Patent ID: 8063645

Claim:
A method of testing a network of electric cables comprising at least one junction from which there depart N secondary cable stretches (N greater than or equal to 2), wherein the method comprises: interposing in the network, in series at the input of each of N−1 secondary stretches starting from the junction, a bidirectional passive filter able to cut off a frequency band associated with said stretch, the filters allowing through all frequencies that are useful for the normal operation of the network, applying to the input of the network a pulsed test signal modulated simultaneously or successively by N−1 different carrier frequencies each situated in one of the N−1 frequency bands of the filters placed at the input of the stretches, the test signal also being modulated by an N th frequency situated outside the bands of the N−1 filters, detecting the temporal position of signal spikes arising from the reflection of the test signal, for each of the N frequencies, and deducing therefrom the position of possible defects on a stretch of cable of the network.