The operational performance of conventional overcurrent protection relay coordination connected to a distribution network is adversely afected by the penetration of distributed generators (DG) at diferent buses in the network. To address this problem, this paper proposes a novel adaptive protection coordination scheme using a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN), which automatically adjusts the overcurrent relay settings, i.e., time setting multiplier (TSM) and plug setting multiplier (PSM) based on the penetration of DGs. Short circuit currents and voltages measured at diferent buses are acquired using the remote terminal units (RTU) connected to diferent buses within the terminal network. Communication between the various remotes and local end station RTUs is through hybrid communication systems of fber optic and power line communication system modules. The new adaptive overcurrent protection scheme is applied to the IEEE 33-bus distribution network with and without DGs, for single and multi-DG penetration using both the ETAP and MATLAB software. The simulation results show the proposed scheme signifcantly improves the protection coordination.