Power line communication vegetation management system and method
First Claim
1. A method of detecting contact of an object with a power line, comprising:
- establishing a communication link over the power line;
detecting a degradation in the communication link;
determining whether the degradation is consistent with an object contacting the power line; and
transmitting a notification of the degradation.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for detecting the contact of vegetation or other objects with a power line conductor and that may provide an automated notification thereof is provided. In one embodiment, the system may assess one or more power line communication links to determine baseline performance parameters thereof and set associated communication thresholds. The system may also include sensors for measuring wind speed, power line voltages, and/or other data. In one embodiment, the measured data may continuously be time stamped and stored in memory. Sensed data such as voltage and/or wind speed is analyzed during the time of a degradation of a communication link. If there is a correlation in the occurrence of increased wind speed or decrease in voltage and one or more degradations of a communication channel, a notification may be transmitted. In addition, the system may determine location information of the contacting vegetation by determining that surrounding communication links were not degraded during the same time interval.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A method of detecting contact of an object with a power line, comprising:
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establishing a communication link over the power line;
detecting a degradation in the communication link;
determining whether the degradation is consistent with an object contacting the power line; and
transmitting a notification of the degradation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of detecting contact of an object with a power line, comprising:
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measuring a voltage of the power line;
detecting a voltage dip; and
determining whether the voltage dip substantially matches a signature of an object contacting the power line. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of detecting contact of an object with a power line, comprising:
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measuring a voltage of the power line;
detecting a voltage change that substantially matches a signature of an object contacting the power line; and
determining location information of the object contacting the power line. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method of detecting contact of an object with a power line, comprising:
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establishing a communication link over the power line;
detecting a degradation in the communication link;
detecting a voltage dip on the power line during said degradation; and
transmitting a notification. - View Dependent Claims (37)
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Specification