Instrument, system, and method for locating a leakage source

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11456773-B2
Application number	US-202016952993-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 19, 2020
Priority date	Nov 8, 2017
Publication date	Sep 27, 2022
Grant date	Sep 27, 2022

Abstract

An instrument system for locating leakage at a subscriber's premises is disclosed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An antenna assembly for a test instrument, said antenna assembly comprising:
an antenna comprising a monopole antenna and a loop antenna;
a plurality of sub-band circuits connected to the antenna via a first switching circuit, each sub-band circuit being configured to receive signals from the antenna in a respective sub-band of multiple frequency sub-bands and supply the received signals via a second switching circuit to a signal level meter or other test instrument connected to the antenna assembly, the multiple frequency sub-bands comprising a frequency range divided into consecutive sub-band frequency ranges;
a resonant circuit configured to make the loop antenna being resonant at about 150 MHz; and
an impedance matching circuit connected to an output of the resonant circuit.

2. The antenna assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sub-band circuits are selectively configured to receive signals in the frequency range of about 100 MHz to about 1.2 GHz.

3. The antenna assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sub-band circuits comprise:
a first sub-band circuit adapted to receive signals in a first sub-band frequency range of about 100 MHz to about 275 MHz;
a second sub-band circuit adapted to receive signals in a second sub-band frequency range of about 275 MHz to about 550 MHz;
a third sub-band circuit adapted to receive signals in a third sub-band frequency range of about 550 MHz to about 825 MHz; and
a fourth sub-band circuit adapted to receive signals in a fourth sub-band frequency range of about 825 MHz to about 1.2 GHz.

4. The antenna assembly of claim 1 , wherein the monopole antenna is configured to receive signals in a frequency range of about 300 MHz to 1.2 GHz and the loop antenna is configured to extend the frequency range to about 150 MHz.

5. An instrument system comprising:
a transmitter device configured to be secured to a port of a cable television network, the transmitter device operable to generate and transmit signals in a number of different frequency sub-bands across a frequency range of about 100 MHz to about 1.2 GHz; and
a test instrument connected to an antenna assembly, the antenna assembly comprising:
an antenna; and
a plurality of sub-band circuits connected to the antenna via a first switching circuit, each sub-band circuit being configured to receive signals from the antenna in a respective sub-band of the frequency sub-bands and supply the received signals via a second switching circuit to the test instrument connected to the antenna assembly.

6. The instrument system of claim 5 , wherein the test instrument is operable to scan the frequency sub-bands and determine a leakage amplitude and frequency.

7. The instrument system of claim 5 , wherein the transmitter device is further configured to modulate the generated signals with tag signals.

8. The instrument system of claim 7 , wherein the tag signals have a frequency of about 20 Hz.

9. The instrument system of claim 5 , wherein the transmitter device comprises a comb generator adapted to produce output signals at multiple harmonics over the frequency range.

10. The instrument system of claim 9 , wherein the harmonics output by the comb generator include signals at multiples of about 138 MHz.

11. The instrument system of claim 9 , wherein the transmitter device further comprises a tilt correction circuit adapted to adjust the signals provided by the comb generator to make them substantially flat across the frequency range.

12. The instrument system of claim 11 , wherein the transmitter device further comprises a modulator coupled to the output of the tilt correction circuit, said modulator configured to modulate signals output from the tilt correction circuit with tag signals.

13. The instrument system of claim 12 , wherein the transmitter device further comprises:
an amplifier coupled to an output of the modulator to add gain to the modulated signals output from the tilt correction circuit with tag signals; and
a pad coupled to an output of the amplifier and being adjustable to add a high power offset to signals output by the amplifier.

Assignees

• Viavi Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Sun Dexin
• Bush Terry W

Classifications

• H01Q5/50

  Feeding or matching arrangements for broad-band or multi-band operation · CPC title

• H01Q9/02

  Non-resonant antennas · CPC title

• H01Q9/40

  Element having extended radiating surface · CPC title

• H04B3/46 Primary

  Monitoring; Testing · CPC title

• H01Q7/00

  Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop · CPC title