Unit 2

High Frequency Transmission Lines

 Power and impedance
measurement on transmission lines
 Session Meta Data

Author Ramprabhu S
Version No. 1.1
Release Date 14-01-2020
Reviewer
 Revision History

Date of Revision Details Version Number

14 Jan 2020 1.1
 Session Objectives

 To introduce the concepts of power and

impedance measurement of transmission lines.
 Session Outcomes

At the end of the session, students will be able to

 Measure the power and impedance on a

transmission line .
 Outline

 Power measurement

 Impedance measurement
 Power measurement
The expressions for the voltage and current on
the dissipation less line as
 Voltage and current phasor diagram
It can be seen that the voltage and current phasors
are drawn in this Fig with phasors A and B being
proportional to E and I respectively.
 Power measurement
At voltage maximum points, the incident and reflected
voltage waves are in phase. From the phasor diagram, it
is noted that the line 1∠0° is proportional to the
incident voltage and |K|∠Φ-2βs is proportional to the
reflected voltage. The in-phase condition is required for
Emax, so that

Similarly at a current maximum, the incident and

reflected current waves must also be in phase Imax, so
that
 Power measurement
From the above equations, it can be seen that

Since a change to the values at voltage and current

minima requires only the reversal of phase of the
reflected waves or a minus sign in front of |K|, it can be
seen that a similar value for Ro can be derived as
 Power measurement
It may be seen that a voltage maximum and a current
minimum occur at the same point on the line. At such a
point the current and voltage are in phase or if the
impedance of the line is measured looking toward the
load, the impedance seen will be resistive.

The resistive impedance seen at a voltage loop is

 Power measurement

Since the voltage and current are again in phase at a

current loop, the resistive impedance seen there may be
identified as
 Power measurement
The power passing a voltage loop is the power
effectively flowing into a resistance Rmax at voltage Emax,
so that

The same value of power must also pass the current

loop, effectively flowing into a resistance Rmin at
voltage Emin, since there is no line dissipation, so that
 Power measurement

The expression for power passing along the line is given

as

The power may also be expressed as

These expressions permit easy measurements of power

flow on a line of negligible losses.
 Power measurement
• In many lines, especially those of coaxial
construction, the dielectric strength or the voltage
breakdown of the line dielectric limits the voltage on
the line and thus fixes the maximum power that may
be transmitted.
• For a given maximum line voltage, the above
equation shows that the greatest amount of power will
be transmitted if |Emax|= |Emin|, or the line is operated
as a smooth line without standing waves and with an
Ro termination.
• For the greatest transfer of power from line to load to
operate the line with an Ro termination, provided the
line is sufficiently long that the output image
impedance is substantially Ro.
 Impedance measurement
• The unknown value of a load impedance ZR connected
to a transmission line may be determined by standing-
wave measurements on the open-wire or slotted line.
• The characteristic impedance Ro of the line must be
known or calculated, and measurements must be made
of the standing-wave ratio S and the distance s' from
the load to the nearest point of voltage minimum.
• At the point of voltage minimum it has been shown
that
 Impedance measurement
• At any point on a line,

so that at the point of voltage minimum, distant s' from

the load,
 Impedance measurement
Solution for ZR gives

The above equation gives the measurement of load

impedance. The point of a voltage minimum is
measured rather than a voltage maximum because it is
usually possible to determine the exact point of
minimum voltage with greater accuracy.
 Summary

• The expression for power passing along the line

is given as
 Test Your Understanding
• How to measure power and impedance on a
transmission line?
 References

1. John D Ryder, “Networks, lines and fields”, 2nd

Edition, Prentice Hall India, 2015.

2. Mathew M. Radmanesh, “Radio Frequency &

Microwave Electronics”, Pearson Education Asia,
Second Edition, 2002.