SYSTEM, METHOD, AND APPARATUS FOR A SAFE POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS INSTRUMENTATION FRONT-END

• US 20110109320A1
• Filed: 11/10/2010
• Published: 05/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Power Monitors, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Power Monitors, Inc.
• Inventors: Curt, Walter, Mullins, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 8,773,108 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/543
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 1/30 Structural combination of electric measuring instruments with basic electronic circuits, e.g. with amplifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5495 having measurements and testing channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/546 Combination of signalling, telemetering, protection circuits for remote indication of supply or distribution network condition H02J13/00

Abstract

A safe powerline communications instrumentation front end device including a voltage input for receiving a line voltage from a powerline, a voltage reducer for reducing the voltage of the line voltage, a filtering system for extracting a Power Line Communications (PLC) signal from the line voltage, and an analog output for outputting the PLC signal as an analog signal for communications test equipment.

Claims

1. An apparatus for a safe powerline communications instrumentation front end device comprising:

a voltage input configured to receive a line voltage from a powerline;

a voltage reducer configured to reduce a voltage of the line voltage;

a filtering system configured to extract a Power Line Communications (PLC) signal from the line voltage; and

an analog output configured to output the PLC signal as an analog signal for communications test equipment

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voltage reducer comprises a transformer.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voltage reducer comprises a pulse-withstanding divider resistor.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the filtering system comprises a passive filtering network comprising at least one filter.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the at least one filter is one of a bandpass filter, a shelf filter, a notch filter, a comb filter, and a shift/subtract filter.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the filtering system comprises an active signal processing system.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the active signal processing system comprises:

an analog to digital (A/D) converter configured to convert the line voltage to digital samples;

a digital signal processor (DSP) configured to filter a digital PLC signal from the digital samples; and

a digital to analog (D/A) converter configured to convert the digital PLC signal to an analog signal.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the active signal processing system further comprises a field programmable gate array (FPGA) configured to pre-process the digital samples and post-process the digital PLC signal.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a voltage input section comprising a first enclosure, the voltage input, the voltage reducer, and a communications output; and

a processing section comprising a second enclosure, the filtering system, the analog output, and a communications input.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the communications output is a wireless output and the communications input is a wireless input.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the communications output is a wired output and the communications input is a wired input.

12. A method for testing and analyzing PLC systems using a safe powerline communications instrumentation front end device comprising:

receiving a line voltage;

reducing the voltage of the line voltage;

extracting PLC signals from the line voltage; and

outputting the PLC signals as analog signals for communications test equipment.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein extracting PLC signals from the line voltage comprises filtering the line voltage with a passive filtering network comprising at least one filter.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein extracting PLC signals from the line voltage comprises

converting the line voltage to digital samples with an A/D convertor;

filtering the digital samples with a DSP; and

converting the digital samples filtered with the DSP to an analog signal with a D/A converter.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein extracting PLC signals comprises:

converting the line voltage to digital samples with an A/D convertor;

pre-processing the digital samples with an FPGA;

processing the digital samples with a DSP;

post-processing the digital samples with the FGPA; and

converting the digital samples post-processed by the FGPA to an analog signal with a D/A converter.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

converting the PLC signals to audio signals; and

outputting the audio signals from an audio output.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

performing polyphase transformations on the PLC signals.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

time domain masking the PLC signals.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

time warping the PLC signals.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

superimposing a marker on the analog signals.

21. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

outputting a synthetic waveform for comparison to the analog signals.

22. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

time buffering at least one of the line voltage, the PLC signals, and the analog signals.

23. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

pausing at least one of the line voltage, the PLC signals, and the analog signals.

24. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

recording at least one of the line voltage, the PLC signals, and the analog signals.

25. A system for testing and analyzing PLC systems using a safe powerline communications instrumentation front end device comprising:

a front end device configured to be installed near a powerline;

communications test equipment configured to test and analyze a PLC communications system; and

a cable configured to connect the front end device to the communications test equipment.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the front end device is further configured to receive a line voltage from a powerline and extract a PLC signal from the line voltage.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the front end device is further configured to output an analog signal comprising the PLC signal over the cable.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the communications test equipment is further configured to receive an analog signal comprising a PLC signal over the cable.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the front end device is further configured to store the PLC signal as digital samples on a storage device.