Unit – 01

Transmission Line Theory

1.1 Microwave
1.2 Transmission Line
1.2.1 Characteristic Impedance
1.2.2 Equivalent Circuit for Transmission Line

1.3 Traveling Waves

1.4 Impedance & Admittance
1.5 Transmission Line Parameters
1.6 Incident and Reflected Waves
1.7 Transmission Modes
1.8 Discontinuity in Transmission Line
Microwave Engineering

1.1 Microwave

Microwave is a descriptive term used to identify the electromagnetic waves in the frequency spectrum,
ranging from 30 MHz to 3000 GHz. This corresponds to the wavelength of 10 mm to 1 m (or 3 mm to
1.3m). This means that microwave have very short wavelength, and high frequencies. The microwave fills
the part of electromagnetic frequency spectrum between conventional radio wave and optical wave or
infrared waves. Microwave engineering is also called engineering of information and applied
electromagnetic of electronics.

Microwave signals propagate in straight lines and are affected very little by the troposphere. They are not
refracted or reflected by ionized regions in the upper atmosphere. Microwave beams do not readily
diffract around barriers such as hills, mountains, and large human-made structures. Some attenuation
occurs when microwave energy passes through trees and frame houses. Radio-frequency (RF) energy at
longer wavelengths is affected to a lesser degree by such obstacles.

The microwave band is well suited for wireless transmission of signals having large bandwidth. In
communications, a large allowable bandwidth translates into high data speed. The short wavelengths
allow the use of dish antennas having manageable diameters. These antennas produce high power gain
in transmitting applications, and have excellent sensitivity and directional characteristics for reception of
signals.

S.No Name Abbreviation Frequency Wavelength (λ)

1 Metric wave VHF 30 – 300 MHz 10 m – 1 m
2 Decimetric wave UHF 300 – 3000 MHz 1 m – 10 cm
3 Centimetric wave SHF 3 – 30 GHz 10 cm – 1 cm
4 Millmetric wave EHF 30 – 300 GHz 1 cm – 1 mm
5 Decimillimetric wave EHF 300 GHz – 3000 GHz 1 mm – 0.1 mm

Characteristics:

ƒ Increased bandwidth
ƒ Ability to use high gain directive antennas
ƒ It gives direct signal transmission (as in Radar)
ƒ In comparison to radio and infrared waves, microwave ranging from 1 MHz – 10 GHz are
acceptable to propagate freely through inside sphere of the layer surrounding the earth (ionized)

Short wavelength simplifies the design and installation of high dielectric antenna. Antenna directivity
depends upon antenna aperture and wavelength.

1.2 Transmission Line

The material medium or structure that forms all or part of a path from one place to another for directing
the transmission of energy, such as electric currents, magnetic fields, acoustic waves, or electromagnetic
waves is called transmission line. Examples of transmission lines include wires, optical fibers, coaxial
cables, rectangular closed waveguides, and dielectric slabs. When analyzing a transmission line it is
generally assumed that the cross-sectional geometry is constant, forming a uniform transmission line. If
there is a change in the geometry at any point, there will be a “discontinuity” in the line.

As the uses of electromagnetic spectra increases, telecommunication bandwidth requirements increase,

and equipment must be designed for higher frequencies. As the frequency increases, the value of
components used in networks keep decreasing. As one approaches ultrahigh frequencies, the values of
inductors and capacitors become so small that the ordinary techniques are not usable anymore.

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Unit – 01: Transmission Line Theory
Microwave Engineering

On a transmission line carrying alternating current signals, the current and voltage vary sinusoidally along
the line as well as in time at a fixed point on the line. The repetition time is called the period, and the
repetition distance is called the wavelength. The velocity of waves on the line is given by the expression
velocity = (wavelength)/ (period). The waves travel a distance of one wavelength during a time of one
period.

Transmission lines store energy, and convey it from one place to another. The lossless transmission lines
absorb energy or power from a generator, convey it elsewhere, but don't dissipate it. What goes in must
come out. If it can't come out anywhere else it must come back to the source ("generator" end). This is
the fundamental property of lossless transmission line.

The velocity of electromagnetic waves on transmission line is equal to 1/ LC where the inductance and
capacitance are taken for unit distance only (Henries per meter and Farads per meter). Using these SI
units for inductance and capacitance, the velocity is also expressed in SI units; meters/sec.

To slow down the waves on the transmission line, all you need to do is to increase either or both of the
inductance/meter or the capacitance/meter. The capacitance/meter is increased most easily by encasing
the conductors in a dielectric having permittivity greater than unity. The inductance/meter can also be
increased by enclosing the conductors in a lossless non-conducting magnetic material (maybe ferrite) but
this is more difficult. Another way to slow the waves down is to coil up one of the conductors.

1.2.1 Characteristic Impedance

The ratio of voltage (between the wires) to current (along one wire and back along the other) has
dimensions of impedance or resistance. At a single frequency, on a lossless line, the current is in phase
with the voltage and the impedance is real. It is called the Characteristic Impedance (Usually denoted
by Zo.) It does not depend on what is connected to the ends of the line, but only on the line geometry and
material construction.

The Characteristic Impedance, although real and looking like a resistance, is actually “lossless, non-
dissipative impedance”. Nothing gets hot as a result of supplying energy to this resistance. All that
happens is that energy is transferred from the generator and stored temporarily in the transmission line.
At some later time, possibly a great many transit times later, it can be extracted and returned to the
generator, or used to make a real resistive dissipative load get hot. The normalized impedance, a
dimensionless number ( z = Z / Z o ), is the ratio of the actual impedance Z in ohms to the characteristic
impedance in ohms. Similarly, the "characteristic admittance" Yo = 1/Zo Siemens, and the "normalized
admittance" = 1/z = (Zo)/Z.

1.2.2 Equivalent Circuit for Transmission Line

To understand completely the behavior of signal propagation on transmission line, it is not enough to
understand the voltages between conductor and currents carried in the conductor. If a signal is applied to
a uniformly long transmission line, electromagnetic waves will be carried down its path. Voltage exists
between the conductor and current flows through them. Electric and magnetic fields are formed between
and around the conductors, respectively, and their behavior and their field configuration are also very
important.

A small section of such type of transmission path can be analyzed by using lumped circuits. For example,
a unit length long piece of parallel wire transmission line is shown in Figure 1-1 above.

This circuit contains a series inductance. An inductance is defined current carrying conductor forming a
magnetic field around itself that delays a voltage. Since a piece of wire does establish a magnetic field
around itself, according to Biot- Savart law it does have inductance. Since the conductor can have finite

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Unit – 01: Transmission Line Theory
Microwave Engineering

resistance, a series resistor will define it adequately. The two conductors are a finite distance apart, and
they from some parallel capacitance. A dielectric medium keeping the two conductors a constant distance
apart can have dielectric losses, so parallel capacitance would describe this effect sufficiently. In Giorgi
(MKSA) system, inductance is measured in Henries/unit length; capacitance in farads/unit length,
resistance is measured in ohms/unit length, and conductance in mhos/unit length. It can be imagined that
a transmission line is built of an infinite number of infinitely short lengths of this type of “two port” networks
cascaded one after another or connected in a tandem situation.

Figure 1-1: Unit-length piece of parallel wire and its equivalent lumped-circuit model.

1.3 Traveling Waves

When a sine wave is applied to an infinitely long transmission line, the wave will propagate along the line.
Figure 1-2, shows this wave at three successive instants in time. (Note that the crest of the wave
progresses down the transmission line.) The voltage wave on a uniform, lossless transmission line is
always accompanied by a current wave of similar shape, and, regardless of their shape, the two waves
will be propagated without any change in magnitude or shape. These waves have different electrical
characteristics. The length of the wave λ is defined as the distance between successive points which
have the same electrical phase. This wavelength depends upon the frequency of variation of the wave
and dielectric constant of the medium through which the wave is traveling. In free space a wave will travel
with a velocity of approximately 3× 10 8 m/s. however, in a medium other than free space, the velocity will
be reduced by the factor 1 / ε r , where ε r is the relative dielectric constant of the medium.

Figure 1-2: Traveling wave.

The following formula shows the relationship between the various factors which determine wavelength:

1 v
λ= .
εr f

where v = velocity of propagation in free space,

f = frequency of oscillation
ε r = relative dielectric constant of the medium the wave is traveling in.

Wavelength can also be defined as the distance in which the phase changes by 2π radians, where 2π =
360º.

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Unit – 01: Transmission Line Theory
Microwave Engineering

1.4 Impedance & Admittance

In transmission systems, impedance relationship takes a leading role in defining propagation

characteristics. It is desirable to analyze the series and parallel elements of the equivalent circuit
separately. Kirchhoff’s law allows us to add impedance in series and admittance in parallel configurations.

Figure 1-3: Impedance of the equivalent circuit.

The impedance of the circuit can be measured as shown in Figure 1-3, with output shorted out and input
open-circuited. The parallel circuit components are shorted; only series components are measured.
Impedance can be expressed as

Z = R + jwL = R + j 2πf 0 L

Figure 1-4: Admittance of the equivalent circuit.

Admittance information can be gained by measuring from the other end when the input is open-circuited
and output is short-circuited. Since the series elements are left open, only parallel components will be
measured.

Y = G + jwC = G + j 2πf 0 C

1.5 Transmission Line Parameters

The four components of equivalent circuit of a transmission line are divided into series and parallel groups
defining the impedance and admittance of transmission line, respectively. Two parameters can be derived
using the impedance and admittance expressions. It is convenient to define propagation constant as

γ = Z × Y = ( R + jwL )(G + jwC )

Since the square root of the product of two complex numbers is also a complex, the propagation constant
is generally expressed as

γ = α + jβ

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Unit – 01: Transmission Line Theory
Microwave Engineering

Where ‘α’ is the attenuation constant in nepers/unit length (if the circuit components are given in MKSA
system) and β is the phase constant in terms of radians/unit length. By definition, the other parameters
like length characteristic parameters. Then

Z R + jwL
Z0 = =
Y G + jwC

If R and G are negligible in size, that is, if there is no absorptive loss on the transmission line, then

L
Z0 = ohms
C

It is the characteristic equation of impedance. The reciprocal of characteristic equation is called

Admittance.

1.6 Incident and Reflected Waves

Voltage applied to a transmission line can be written in exponential form as

V1 = V p ε jwt

Where Vp stands for peak-voltage. The current resulting from the applied voltage can be written as

I1 = I p ε jwt

These voltages and currents are periodical waves. If that voltage is applied to a transmission line, a
voltage wave will proceed along that line. The voltage wave may be written in the exponential form as:

γl
V = V 1ε

The associated current wave flowing in the line is

γl
I = I 1ε

If the transmission line is not infinitely long, it is terminated with an impedance ZL as shown in Figure 1-5.

Figure 1-5: transmission line transmitted with impedance not equal to the characteristic impedance.

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Unit – 01: Transmission Line Theory
Microwave Engineering

Since that the load impedance is not equal to the characteristic impedance, all the energy is propagated
down the transmission line will be absorbed, and part of the signal is reflected because it is mismatched.
This signal is traveling in the opposite direction from the “incident” signal. The voltage and current waves
are:

V = V 1 e γl + V 2 e γl
I = I 1 e γl + I 2 e γl

Where I1 and I2 are periodical current waves and V1 and V2 are periodical voltage waves. Thus, the
voltage across load impedance will be
VL = V1 + V2
The current flowing through the load is
V1 V2
I L = I1 − I 2 = −
Z0 Z0
Then the load impedance is given by
VL
ZL =
IL
Two wave trains are traveling opposite to each other: the incident wave and reflected wave. Since both
are really traveling on the same line, which has a characteristic impedance of Z0, then the equation
becomes
V2 V1
Z0 = =
I 2 I1
The following equation can be derived from the preceding equation.
Output Voltage V2 Z L − Z O
= =
Input voltage I2 Z L + ZO
This equation shows that the relative amplitudes and phases of both waves are determined by the
terminating impedance only. The absolute magnitudes of the waves are dependent of the impedance of
source.

1.7 Transmission Modes

Associated electric and magnetic fields form voltage and current waves travel down a transmission line.
Since these fields are the result of current and voltage waves, which are periodical, the electric and
magnetic fields also vary in periodic manner. As propagation frequency increases, an appreciable portion
of wavelength of that propagation signal becomes comparable to the cross-sectional geometry of
transmission line; more than one kind of electromagnetic field configurations can be imagined. As
frequency increases, more and more different types of propagation modes can exist on a certain
transmission line. If propagation frequency increases to infinity, infinite number of propagation mode can
exist. These modes are called high-order modes of propagation. The principle mode is that which can
carry the energy at all the frequencies. Higher order modes are those modes that propagate only above
the definite frequency range. The point at which these frequencies start to propagate is called cut-off
frequency for particular mode.

Figure 1-6: rice propagating down a blowgun.

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Unit – 01: Transmission Line Theory
Microwave Engineering

The following analogy shows how high-order modes are established. Figure 1-6 shows rice being blown
down the inside of the blowgun. As the figure clearly shows that rice can fit in only one way. If the rice is
continuously blown through the tube with a constant velocity, certain propagation will exist. This is
analogous to single mode propagation. If one either increases the inside diameter of blowgun or
decreases the particle size of the rice, the rice could propagate down the tube in different modes are
shown in Figure 1-7.

Figure 1-7: Rice propagating down a blowgun when the particle size of rice is small compared to the
cross-sectional geometry of the tube.

In Figure 1-7, particle size of the rice is small as compared to cross-sectional geometry of tube.
Consequently, the rice will not be required to move down in the tube in predetermined way. It can tumble
around and move all over inside the tube, showing down propagation of each particle and at the same
time increasing it to a certain extent as rotational velocity may be added to the motion. This is analogous
to some high-order mode of propagation on transmission lines.

Similarly, if rice size decreases again one can imagine more and more types of pattern that are
analogous again to some even higher-order modes. This clearly shows that, the certain patterns can
occur only when a definite size change occurs either in transmission line or in the propagation frequency.

The transmission line in Figure 1-8 shows the principle mode of propagation and the electric and
magnetic field configuration of the pattern on the parallel wire. Since there is a difference in potential
between the wires, an electric field is established between them. The solid lines in the figure show the
electric field configuration. Since current flows in the conductors, magnetic fields are established around
them. At any point in space, the electric and magnetic field lines are perpendicular to each other. The
figure also clearly shows that these fields are all transverse to the direction of propagation. That is why
these waves, in the principle mode, are called transverse electromagnetic waves, abbreviated as the
TEM mode of propagation.

Figure 1-8: electric and magnetic field configuration of the parallel wire transmission line

Now, if propagating frequency increases so much that the length of the wave traveling down the
transmission line is comparable in size to the cross-sectional geometry of that transmission line, higher
order modes can propagate. These higher-order modes will have at least one of their field components in
the direction of propagation. Depending on which component shows in the direction of propagation, it will

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Unit – 01: Transmission Line Theory
Microwave Engineering Fahim Aziz Umrani (2KES23)

be called the H- or the E-wave of propagation. The H-wave is that in which at least one component of the
magnetic field shows in the direction of propagation. This mode is called the transverse electric TE
mode. The E-wave is that in which the electric field will have at least one component showing in the
direction of propagation. This is called the transverse magnetic TM mode. Although each TE and TM
mode can be infinite in number, at a certain frequency there can be only a finite number of higher-order
modes propagating. The number of these modes is dependent entirely upon the geometry of the
transmission line.

The velocity of propagation of TE and TM mode is different from each other and from a TEM mode. In
fact, two types of velocities can be imagined: group velocity and phase velocity. Group velocity means the
velocity of the entire group moving down in transmission line, and phase velocity includes all rotations
and turns of the individual moving particles. Generally, in the TEM or principle mode, phase and group
velocities are identical to each other. In a standard transmission line with no dielectric material around it,
they would move with exactly the velocity of light.

In higher-order modes, group and phase velocity are related to each other by the following equation:

c = vg v p

Where v g is group velocity and v p is a phase velocity. The geometric means of the phase and group
velocity are equal to the velocity of light.

1.8 Discontinuity in Transmission Line

When standing waves are traveling from source to destination, then a sudden change in geometry occurs
over transmission line and when uniform transmission line exists before and after the plane of that
discontinuity, the problem can be handled as two transmission lines joined together. The only question is
what happens at the plane or near the plane of the discontinuity. Figure 1-9 shows the discontinuity
formed at the plane where tow uniform lines are joined together. The electric field between the conductors
is drawn. As is apparent, the electric field lines are bent in the region near the discontinuity; but after
some distance the lines are straighten out again. When either electric or magnetic field components, are
aligned in the direction of propagation, higher order modes are launched. Although it is assumed that
higher order modes cannot be propagated on this particular transmission line, this does not mean that
they cannot be launched. Discontinuities in transmission line will effectively launch certain higher order
modes and energy will be stored when they do. It is known from the lumped circuit theory that the energy
storage will occur where either the capacitance or inductance and both are present. Discontinuities can
be understood as reactive components on a transmission.

Figure 1-9: discontinuity on a transmission line.

Another effect can be observed from Figure 1-9, the electric field distortion occurs only at right (widest)
side of the discontinuity, then number of field distortions occurs immediately left of the plane of
discontinuity. Whether the discontinuity bents the electric or magnetic fields determines the equivalent
circuits. If there are more discontinuities then there are more steps one after another on the transmission
line. If they are close enough to each other they might interact with each other as shown in Figure 1-10.
As can be seen, interference will occur when the fields lines due to discontinuity are not straighten before

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Unit – 01: Transmission Line Theory
Microwave Engineering

another discontinuity occurs. Some discontinuities are close to each other (as shown in Figure 1-10(b)),
but as they do not distort the field in common direction, and they do not interfere with each other. If they
interfere, a third effect will occur. This modifies their signal and simple effect by a mutual coupled effect.
This field distortion is very similar to the effect in capacitance due to fringing field effect. From this it is
clear the very same term is used for these field distortions as in magnetic and electric fields.

Figure 1-10: multiple discontinuities (a) interfering (b) not interfering with each other.

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Unit – 01: Transmission Line Theory