Valmont Industries, Inc.
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING AND IDENTIFYING POWER LINE CARRIER CONTROLLED DEVICES WITHIN AN IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Abstract:

The present invention provides a system and method for detecting and identifying power line carrier controlled devices within an irrigation system having a PLC BUS and a plurality of PLC powered devices. According to first preferred embodiment, the method preferably may include the steps of: initializing a controller; transmitted an identification signal onto the PLC BUS; receiving the transmitted identification signal by a first powered device in the transmission line; recording the signal strength of the received identification signal by the first powered device; reducing the level of the received identification signal by a given increment; receiving the transmitted identification signal by a second powered device in the transmission line; recording the signal strength of the received identification signal by the second powered device; reducing the level of the received identification signal by a given increment; receiving the transmitted identification signal at the controller; polling each powered device for the received strength of the identification signal at each device; creating a lookup table and assigning a system ID number to each powered device based on the reported signal levels received by each device; and sending communications signals to the first powered device based on the system assigned ID number indicated in the lookup table.