ELEC353

Practice Problem Set #6

1.

The value of load impedance Z L must be found by measurement, at 200 MHz. An engineer measures the
standing-wave pattern as shown in the figure above. The figure shows the amplitude of the voltage on the
transmission line in volts RMS as a function of distance along the transmission line in millimetres.
Marker #1 is positioned at a voltage maximum, of 6.370 volts at z=303.423 mm. Marker #2 is positioned
at a voltage minimum, of 3.633 volts at z=675.727 mm. The characteristic resistance of the transmission
line is Rc = 50 ohms and the speed of propagation is u = 300 meters per microsecond. Define
Z − Rc
ΓL = L .
Z L + Rc
(i) What is the value of the standing-wave ratio on the transmission line?
(ii) What is the magnitude of the reflection coefficient ΓL ?
(iii) What is the angle of the reflection coefficient ΓL ?
(iv) What is the value of the load impedance Z L ?

2.

The antenna in problem #1 of assignment 5 must radiate as much power as possible at 2450 MHz, and
the bandwidth must be as wide as possible. The generator is modified so that the internal resistance is
Rs = 50 ohms, and it has an open-circuit voltage Vs = 10 volts RMS. The antenna’s input impedance is
Z L = 210 − j 56 ohms. To increase the power radiated by the antenna, a matching circuit is used. The
matching circuit consists of a length Lt of transmission line of characteristic resistance Rct in series with
the load Z L , and a tuning stub connected in parallel with the load. The tuning stub is a length Ls of
transmission line of characteristic resistance Rc , terminated with a short circuit. The line of length Lt is
a quarter-wave transformer terminated with the stub/load parallel combination. The 8.7-cm line and the
tuning stub have characteristic resistance Rc = 50 ohms. All three transmission lines have speed of travel
u = 14 cm/ns.

1
(i) Choose the length of the stub Ls so that the admittance YBB = Ys + of the stub
ZL
1
admittance Ys in parallel with the load admittance is real, with zero imaginary part. The
ZL
1
input admittance of the stub is Ys = − j cot β Ls .
Rc
(ii) The parallel combination of the stub impedance and the antenna impedance is Z BB = RBB +j0.
What is the value of resistance RBB ?
(iii) Design the quarter-wave transformer by choosing the characteristic resistance to be
Rct = Rc RBB , and the length Lt to be a quarter-wavelength at 2450 MHz.
(iv) Find the power delivered to the antenna at 2450 MHz.
(v) Use TRLINE to find the bandwidth for a return loss of 20 dB or better. (Hint: Use the “power
splitter” circuit template. Make the length of line #4 equal to zero, and make load Z 2 = Z L .
Line #3 is the stub and Z1 = 0 is the short circuit.)

3.

Your boss is not satisfied with the design in problem #2 because the bandwidth is not wide enough. The
boss thinks that “all engineers are the same” so he instructs you, a computer engineer, to design a single-
stub matching circuit. As before, the load is Z L = 210 − j 56 ohms. The generator has open-circuit
voltage Vs = 10 volts RMS and internal resistance Rs = 50 ohms, at 2450 MHz. The cable length is
L = 8.7 cm. All the cables have charcteristeric resistance Rc = 50 ohms and speed of travel u = 14 cm/ns.

(i) Choose L1 so that the input admittance Y1 = G1 + jB1 of the line of length L1 and the load Z L
1
has real part G1 = = 20 mS. Note that there are two possible values for L1 .
50
(ii) Choose the stub length Ls such that the input admittance Yin of the stub in parallel with Y1 is
equal to 20 mS. For each value of L1 there is a corresponding value of Ls .
(iii) Use TRLINE to find the bandwidth of each of the two designs, for a return loss of 20 dB or
better. Which has a wider bandwidth?
(iv) Does the single-stub design have a wider bandwidth than the stub-plus-quarter-wave-
transformer design?
 Solution to Practice Problem Set #6

1.

The value of load impedance Z L must be found by measurement, at 200 MHz. An engineer measures the
standing-wave pattern as shown in the figure above. The figure shows the amplitude of the voltage on the
transmission line in volts RMS as a function of distance along the transmission line in millimetres.
Marker #1 is positioned at a voltage maximum, of 6.370 volts at z=303.423 mm. Marker #2 is positioned
at a voltage minimum, of 3.633 volts at z=675.727 mm. The characteristic resistance of the transmission
line is Rc = 50 ohms and the speed of propagation is u = 300 meters per microsecond. Define
Z − Rc
ΓL = L .
Z L + Rc
(v) What is the value of the standing-wave ratio on the transmission line?
(vi) What is the magnitude of the reflection coefficient ΓL ?
(vii) What is the angle of the reflection coefficient ΓL ?
(viii) What is the value of the load impedance Z L ?

Solution (Thanks to Armin Parsa)

Solution :

(i)

Vmax 6.37
VSWR = = = 1.75337
Vmin 3.633
(ii)

VSWR − 1
ΓL = = 0.27362
VSWR + 1

(iii)

u 300
λ= = = 1.5 m
f 200
  L − Z min 1 1 − 0.6757 
φ= − .720° =  − 0.25.720° = −24.336°
 λ 4  1.5 

(iv)

ΓL = ΓL ∠φ = 0.27362∠ − 24.336°

1 + ΓL
ZL = × Zo
1 − ΓL
1 + 0.27362∠ − 24.336°
ZL = × 50
1 − 0.27362∠ − 24.336°

Z L = 80.2713 - j19.5670 ohms

2.

The antenna in problem #1 of assignment 5 must radiate as much power as possible at 2450 MHz, and
the bandwidth must be as wide as possible. The generator is repaired so that the internal resistance is
Rs = 50 ohms, and it has an open-circuit voltage Vs = 10 volts RMS. The antenna’s input impedance is
Z L = 210 − j 56 ohms. To increase the power radiated by the antenna, an impedance-matching circuit is
inserted at the antenna terminals. The circuit consists of a “tuning stub” connected in parallel with Z L ,
and a quarter-wave transformer between the 8.7 cm transmission line and the stub/load parallel
combination. The 8.7 cm line and the tuning stub have characteristic resistance Rc = 50 ohms. All three
transmission lines have speed of travel u = 14 cm/ns.

1
(vi) Choose the length of the stub Ls so that the admittance YBB = Ys + of the stub
ZL
1
admittance Ys in parallel with the load admittance is real, with zero imaginary part. The
ZL
1
input admittance of the stub is Ys = − j cot β Ls .
Rc
(vii) The parallel combination of the stub impedance and the antenna impedance is Z BB = RBB +j0.
What is the value of resistance RBB ?
 (viii) Design the quarter-wave transformer by choosing the characteristic resistance to be
Rct = Rc RBB , and the length Lt to be a quarter-wavelength at 2450 MHz.
(ix) Find the power delivered to the antenna at 2450 MHz.
(x) Use TRLINE to find the bandwidth for a return loss of 20 dB or better.

Solution (thanks to Guilin Sun)

Known: Vs = 10 volts RMS, Rs = 47 ohms, f=2450 MHz, L1 = 8.7 cm,
u = 14 cm/ns=140m/us, Rc = 50 ohms, Z L = 210 − j 56 ohms
The following formulae will be used:
1
Ys = − j Rct = Rc RBB
Rc tan βLs
the following parameters will be used:
u 14 * 10 7 14
λ= = 6
= =0.057143m=5.7143cm
f 2450 * 10 245
solve:
i) the admittance of the load is
1 1 210 + j 56
G + jB = = = = 4.4457 *10 −3 + j1.1855 *10 −3 (s)
Z L 210 − j 56 210 2 + 56 2
the admittance at BB is
YBB = Ys + G + jB
we want to have a real admittance at BB, so its imaginary part is zero, that is
Y S + jB = 0
therefore we have
1
Ys = − j = − jB
Rc tan βLs
βLs = tan −1 (1 / B * Rc ) = tan −1 (1 /(1.1855 * 10 −3 * 50)) = 86.61°
the length of tuning stub is
86.61 86.61 1400
Ls = λ= * = 1.3748 cm
360 360 245
the admittance of the designed tuning stub is about
1 1
Ys = − j =−j = 1.1840 *10 −3 (s)
Rc tan βLs 50 tan(360° *1.3748 / 5.7143)
which is quite close to 1.1855(ms).
ii) obviously the resistance at BB is
1 1000
R BB = = = 224.94 ohms
G 4.4457
iii) the characteristic resistance of the quarter-wave transformer is
Rct = Rc RBB = 50 * 224.94 = 106.05 ohms
1 5.7143
the length is quarter wavelength, that is Lt = λ= = 1.4286 cm
4 4
iv) since the TL is lossless and now the load is matched, so
2
V 2  Vs  1
Pav = I * V = =  = 25 / 50 = 0.5 Watts.
Rc  2  Rc
Note the problem gives us the RMS voltage, there is no need to divide the factor of 2.
Compared to the problem #1 of assignment 5, the radiated power is much higher : without match, it is
0.3W. With a quarter-wave transformer and tuning stub, the power is increased to 0.5 W, an increase of
about 1.7x.

The answers:
i) Length of the tuning stub is1.3748cm
ii) R is 224.94 ohms
iii) the characteristic impedance is 106.05 ohms
iv) the power delivered is 500 mW.
v) The bandwidth is 104.7MHz (see below)

Note that if the calculation is approximate with limited data digits, the real TL may not be matched very
well. For example, there maybe a residual susceptance at BB, and the length of the quarter-wave
transformer is not exactly quarter wavelength. Then your result may be not as good as this result. In
addition, the TL length may not be controlled at the micrometer precision as we did in calculation in
reality, it may introduce some errors.

v) TRLINE simulation
1. The transmission line, please choose “Two transmission line in series, with shunt load” at the main
manu and input the parameters.
2. Choose “Find the voltages, currents and power” to get the power.

To check our calculation, we can view all the parameters at the load Z1, at the TL #2 (tuning stub),#1(the
quarter-wave transformer).

First, view the load by clicking the load #1

we can see that the power is exactly 500 mW.

Second, view the tuning stub by click line #2
since there is no resistance for load #2, there should be no power consumption. The power displayed
above is negative and is due to computation error.

Third, view the transformer by click Line#1

Note the power is the same as in the load, which should be true since it is lossless. You can see that the
parallel impedance at BB is 224.93 ohms, which agrees with our calculation. Also it has a residual
reactance of 0.021 ohms at its input (source end).

Finally, we can see the Smith chart to check the matching.

the matching is perfect!
The bandwidth can be found by clicking the “plot a parameter as a function of frequency” in the main
manu, then choose “return Loss” and use port #1, specify frequency range from 2300 to 2600 MHz, and
calculate it by click “calculate the frequency response and graph the result.” With the help of “snap
manu” and set the snap value –20dB, you can mark the curve and get the bandwidth. It shows the
bandwidth is 104.7MHz.

3.
Your boss is not satisfied with the design in problem #2 because the bandwidth is not wide enough. The
boss thinks that “all engineers are the same” so he instructs you, a computer engineer, to design a single-
stub matching circuit. As before, the load is Z L = 210 − j 56 ohms. The generator has open-circuit
voltage Vs = 10 volts RMS and internal resistance Rs = 50 ohms, at 2450 MHz. The cable length is
L = 8.7 cm. All the cables have charcteristeric resistance Rc = 50 ohms and speed of travel u = 14 cm/ns.

(v) Choose L1 so that the input admittance Y1 = G1 + jB1 of the line of length L1 and the load Z L
1
has real part G1 = = 20 mS. Note that there are two possible values for L1 .
50
(vi) Choose the stub length Ls such that the input admittance Yin of the stub in parallel with Y1 is
equal to 20 mS. For each value of L1 there is a corresponding value of Ls .
(vii) Use TRLINE to find the bandwidth of each of the two designs, for a return loss of 20 dB or
better. Which has a wider bandwidth?
(viii) Does the single-stub design have a wider bandwidth than the stub-plus-quarter-wave-
transformer design?

Solution (Thanks to Ibrahem Abdalla)

λ = u / f = 14 / 2.45 = 5.71 cm
β = 2π / λ = 360 / 2 * 0.0571 = 6300 deg/ m
Z L − RC
ΓL = = 0.64∠ − 7.14o
Z L + RC
ΓL = 0.64
φ = −7.14o
i- To find the length of the line L:
θ = cos(− ΓL ) = cos(−0.64)
θ1 = 129.8o ,θ 2 = 230.2
φ −θ
L=
2β
L1 = −1.09 cm

L2 = −1.884 cm

Compensating for the –ve sign by adding λ/2:

λ / 2 = 5.71 / 2 = 2.855cm
L1 = −1.09 + 2.855 = 1.77cm
L2 = −1.884 + 2.855 = 0.97cm

ii- To find the length of the stub Ls:

± 1 − ΓL
tan β LS = = ±0.6
2 ΓL
β LS1 = 30.98o
LS 1 = 0.492cm
β LS 2 = 149.02o
LS 2 = 2.37cm

case L(cm) Y1 LS(cm) YS BW(MHz)

1 1.77 20.2-j33.22 2.370 j33.0 59.66
2 0.97 19.98+j33.07 0.492 -j33.0 161.882
The smith chart for L1

Smith Chart for Ls1

Return Loss

The smith chart for L2

The smith chart for Ls2

Retrun loss