System and method for monitoring wireless communication terminals on multiple frequency channels

A monitoring system for monitoring wireless communication terminals, the monitoring system comprising:

• a bank of transceivers, wherein each transceiver in the bank of transceivers is tunable to a plurality of frequency channels;
• and
• a processor that is communicatively coupled to each transceiver in the bank of transceivers and a memory containing software that when executed by the processor cause the monitoring system to:
• map communication activity of wireless communication terminals on the plurality of frequency channels, wherein the mapping comprises monitoring first-time interceptions of wireless communication terminals on a given frequency channel,
• measure a rate of the first-time interceptions, to measure a length of time after which the rate of the first-time interceptions drops below a predetermined threshold,
• define, based on the mapped communication activity, a schedule comprising time durations to be spent on the respective frequency channels, wherein the time duration to be spent on the given frequency channel is based on the measured length of time, and wherein the time duration to be spent on the given frequency channel is also based on a number of different base stations with which the wireless communication terminals communicate on the given frequency channel;
• monitor the communication activity of the wireless communication terminals according to the schedule, and
• repeat the monitoring for multiple iterations of the schedule.

A method for monitoring wireless communication terminals, the method comprising:

• mapping communication activity of wireless communication terminals on a plurality of frequency channels, wherein the mapping comprises monitoring first-time interceptions of wireless communication terminals on a given frequency channel;
• measuring a rate of the first-time interceptions, to measure a length of time after which the rate of the first-time interceptions drops below a predetermined threshold;
• defining, based on the mapped communication activity, a schedule comprising time durations to be spent on the respective frequency channels, wherein the time duration to be spent on the given frequency channel is based on the measured length of time and on the number of different base stations with which the wireless communication terminals communicate on the given frequency channel;
• monitoring the communication activity of the wireless communication terminals according to the schedule;
• and
• repeating the monitoring for multiple iterations of the schedule.