Patent ID: 7467049

Claim:
A system for detecting impaired equipment for the generation, transmission, and/or distribution of electric power wherein the impaired equipment is adapted to produce an increased level of electromagnetic radiation, said system comprising: a signal detection circuit adapted to produce an analog output that is proportional to a level of electromagnetic radiation; a timing circuit adapted to determine time data; a location tracking circuit adapted to receive location data; a low pass filter adapted to receive said analog output of said signal detection circuit; an analog-to-digital converter in electrical communication with said low pass filter, said analog-to-digital converter adapted to convert an output of said low pass filter into a digital signal; a digital signal processing circuit adapted to receive said digital signal and identify a frequency modulation component associated with spiking and having a frequency component within a predetermined frequency band; and a computing device in electrical communication with said timing circuit, said location tracking circuit, and said digital signal processing circuit, said computing device adapted to process data from said frequency modulation component and said location data.