Broadband Power Interface Health Monitoring for BPL Link Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for an improved technology to quickly and accurately monitor the health statuses of Broadband over Power Line (BPL) links, BPL modems, and other electrical and network components at a multi-use power interface, especially in harsh environments like airports, to enhance reliability for both electrical power and high-speed digital communications.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method and system that collects and monitors power quality and load management data using sensors, determines the functional health statuses of BPL links and the power interface, and displays these statuses in a user interface, enabling proactive maintenance and improved troubleshooting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional power interfaces are used without monitoring systems, then device complexity is reduced, but reliability of electrical power and data communications deteriorates in harsh environments
Solution Approach 1:
The power interface system is designed to perform multiple functions: electrical power transmission, BPL data communications, and health status monitoring. By integrating these functions into a single system, the patent improves reliability without proportionally increasing complexity, as the monitoring capabilities are built into the existing power interface infrastructure rather than adding separate dedicated systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors health statuses of electrical and network components through sensors and BPL communications, providing real-time feedback about the condition of connectors, cables, and equipment. This feedback mechanism enables proactive detection of degradation and facilitates timely maintenance, significantly improving reliability in harsh airport environments.
2Measurement precision
If extensive troubleshooting is performed manually to isolate faulty conditions, then measurement precision is improved, but loss of time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary monitoring and detection of faulty conditions continuously before actual failures occur. Health status indicators track the condition of electrical connectors, cables, and network components in real-time, allowing maintenance personnel to identify and address issues before they cause operational disruptions, thereby reducing both troubleshooting time and downtime.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary monitoring system that acts as a mediator between the physical electrical components and the maintenance personnel. Sensors and BPL communication modules continuously assess the health status of connectors and cables, providing precise fault location information without requiring manual testing, thus achieving both high measurement precision and rapid fault isolation.
3Productivity
If BPL technology is used for high-speed data transmission over power lines, then productivity of data transfer is improved, but difficulty of detecting and measuring health status worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the power transmission function with data communications and health monitoring functions into a unified system. By combining electrical power delivery, BPL data transmission, and condition monitoring through the same physical infrastructure (power lines and connectors), the system achieves high data transmission productivity while simplifying the detection and measurement of health status, as all functions share common monitoring points and sensors.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system includes a multi-use power interface configured to be electrically and communicatively coupled to a vehicle via Broadband over Power Line (BPL) data links. The system also includes sensors configured to collect power quality data and load management data for the BPL data links and the multi-use power interface. The multi-use power interface includes a user interface, a processor, and a memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the multi-use power interface to perform operations. The operations include receiving power quality data and load management data from the sensors. The operations also include determining, based on the received data, functional health statuses of the multi-use power interface and the BPL data links. The operations further include transmitting the functional health statuses, the power quality data, and the load management data to a data store, and indicating, in the user interface, the functional health statuses.