Abstract: Passive monitoring the integrity of current sensing devices and associated circuitry in GFCI and AFCI protective devices is provided. A protection circuit interrupter employs a capacitively coupled noise signal obtained by an arrangement of one or both of line side arms relative to a Rogowski coil. The noise signal is monitored while the line and load sides of a protective circuit interrupter are disconnected, and the connection of the line and load sides disabled if the noise signal fails to correlate sufficiently to a reference noise cycle. When the line and load sides are connected, the RMS value of the observed current signal is monitored such that the line and load sides are disconnected if the observed current signal fails to meet an RMS threshold. The observed current signal is compensated by subtracting the reference noise cycle prior to monitoring for the fault condition applicable to the protective device.

Abstract: A grounding arrangement for the shielding ground plane of a flex cable is used to provide electrical signal connections between a circuit item having a flex cable connector thereon and a physically separate electrical circuit element. The flex cable connector is mounted on the printed wire board a short distance from one edge thereof. A grounding pad is formed on the circuit item between the flex cable connector and one edge of said circuit element. An access window is formed in the flex cable adjacent the connector end thereof to provide access to the shielding ground plane thereof, the window being adapted to provide electrical signal communication, directly or by means of a conductive adhesive layer, between the shielding ground plane of the flex cable and the grounding pad on the circuit item when the connector end of the flex cable is received in the flex cable connector.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a chaotic system-based information encoder and decoder that operates according to a relationship defining a chaotic system. Encoder input signals modify the dynamics of the chaotic system comprising the encoder. The modifications result in chaotic, encoder output signals that contain the encoder input signals encoded within them. The encoder output signals are then capable of secure transmissions using conventional transmission techniques. A decoder receives the encoder output signals (i.e., decoder input signals) and inverts the dynamics of the encoding system to directly reconstruct the original encoder input signals.