Detecting and locating power outages via low voltage grid mapping

A system, comprising:

• at least one smart meter to connect to the physical grid, the smart meter comprising a smart meter module, a signal strength module, and a communications module;
• and
• a distribution transformer, to connect the physical grid, the distribution transformer comprising, a power meter module, a signal strength measurement module, a power line communications module, and an analysis module, wherein the distribution transformer is configured to:
• map a plurality of smart meters to a virtual grid based upon a plurality of signal strength values received from the plurality of smart meters, the virtual grid being a representation of the physical grid;
• and
• determine if a failure has occurred on the physical grid, based upon information from the analysis module and mapping information obtained from the virtual grid.

A distribution transformer apparatus, comprising:

• an input output module connected to an external power line;
• a power line communications module connected to the input output module;
• a power meter module connected to the input output module, and operative to measure the amount of electrical energy being used by a plurality of consumers downstream of the transformer;
• a signal measurement module connected to the power line communications module;
• and an analysis module to:
• map a plurality of objects on a connected physical grid to a representative virtual grid based upon a plurality of signal strength measurements between the plurality of objects, wherein the plurality of signal strength measurements are received by the distribution transformer via power line communications;
• and to
• determine if a failure has occurred on the physical grid, based upon information from an analysis module and information from the virtual grid, wherein the failure is selected from the group consisting of a physical outage and a communication failure.

A method of mapping a plurality of nodes of a multi-phase electrical power distribution grid onto a virtual grid, the method comprising:

• measuring a signal strength metric between each node of the plurality of nodes, wherein the nodes have differing phases of electrical power.
• calculating a cross phase delta between nodes in the plurality of nodes having differing phases;
• adjusting the signal strength metric between the nodes having differing phases using the cross phase delta;
• and
• estimating a set of distances between multiple nodes in the plurality of nodes using the adjusted signal strength metric for nodes having differing phases.