Electromagnetic Time Reversal Applied to Fault Location: On the Properties of Back-Injected Signals

By using the electromagnetic time reversal (EMTR) theory, the paper studies its properties in order to derive a new fault location method to be used in power networks. It is shown that, in the reversed-time stage, the current signal observed at the true fault location can be clearly distinguished since it appears as a time-delayed copy of the back-injected fault-originated transient signal. Then, based on this similarity property, a fault location method is derived. Finally, the method is numerically validated with reference to a reproducible simulated power network composed of an inhomogeneous multi-conductor transmission-line system.