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US 9,439,269 B2Granted
Powerline luminaire communications
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsMichael James Hartman, Bruce Gordon Barnett, John Erik Hershey, Michael Joseph Dell'Anno, Stanislava Soro
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for a lighting control system to control street lighting fixtures using modified geometric harmonic modulation for communications over a powerline. At least some of the lighting fixtures have another communications capability that enables RF communications. The communications may by messages be sent to the lighting fixtures to read RF enabled meters.
Claims19
An outdoor lighting system comprising:
- a plurality of street lighting fixtures configured to communicate using at least one communications protocol;
- a lighting control system configured to communicate with and control the plurality of street lighting fixtures using at least a first communications protocol;
- and
- at least one of the plurality of street lighting fixtures configured to communicate using a second communications protocol that is different from the first communications protocol;
- and
- at least one powerline communication (PLC)-enabled meter configured to communicate with the at least one of the street lighting fixtures using the second communications protocol,
- wherein the first communications protocol comprises a signal structure interleaved with a harmonic of a noise of a powerline and the lighting control system comprises a modified Geometric Harmonic Modulation (GHM) transmitter.
4 more elements
A method for operating an outdoor lighting system comprising the steps:
- controlling a plurality of street lighting fixtures by a lighting control system through communications sent over a powerline common to the plurality of street lighting fixtures;
- including a plurality of control signals in the communications, wherein a structure of each of the plurality of control signals is interleaved with a harmonic of a noise of the powerline;
- transmitting the control signals to at least one of the plurality of street lighting fixtures using a modified Geometric Harmonic Modulation (GHM) transmitter operatively connected to the powerline;
- receiving control signals by the at least the one of the plurality of street lighting fixtures using a modified GHM receiver communicatively connected to the powerline;
- reading, by the at least one of the plurality of street lighting fixtures, data for at least one powerline communication (PLC)-enabled meter;
- and
- relaying data read from the PLC-enabled meter back to the outdoor lighting control system.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.