Dual-channel receiver for powerline communications
First Claim
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1. A dual-channel power line communications (PLC) receiver, comprising:
- a first sensor configured to sense a first characteristic of a signal produced in a power line by a PLC transmitter and to provide a first signal representative thereof, wherein the first signal corresponds to one of a signal voltage and a signal current;
a second sensor configured to sense a second characteristic of the signal produced in the power line by the PLC transmitter and to provide a second signal representative thereof, wherein the second signal corresponds to a line impedance at a frequency of the signal; and
a processor configured to combine the first signal and the second signal to produce an output signal representative of a received PLC signal.
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Abstract
The presently disclosed subject matter relates to powerline communications (PLC) in an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) environment. A communications signal is applied to a power line by a PLC transmitting device. A receiver is provided that evaluates communications signals based on the power coupled to the power line by the transmitting device. In one present embodiment, PLC signal voltage and current levels are multiplied together to evaluate signal power to reproduce received PLC signals.
14 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A dual-channel power line communications (PLC) receiver, comprising:
- a first sensor configured to sense a first characteristic of a signal produced in a power line by a PLC transmitter and to provide a first signal representative thereof, wherein the first signal corresponds to one of a signal voltage and a signal current;
a second sensor configured to sense a second characteristic of the signal produced in the power line by the PLC transmitter and to provide a second signal representative thereof, wherein the second signal corresponds to a line impedance at a frequency of the signal; and
a processor configured to combine the first signal and the second signal to produce an output signal representative of a received PLC signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
- a first sensor configured to sense a first characteristic of a signal produced in a power line by a PLC transmitter and to provide a first signal representative thereof, wherein the first signal corresponds to one of a signal voltage and a signal current;
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10. A method for receiving power line communications (PLC) signals applied to a power line, comprising:
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concurrently monitoring two PLC signal characteristics associated with the power line, wherein a first of the PLC signal characteristics corresponds to one of a signal voltage and a signal current, and a second of the PLC signal characteristics corresponds to a line impedance at a signal frequency; evaluating a PLC signal power level, based at least in part on the two PLC signal characteristics, produced within the power line; and producing signals, based at least in part on the evaluated PLC signal power level, indicative of the PLC signals. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), comprising:
a communications receiver coupled to at least one power line to receive power line communications (PLC) signals carried by the at least one power line, said communications receiver being configured to evaluate a power level of PLC signals applied to the at least one power line based on two concurrently monitored characteristics to reproduce the PLC signals coupled to said at least one power line, wherein said communications receiver comprises a dual-channel receiver with a first channel comprising a high-impedance PLC receiver configured to sense a signal voltage between two power lines, and with a second channel configured as a low-impedance current sensor to sense a signal current through at least one of the two power lines. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
Specification