Detecting Unauthorized Consumption of Electrical Energy

Abstract

Aspects of detecting the unauthorized consumption of electrical energy are described. In some embodiments, a system includes a guided surface waveguide probe that launches a guided surface wave along a surface of a terrestrial medium. The system further includes metering systems that are distributed within a geographical region associated with the guided surface waveguide probe. The system also includes at least one computing device and memory storing computer instructions that cause the at least one computing device to generate an energy flow map using data obtained from the metering systems.

Therefore, the following is claimed: 
     
         1 . A system, comprising:
 a guided surface waveguide probe configured to launch a guided surface wave along a surface of a terrestrial medium;   a first metering system positioned at a first geographic location within a geographical region in which the guided surface waveguide probe operates;   a second metering system positioned at a second geographic location within the geographical region in which the guided surface waveguide probe operates;   at least one computing device; and   memory storing a plurality of computer instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one computing device to at least generate data representing an energy flow map using at least at least data obtained from the first metering system and data obtained from the second metering system.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first metering system is configured to measure a plurality of orthogonal components of a magnetic field created by the guided surface waveguide probe, and wherein the first metering system is configured to measure a plurality of orthogonal components of an electric field created by the guided surface waveguide probe. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first metering system is configured to determine a first Poynting vector, and wherein the second metering system is configured to determine a second Poynting vector. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of computer instructions, when executed, further cause the at least one computing device to at least determine a plurality of Poynting vectors using at least the data obtained from the first metering system and the data obtained from the second metering system. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of computer instructions, when executed, further cause the at least one computing device to at least generate an energy flow map for at least a portion of the geographic region, wherein the energy flow map represents a depiction of expected energy flow. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of computer instructions, when executed, further cause the at least one computing device to at least generate an energy flow map corresponding to the data obtained from the first metering system and the data obtained from the second metering system. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein plurality of computer instructions, when executed, further cause the at least one computing device to at least determine whether an unauthorized guided surface wave receive structure exists in the geographic region. 
     
     
         8 . A system, comprising:
 a guided surface waveguide probe configured to launch a guided surface wave along a surface of a terrestrial medium;   a metering system positioned at a geographic location within a geographical region in which the guided surface waveguide probe operates;   at least one computing device; and   memory storing a plurality of computer instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one computing device to at least determine an energy flow metric for the geographic location using at least data obtained from the metering system.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , further comprising an additional metering system positioned at an additional geographic location within the geographical region in which the guided surface waveguide probe operates; and
 wherein the plurality of computer instructions, when executed, further cause the at least one computing device to at least:
 determine an additional energy flow metric for the additional geographic location using at least data obtained from the additional metering system; and 
 generate data representing an energy flow map using at least the energy flow metric for the geographic location and the additional energy flow metric for the additional geographic location. 
   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the energy flow metric comprises an energy flow vector. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the energy flow metric comprises a Poynting vector. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the metering system is configured to measure a plurality of orthogonal components of a magnetic field created by the guided surface waveguide probe. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the metering system is configured to measure a plurality of orthogonal components of an electric field created by the guided surface waveguide probe. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the metering system is configured to determine and transmit to the at least one computing device data representing a directional energy flux density of an electromagnetic field created by the guided surface waveguide probe. 
     
     
         15 . A method, comprising:
 launching, using a guided surface waveguide probe, a guided surface wave along a surface of a terrestrial medium;   collecting first measurement data using a first metering system located at a first geographical location within a geographical region in which the guided surface waveguide probe operates;   collecting second measurement data using a second metering system located at a second geographical location within the geographical region in which the guided surface waveguide probe operates; and   generating, using at least one computing device, data representing an energy flow map for at least a portion of the geographical region using at least the first measurement data and the second measurement data.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising determining, using the at least one computing device, whether an unauthorized guided surface wave receive structure exists in the geographic region. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the first measurement data comprises a first electric field vector, and wherein the second measurement data comprises a second electric field vector. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the first measurement data comprises a first magnetic field vector, and wherein the second measurement data comprises a second magnetic field vector. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the first measurement data comprises a first energy flow vector, and wherein the second measurement data comprises a second energy flow vector. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising comparing, using the at least one computing device, the data representing the energy flow map to data representing an expected energy flow map to determine whether an unauthorized guided surface wave receive structure exists in the geographic region.