Interceptor system for characterizing digital data in telecommunication system

1. An interceptor system comprising:

an interface device configured to retrieve data from at least one communication link between a radio frequency processing unit and a baseband processing unit of a telecommunication system, wherein the data includes digital data communicated between the radio frequency processing unit and the baseband processing unit; and

a processing device configured to determine an interface link protocol for communicating with terminal equipment via the telecommunication system based on identifying an organization of the data retrieved from the at least one communication link, wherein the organization of the data comprises a manner in which the data is sequenced in a data stream.

2. The interceptor system of claim 1 , wherein the interface device is configured to be communicatively coupled to the at least one communication link, wherein the baseband processing unit comprises a radio equipment controller and the radio frequency processing unit comprises a remote radio head.

3. The interceptor system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one communication link is established via at least one of a fiber optic cable or an electrical cable.

4. The interceptor system of claim 1 , wherein the digital data comprises physical layer data, wherein the at least one communication link comprises at least one downlink channel and at least one uplink channel and wherein the processing device is configured to analyze the organization of the physical layer data by:

identifying the at least one downlink channel by detecting at least one forward beacon in the physical layer data, the at least one forward beacon associated with the at least one downlink channel; and

determining that downlink physical layer data communicated via the at least one downlink channel is associated with uplink physical layer data communicated via the at least one uplink channel.

5. The interceptor system of claim 4 , wherein the processing device is configured to identify the at least one downlink channel by performing operations comprising:

decoding a system information broadcast channel associated with the at least one downlink channel; and

identifying a cell associated with the at least one downlink channel based on decoding the system information broadcast channel.

6. The interceptor system of claim 4 , wherein the processing device is configured to identify the at least one downlink channel by identifying at least one frame and at least one slot marker of the downlink physical layer data.

7. The interceptor system of claim 4 , wherein the processing device is configured to identify the at least one downlink channel by identifying a sample width and a sample rate of the downlink physical layer data.

8. The interceptor system of claim 4 , wherein the processing device is further configured to analyze the organization of the physical layer data by identifying the at least one uplink channel.

9. The interceptor system of claim 8 , wherein the processing device is configured to identify the at least one uplink channel by performing operations comprising:

retrieving a first uplink signal and a second uplink signal;

determining that the first uplink signal and the second uplink signal are similar based on cross-correlating the first uplink signal and the second uplink signal; and

grouping the first uplink signal and the second uplink signal in a diversity pair based on determining that the first uplink signal and the second uplink signal are similar.

10. The interceptor system of claim 4 , wherein the processing device is configured to determine that the downlink physical layer data is associated with the uplink physical layer data by performing operations comprising:

transmitting test physical layer data to the baseband processing unit via the interface device, wherein the test physical layer data is transmitted via the at least one uplink channel, and

detecting that the downlink physical layer data from the baseband processing unit is received via the at least one downlink channel in response to transmitting the test physical layer data.

11. The interceptor system of claim 10 , wherein the processing device is configured to add the test physical layer data to the uplink physical layer data.

12. The interceptor system of claim 10 , wherein transmitting the test physical layer data to the baseband processing unit via the interface device comprises transmitting an uplink random access preamble message via a carrier signal of the at least one uplink channel.

13. The interceptor system of claim 4 , wherein the interceptor system is communicatively coupled to a unit of a distributed antenna system, wherein the processing device is further configured to:

extract additional physical layer data communicated between the baseband processing unit and the distributed antenna system via the at least one downlink channel or the at least one downlink channel;

convert the extracted physical layer data to a first data format compatible for transmission to the distributed antenna system or a second format compatible for transmission to the baseband processing unit; and

communicate the converted physical layer data to the unit of the distributed antenna system or the baseband processing unit.

14. The interceptor system of claim 4 , wherein the interceptor system is communicatively coupled to an analog base station, wherein the processing device is further configured to:

extract additional physical layer data communicated between the analog base station and at least one of the baseband processing unit and the radio frequency processing unit;

convert the extracted physical layer data to an analog format compatible for transmission to the analog base station or a data format compatible for transmission to the at least one of the baseband processing unit and the radio frequency processing unit; and

communicate the converted physical layer data to the analog base station or the at least one of the baseband processing unit and the radio frequency processing unit.

15. The interceptor system of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:

determine that the baseband processing unit is configured to communicate via a first data format incompatible with a second data format used by the radio frequency processing unit;

convert the data between the first data format and the second data format; and communicate the converted data between the baseband processing unit and the

radio frequency processing unit.

16. The interceptor system of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to perform diagnostics on physical layer data communicated between the baseband processing unit and the radio frequency processing unit.

17. The interceptor system of claim 16 , wherein the processing device is further configured to transmit test physical layer data to the baseband processing unit or the radio frequency processing unit, wherein the test physical layer data is formatted based on physical layer data communicated between the baseband processing unit and the radio frequency processing unit, wherein the diagnostics are performed based on a response from the baseband processing unit or the radio frequency processing unit.

18. The interceptor system of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to perform geo-location of the terminal equipment.

19. The interceptor system of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured for:

emulating a source of digital signals in a standardized format, wherein the digital signals in the standardized format comprise data packets formatted according to a standardized communication protocol; and

communicating the digital signals in the standardized format to a device configured to receive digital signals in the standardized format.

20. The interceptor system of claim 19 , wherein the device configured to receive digital signals in the standardized format comprises at least one of the baseband processing unit or the radio frequency processing unit.

21. The interceptor system of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is configured for identifying the organization of the data by analyzing the organization of the data.

22. The interceptor system of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is configured for identifying the organization of the data based on additional data communicated from an external data source.

23. A method comprising:

retrieving digital data from at least one communication link between a radio frequency processing unit and a baseband processing unit of a telecommunication system; and

determining an interface link protocol for communicating with terminal equipment via the telecommunication system based on analyzing an organization of the digital data retrieved from the at least one communication link, wherein the organization of the digital data comprises a manner in which the digital data is sequenced in a data stream.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the at least one communication link comprises at least one downlink channel and at least one uplink channel and wherein analyzing the organization of the physical layer data comprises:

identifying the at least one downlink channel by detecting at least one forward beacon in the physical layer data, the at least one forward beacon associated with the at the at least one downlink channel; and

determining that downlink physical layer data communicated via the at least one downlink channel is associated with uplink physical layer data communicated via the at least one uplink channel.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein identifying the at least one downlink channel further comprises:

decoding a system information broadcast channel associated with the at least one downlink channel; and

identifying a cell associated with the at least one downlink channel based on decoding the system information broadcast channel.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein identifying the at least one downlink channel comprises identifying at least one frame and at least one slot marker of the downlink physical layer data.

27. The method of claim 25 , wherein identifying the at least one downlink channel comprises identifying a sample width and a sample rate of the downlink physical layer data.

28. The method of claim 25 , further comprising analyzing the organization of the physical layer data by identifying the at least one uplink channel.

29. The method of claim 28 , wherein identifying the at least one uplink channel comprises:

retrieving a first uplink signal and a second uplink signal;

determining that the first uplink signal and the second uplink signal are similar based on cross-correlating the first uplink signal and the second uplink signal; and

grouping the first uplink signal and the second uplink signal in a diversity pair based on determining that the first uplink signal and the second uplink signal are similar.

30. The method of claim 25 , wherein determining that the downlink physical layer data is associated with the uplink physical layer data comprises:

transmitting test physical layer data to the baseband processing unit via the at least one uplink channel, and

detecting that the downlink physical layer data from the baseband processing unit is received via the at least one downlink channel in response to transmitting the test physical layer data.

31. The method of claim 30 , wherein transmitting the test physical layer data to the baseband processing unit comprises transmitting an uplink random access preamble message via a carrier signal of the at least one uplink channel.

32. The method of claim 25 , further comprising transmitting test physical layer data to the baseband processing unit or the radio frequency processing unit, wherein the test physical layer data is formatted based on the physical layer data communicated between the baseband processing unit and the radio frequency processing unit, wherein diagnostics are performed based on a response from the baseband processing unit or the radio frequency processing unit.

33. The method of claim 24 , further comprising:

extracting additional physical layer data communicated between the baseband processing unit and a distributed antenna system via the at least one downlink channel or the at least one downlink channel;

converting the extracted physical layer data to a first data format compatible for transmission to the distributed antenna system or a second format compatible for transmission to the baseband processing unit; and

communicating the converted physical layer data to a unit of the distributed antenna system or the baseband processing unit.

34. The method of claim 24 , further comprising:

emulating a source of digital signals in a standardized format, wherein the digital signals in the standardized format comprise data packets formatted according to a standardized communication protocol; and

communicating the digital signals in the standardized format to a device configured to receive digital signals in the standardized format.