Wire integrity testing using intermodulation product processing

This paper investigates wire integrity testing using intermodulation product processing. In many practical scenarios, especially in wireless systems, intermodulation products are considered inimical to effective communications. However, this paper demonstrates that the location of faults on electrical wires can be discovered by detecting and processing the intermodulation products that arise when faulty wires are excited at different frequencies. Furthermore, by characterising these faults; it is possible to determine whether they are progressively getting worse. This makes the use of the system as a feasible diagnostic tool, in which case, ageing wiring is detected and replaced before it becomes a safety hazard This method can be used for fault detection on overland electrical transmission lines, nuclear power plants, ships, in-house wiring, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and onboard aircraft. The system when fully developed is expected to use the powerline communication (PLC)