The paper illustrates a procedure based on the continuous-wavelet transform (CWT) for the analysis of voltage transients due to line faults, and discusses its application to fault location in power distribution systems. The analysis carried out shows that correlation exists between typical frequencies of the CWT-transformed signals and specific paths in the network covered by the traveling waves originated by the fault. The paper presents a procedure for determining fault location in MV distribution systems, which exploits the above-mentioned correlation. The MV distribution system analysed in the paper is accurately represented by means of an EMTP model; various fault types and network characteristics are examined. The paper presents also the basic concepts of a measurement and fault location prototype system with distributed architecture.