Receiver gain adjustment

A system having a substation processing unit for facilitating distribution of power over power lines which, along with the substation processing unit, forms part of a power line distribution network, the system comprising:

• a power line substation, including the substation processing unit;
• the substation processing unit including a receiver and at least one processor, the substation processing unit being configured to receive signals over a plurality of active channels in a power line communications network and log signal characteristic values for the plurality of signals, the active channels being communications channels that have been assigned to communications nodes;
• and
• a receiver adjustment subsystem coupled to the substation processing unit, the receiver adjustment subsystem including at least one processor and being configured to generate aggregate signal characteristic values for the plurality of signals, determine that one or more of the aggregate signal characteristics have been outside of a valid range of signal characteristic values, select, in response to the determination that the aggregate signal characteristics have been outside of the valid range, a receiver gain adjustment value based on the aggregate signal characteristics, and adjust a receiver gain for the receiver of the substation processing unit, the aggregate signal characteristic values being a function of the distributed power and being computed based on signal characteristic values for each of the signals being received over the active channels, and the valid range of signal characteristic values specifying at least a high characteristic threshold and a low characteristic threshold.

A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by a data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

• receiving, by a data processing apparatus, aggregate signal characteristic values for a plurality of signals being received over active channels of a power line communications network in which power lines are used to distribute power to customers located in designated geographic areas and to provide data channels for communicating the aggregate signal characteristic values, the aggregate signal characteristic values being a function of the distributed power and being computed based on signal characteristic values for each of the signals being received over the active channels, the active communications channels being communications channels that have been assigned to communications nodes;
• determining, by a data processing apparatus, that one or more of the aggregate signal characteristic values have been outside of a valid range of signal characteristic values over a specified period, the valid range of signal characteristic values specifying at least a high characteristic threshold and a low characteristic threshold;
• in response to determining that the aggregate signal characteristic values have been outside of the valid range, selecting, by a data processing apparatus, a receiver gain adjustment value based on the aggregate signal characteristics;
• and
• adjusting, by a data processing apparatus, a receiver gain of a receiver that receives the signals over the power line communications network based on the receiver gain adjustment value.