Appendix E

Two-Port Network Parameters

A microwave network with two terminals may be analyzed by considering the network as an
equivalent two-port. The signals at the terminals or ports of the two-port may be described in
terms of voltages and currents and the interaction between these signals in terms of impedances or
admittances. Alternatively, the signals may be described in terms of incident and reflected waves
and the interaction in terms of scattering.

An arbitrary two-port may be described in several ways. Here we will discuss the two-
port in terms of impedance parameters (Z), admittance parameters (Y), chain or ABCD
parameters and scattering parameters (S).
For the description in terms of Z, Y or ABCD parameters we refer to Figure E.1(a).
For the description in terms of S parameters we refer to Figure E.1(b).
The relation between the voltages and currents in terms of impedance parameters is
given by
    
V1 Z11 Z12 I1
= . (E.1)
V2 Z21 Z22 I2
The relation between the currents and voltages in terms of admittance parameters is
given by     
I1 Y11 Y12 V1
= . (E.2)
I2 Y21 Y22 V2

I1 I2 a1 a2

V1 1 2 V2 b1 1 2 b2

(a) (b)

Figure E.1 Two-port definition. (a) Using voltages and currents. (b) Using incident and reflected
waves.

Antenna Theory and Applications, First Edition. Hubregt J. Visser.

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
246 Antenna Theory and Applications

Table E.1 Two-port parameter conversion for voltage- and

current-based matrices

Z Y ABCD
Y22
Z11 Z12 |Y |
− Y|Y12| A
C
AD−BC
C
Z
Z21 Z22 − Y|Y21| Y11 1 D
|Y | C C

Z22
|Z|
− Z|Z|
12
Y11 Y12
D
B
BC−AD
B
Y
− Z|Z|
21 Z11 Y21 Y22 − B1 A
|Z| B

Z11
Z21
|Z|
Z21
− YY22 − Y1 A B
21 21
ABCD
1 Z22
− Y|Y | − YY11 C D
Z21 Z21 21 21

Table E.2 Two-port parameter conversion for scattering and

voltage- and current-based matrices

S Z
(Z11 −Z0 )(Z22 +Z0 )−Z12 Z21 2Z12 Z0
S11 S12 Z Z
S
S21 S22 2Z21 Z0 (Z11 +Z0 )(Z22 −Z0 )−Z12 Z21
Z Z

S Y
(Y0 −Y11 )(Y0 +Y22 )+Y12 Y21 12 Y0
− 2YY
S11 S12 Y
S
S21 S22 21 Y0 (Y0 +Y11 )(Y0 −Y22 )+Y12 Y21
− 2YY Y

S ABCD
A+ ZB −CZ0 −D
0 2(AD−BC)
S11 S12 A+ ZB +CZ0 +D A+ ZB +CZ0 +D
0 0
S
S21 S22 2
−A+ ZB −CZ0 +D
0
A+ ZB +CZ0 +D A+ ZB +CZ0 +D
0 0

The relation between the voltages and currents in terms of chain parameters is given by

    
V1 A B V2
= . (E.3)
I1 C D −I2
Chain matrices are used when several two-ports are cascaded. The overall chain matrix
is obtained by multiplying the chain matrices of the individual two-ports.
Appendix E: Two-Port Network Parameters 247

Table E.3 Two-port parameter conversion for scattering and

voltage- and current-based matrices

S11 S12
S
S21 S22
(1+S11 )(1−S22 )+S12 S21 2S12
Z0 (1−S )(1−S )−S S
Z0 (1−S
11 22 12 21 11 )(1−S22 )−S12 S21
Z
11 )(1+S22 )+S12 S21
Z0 (1−S 2S21
Z0 (1−S
11 )(1−S22 )−S12 S21 (1−S )(1−S )−S S
11 22 12 21

(1−S11 )(1+S22 )+S12 S21 2S12

Y0 (1+S −Y0 (1+S )(1+S
11 )(1+S22 )−S12 S21 11 22 )−S12 S21
Y
2S21 (1+S11 )(1−S22 )+S12 S21
−Y0 (1+S Y0 (1+S
11 )(1+S22 )−S12 S21 11)(1+S )−S S
22 12 21

(1+S11 )(1−S22 )+S12 S21 22 )−S12 S21

2S21
Z0 (1+S11 )(1+S
2S21
ABCD
1 (1−S11 )(1−S22 )−S12 S21 (1−S11 )(1+S22 )+S12 S21
Z0 2S21 2S21

The relation between the incident and reflected waves is given by

    
b1 S11 S12 a1
= . (E.4)
b2 S21 S22 a2
The Z, Y, ABCD and S matrices may be converted into each other. The interrelations
between the voltage- and current-based matrices are given in Table E.1.
The interrelations between the scattering and voltage- and current-based matrices are
given in Tables E.2 and E.3.