Method and apparatus for predicting life cycle of a splice

A method for predicting a life cycle of a splice in a transmission line comprising:

• a) establishing a baseline over time for a splice based on angular displacements in a signal curve for the splice in a vicinity of a zero crossing point of the signal curve using a sine curve and a first ratio of amplitude at a time of monitoring and an amplitude at a start time and a period change ratio based on a period at the time of monitoring and the period at the start time;
• b) repeatedly monitoring a functioning in-service splice over a period of time in the vicinity of the zero crossing point for a signal of the in-service splice using the angular displacements used in step (a) for the signal of the in-service splice;
• and
• c) comparing the baseline of step (a) to information from step (b) to determine a degradation for the functioning in-service splice and a decay rate curve, the decay rate curve providing an indication of a percentage of useful life remaining and time to failure for the functioning in-service splice, the decay rate curve providing a guide for monitoring other splices for useful life and time to failure.