desired DS by an amount greater than a threshold. identifying a window of at least three combustion cycles; measuring a knock intensity for each of a plurality of combustion cycles within the window; calculating a descriptive statistic (500, 502, 510, 512, 520, 530, 532, 534, 536, 540), the DS describing a statistical distribution of the measured knock intensities within the window, particularly a mean knock intensity, a standard deviation of the knock intensities, and/or a skew of the knock intensities; comparing the calculated DS to a desired DS, the desired DS representing a desired distribution of knock intensities; and adjusting a control parameter of the engine when the calculated DS deviates from the desired DS by an amount greater than a threshold.