7222results about "Power distribution line transmission" patented technology

The present invention provides a system for operating a power line communications system that employs surface wave communications and conducted communications. The system is comprised of a plurality of network elements, which may take the form of repeaters, communication interface devices, backhaul devices, medium voltage transducers, distribution points, aggregation points, and others. In one embodiment, surface waves are communicated over the medium voltage power lines and the conducted communications are communicated via the low voltage power lines to and from customer premises.

A distributed antenna system having a transport portion including at least one overhead power line for transmitting system information along its length, and a distribution portion including at least one local access point disposed along the length of the power line for providing local access to information transported by the transport portion.

A system, method and computer program product provides for power line communications (PLC) over electric power lines includes a device mountable near an electrical distribution transformer (DT) to provide a high speed interface and communicates with one or multiple access devices, which provide low speed interfaces for analog signals or digital signals over RS 232, RS 485, optical, wireless and Ethernet. The device transmits data to/from these access devices over the electric lines to other repeaters over one or more wires of an electrical line or over multiple lines, and serves to strengthen and improve signal quality. Upon detecting a wire or line is having problems carrying data, the data is sent over other wires, and upon power line failures, wireless backup to mobile/GSM and WiMax networks is utilized. The device permits utilities and others to read electric meters, monitor the power quality of the distribution grid and detect power losses/failures/outages, and permits telecom service providers and others to provide a communications link to cell phone towers, WiFi Access Points and enable broadband Internet and telephony in rural, remote or sparely populated areas.

The RF signal generated by a ZigBee radio on the outside of a building structure is conveyed to the interior of the building by guiding it as a surface wave along an electric cable bundle that passes through the building's wall to supply domestic electric power to the interior of the structure. The RF signal is launched by a unique coupler comprising a pair of insulated foil conductors.

The communication system of one embodiment is for communicating data through a power distribution system having a medium voltage power line and low voltage power line and comprises a first device comprising a first wireless transceiver, a first modem in communication with the first wireless transceiver and the medium voltage power line. The system may also comprise a second device comprising a second wireless transceiver in wireless communication with the first wireless transceiver; and a second modem in communication with the second wireless transceiver and the low voltage power line.

A broadband service communication system using an MV cable for conveying RF signals in a network segment, which includes a distribution center (PLT controller) and a plurality of power line telecommunication (PLT) stations. The PLT controller has a distribution modem for conveying downstream and upstream RF signals to and from the PLT stations through the MV cable via couplers. Each PLT station has a modem for conveying the downstream and upstream RF signals via couplers and for conveying media signals to one or more customer premises equipment (CPE) via, e.g. wireless links. The PLT controller controls each PLT station regarding upstream communications transfer of all downstream communications and also controls. The PLT controller can be connected via a router to a WAN to convey media signals to and from the WAN. Repeaters and interlinks are used to join multiple network segments.

A system and method is disclosed for increasing the efficiency of a cellular communication network, reduce ongoing operating costs and increase revenue. According to one aspect, a method is disclosed for increasing the efficiency of a cellular communication network whereby network capacity in the radio access network (RAN) and baseband processing for wireless connections are dynamically adjusted to automatically provision sufficient bandwidth and baseband processing capacity in response to changes in the network. The method is further extended by implementing policy management which allows wireless carriers to develop and implement network based policies to automatically increase or decrease the amount of processing resources and network bandwidth required from any cell site, hub or mobile switching office. According to another aspect, network efficiency is enhanced by utilizing a novel cellular network infrastructure. RF signals from cell site antennas of various technology types are demodulated, digital bit information is extracted from the RF signals, processed, and groomed into Gigabit Ethernet/Resilient Packet Ring (GigE/RPR) or Ethernet over copper traffic flows using specific Quality of Service (QoS) priorities. The GigE/RPR traffic flows are routed to hub sites or mobile switching offices, at which point the packetized information is extracted and converted to RF signals that are equivalent to the signals that were received at the antenna. The RF signals are sent over coaxial cable to a network hub including a pool of Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) (or Node Bs). The hub is coupled to one or more mobile switching offices via a second fiber optic ring.

The present invention provides a system for operating a power line communications system that is comprised of a plurality of network elements, which may take the form of repeaters, bypass devices, backhaul devices, wireless backhaul devices, enhanced bypass device, communication interface devices and others. In one embodiment, two groups of network elements in the same electrical distribution system are isolated except selected communication link.

An LED light and communication system includes at least one optical transceiver, the optical transceiver including a light support and a processor. The light support has a plurality of light emitting diodes and at least one photodetector attached thereto, the light emitting diodes receiving power from a power source. The processor is in communication with the light emitting diodes and the at least one photodetector, the processor capable of illuminating the light emitting diodes to simultaneously create at least one first light signal, and at least one second light signal, the first light signal being observable to the unaided eyes of an individual and the second light signal not being observable to the unaided eyes of the individual. The second light signal includes at least one data packet. The at least one data packet comprises global positioning system (GPS) location information.

A low cost, robust, repeater for a wireless ambient sensor system that provides an extended period of operability without maintenance is described. The repeater includes a controller and first and second transceivers. The controller is configured to control operation of said first transceiver and said second transceiver. The wireless repeater includes a repeater identification. The controller is configured to manage a sensor unit identification table that contains a list of sensor unit identification codes, where entries for the sensor unit identification table are received by the second transceiver from the base unit and identified by the repeater identification. The controller controls the first transceiver and the second transceiver to forward data from sensor units listed in said sensor unit identification table and to ignore data from sensor units not listed in said sensor unit identification table. The controller also controls the first transceiver and the second transceiver to forward data from the base unit that is addressed to sensor units listed in said sensor unit identification table and to ignore data from the base unit that is addressed to sensor units not listed in said sensor unit identification table. The controller places the first transceiver and the second transceiver in a low-power mode when no transmissions are expected from the base unit or from the sensor units listed in the sensor identification table.

There is provided a powerline network that includes a number of stations including a central coordinator for coordinating transmissions of each of the stations. Each of the stations is configurable to generate one or more tone maps for communicating with each of the other stations in the powerline network. Each tone map includes a set of tones to be used on a communication link between two of the stations. Each tone map further includes a unique set of modulation methods for each tone. Each of the stations is further configurable to generate a default tone map for communicating with each of the other stations, where the default tone map is valid for all portions of a powerline cycle. Each of the stations is further configurable to monitor its bandwidth needs and to request additional bandwidth from the central coordinator.

A method of providing broadband data services over power lines for moving vehicles is provided herein. Using broadband over power line (BPL) networking, a data signal is connected to a vehicle that is connected to a transport power line. The signal is communicated from the transport power line to the vehicle. The signal is then demodulated for use aboard the vehicle. The data signal connection allows for access to wide area networks such as the Internet. Access points can wirelessly broadcast wide area network signals from stationary locations to define meshed wireless networks in metropolitan areas.

A system, method and device for providing a power line communication system via an ad hoc network protocol is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes transmitting and receiving Alive Notifications via a power line. Each Alive Notification may include data identifying an interface of the transmitting power line node and information identifying an interface of one or more other power line nodes from which the transmitting node has previously received an Alive Notification and reliability information all such nodes. The method may further include regularly transmitting and receiving topology information and routing information via the power line and updating topology and routing information in memory. The method may further include selecting a route to a network for transmission of data based on the routing information stored in memory, wherein the selected route includes the fewest hops and satisfies reliability requirements. The method may further include identifying a first power line node that comprises the first hop of the selected route and transmitting data to the first power line node.

The present invention provides an FM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation process that enable high-speed data communications over any transmission media and networks. The process is implemented with a modem device modulator and demodulator that provides communication with several other modem devices along any communication media that uses an FM OFDM modulation technique, a physical transmission medium such as power lines, or wireless (air), or cable, or twisted pairs communication media.

A method and apparatus for maintaining network connectivity over power lines is disclosed. Such network connectivity is maintained even if various customers are covered by different power line networks or if one or more power lines in a network are unavailable to transmit data. More particularly, in order to bridge a gap in a power line network, one or more messages are extracted from a first node in a power line network and are then transmitted to a second node via free space transmission, illustratively wireless radio frequency (RF) transmission conforming to one or more of the 802.11a, b or g standards. When those messages are received at the second node, the message is injected back into the power line on the other side of a gap in power line coverage. This method of transmission backup will continue until power line connectivity is restore upon which the preferred method will be selected and used.

A broadband powerline communication system is disclosed which makes use of knowledge of the spectrum characteristics of a local radio environment in order to improve the performance of the system. A determination is made of the spectrum characteristics of a radio environment in the vicinity of the broadband powerline communication system that is transmitting data on modulated carrier frequencies. Certain ones of the carrier frequencies otherwise used by the broadband powerline communication system may be masked (i.e., not used) by all or part of the broadband powerline system in order to avoid interference based on the determination. In various embodiments, the spectrum characteristics are determined 1) in advance and used to compile a configuration database comprising frequency masking parameters; 2) by monitoring the local radio environment using the transmitter/receiver nodes of the system; or 3) based upon receipt of an indication from a conflicting user that the user is experiencing interference. Various combinations of these spectrum characteristic determination techniques may also be used.