Power line carrier (PLC) signal analysis of smart meters for outlier detection

A method for identifying outliers among a set of smart meters by using the power line carrier (PLC) signal strength is presented in this paper. The broad goal is to use the PLC signal as a predictor of transmission problems to proactively avert local power outages. The proposed method uses the PLC signal strength measured between the communication node (transformer) and residential smart meters. The paper presents four metrics based on the distribution of signal strengths, with each metric identifying a class of outliers. After detecting the set of outliers using these metrics, we identify the set of representative good meters.