Power distribution monitoring system and method

1. A power distribution monitoring system comprising:

at least one power line mounted monitor including means for acquiring data regarding the delivery of electrical power in the power line, means for wirelessly transmitting and receiving messages, and means for electromagnetically acquiring operating electrical power from electrical current flowing in the power line; and

an aggregator including means for wirelessly transmitting and receiving messages, said aggregator operative for wirelessly outputting beacon messages and for receiving monitor initiated messages wirelessly transmitted from each monitor, wherein, upon initially acquiring operating electrical power from electrical current flowing in the power line, each monitor is responsive to at least one of the beacon messages for wirelessly transmitting a first monitor initiated message to the aggregator which responds to the first monitor initiated message by wirelessly transmitting to the monitor a first aggregator initiated message that includes an assignment of the monitor to a unique communication slot of time of a time-based communication protocol that the monitor utilizes thereafter for wirelessly communicating subsequent monitor initiated messages to the aggregator.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least a subset of the monitor initiated messages includes the data regarding the delivery of electrical power in the power line.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the time-based communication protocol includes an first block of time slots and a second block of time slots;

when initially powered with electrical power acquired from the power line, each monitor wirelessly transmits its first monitor initiated message during one of the time slots of the first block of time slots; and

the unique communication slot of time is a unique time slot in the second block of time slots.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein, upon initially being powered, each monitor is operative for randomly picking a slot of time in the first block of time slots for wirelessly transmitting the first monitor initiated message to the aggregator in response to receiving the beacon message.

5. The system of claim 1 , further including at least one intermediate monitor for storing and retransmitting messages inbound to the aggregator from the monitor or outbound from the aggregator to the monitor during a unique communication time slot assigned to the intermediate monitor by the aggregator.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein:

each intermediate monitor includes a routing table;

the routing table includes an identity of either the aggregator or another intermediate monitor to which the intermediate monitor retransmits aggregator bound messages; and

the routing table includes an identity of another monitor to which the intermediate monitor retransmits aggregator initiated messages.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein:

the routing table includes for aggregator bound messages the identity of (1) two other monitors or (2) the aggregator from which the intermediate monitor can select to retransmit messages;

the routing table includes for aggregator initiated messages the identity of two other monitors from which the intermediate monitor can select to retransmit messages; and

the intermediate monitor is operative for making each selection based on a path quality rating associated with the identity.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the path quality rating is a function of:

a number of intermediate monitors in a path to the aggregator for aggregator bound messages or a number of intermediate monitors in a path to a endpoint monitor for aggregator initiated messages; and

a weakest signal strength along the path to the aggregator or the path to the endpoint monitor.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein, in response to detecting a loss of electrical power being delivered in the power line, each monitor includes in a message wirelessly output during its unique communication time slot data indicative of said power loss.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein, when not wirelessly communicating during its unique communication time slot, each monitor receives messages output by at least one of the following: the aggregator or at least one other monitor.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein each monitor includes a two-section magnetic core that is separated during installation of the monitor on the power line and brought together around the power line to compete a magnetic circuit and to mechanically couple the monitor to the power line, wherein the completed magnetic circuit is operable to electromagnetically acquire the electrical power from the electrical current flowing in the power line.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the means for acquiring data regarding the delivery of electrical power in the power line includes at least one of the following:

a sense resistor operative for outputting a voltage related to the electrical current flowing in the power line;

a surge current sensor operative for detecting a peak magnitude of the electrical current flowing in the power line; and

a Hall sensor operative for detecting the electrical current flowing in the power line.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein each monitor includes a controller operatively coupled to receive data from the means for acquiring data.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein each means for wirelessly transmitting and receiving messages includes an RF transceiver operating under the control of a controller.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the aggregator is operative for measuring zero voltage crossing on the power line and for synchronizing each means for wirelessly transmitting and receiving messages to said zero voltage crossing; and

each monitor is operative for measuring zero current crossing in the power line and for determining a phase difference between the zero voltage crossing and the zero current crossing based on a time difference between said synchronization and the time the monitor measures zero current crossing.

16. A power distribution monitoring system comprising:

a plurality of power line mounted monitors each of which includes means for acquiring data regarding the delivery of electrical power in the power line, means for wirelessly transmitting and receiving messages, means for controlling the operation of the monitor, and means for electromagnetically acquiring and storing operating electrical power from electrical current flowing in the power line; and

an aggregator including means for wirelessly transmitting and receiving messages, and means for controlling the operation of the aggregator, wherein under the control of beacon signals wirelessly output by the aggregator, each monitor co-acts with the aggregator to dynamically build a wireless communication network for the wireless communication of the data acquired by the monitor regarding the delivery of electrical power in the power line to the aggregator.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein, in response to receiving a beacon message output by the aggregator after initially acquiring operating electrical power from electrical current flowing in the power line, each monitor wirelessly communicates with the aggregator and is assigned thereby a unique communication time slot of a time-based communication protocol that the monitor utilizes thereafter for wirelessly communicating with the aggregator.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein:

when not wirelessly communicating during its unique communication time slot, each monitor is operative for receiving and storing one or more message output by at least one of the following: the aggregator or at least one other monitor; and

the monitor is operative for forwarding the stored one or more messages during its unique communication time slot.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein

the aggregator includes means for measuring zero voltage crossing on the power line and for synchronizing each means for wirelessly transmitting and receiving messages to said zero voltage crossing; and

each monitor is operative for measuring zero current crossing in the power line and for determining a phase difference between the zero voltage crossing and the zero current crossing based on a time difference between said synchronization and the time the monitor measures zero current crossing.

20. The system of claim 16 , wherein each monitor wirelessly communicates with the aggregator, and vice versa, either directly or via another monitor.