AP-Session 12A, 1445 ,Thursday, May 18, Room 0 1 0 5

SHORT-P!lLSE
PXGPAG?.TION I N SURFACE WAW2 TRiiNSMISSION LEES
FOR HIGH-RESDLUTIOli,
COLLISION AVOIDkNCE
SYSTEMS

B. Fima Rao and H .M. Cronson

Sperry Research Center
100 North Road
Sudbury,I-lassachusetts 01776

Theoreticalandexperimentalstudies on microwave s h o r t - p u l s e
p r o p a g a t i c n i n s i n o l e and coupled surface-wave transmission lines
and t h e r e l e v a n c e o f t h e s e i n v e s t i g a t i o n s t o thedesignof a high-
resolution,Tided-wavereflectometersystemforcollisionavoidance
applications in automated rapid transit vehicles knom as CASRAR
will b ed e s c r L b e di nt h i sp a p e r .I n a p u l s er e f l e c t o m e t e rs y s t e m
of this type, the surface wave t r a n s m i s s i o n l i n e is supported par-
a l l e l to k ? ~ quideway ar,d forms t h e main c o r n m i c a t i o n l i n k between
the vefiicles.

A collision avoidance systen based on this concept has been

developed by t h e S p e r r y R e s e a r c h C e n t e r i n c o o p e r a t i o n w i t h t h e
Boeinqkeros3ace Conpany and w a s s u c c e s s f u l l y t e s t e d i n Novcrher of
1977 ir. S e a t t l e on t h e i r a d v a n c e d g r o u p r a p i d t r a n s i t v e h i c l e s .
The d e s i c n d e t a i l s and f i e l d test performance of t h i s s y s t e m w i l l
be d e s c r i b e d i n a s e p a r a t e p a p e r t o be p r e s e n t e d by t h e a u t h o r s i n
the near fcture.

The s u r f a c e wzve l i n e s c h o s e n for tinese i n v e s t i g a t i o n s were

t h e d i e l e c t r i c c o a t e d wire or "Goubau l i n e " and t h e d i e l e c t r i c image
l i n e . Both of t h e s e s u r f a c e wave l i n e s havebeensuggestedfor
p o s s i b l e use i n c o n t i n u o u s a c c e s s CW microxave comcunication with
high s p e e dl a n dv e h i c l e s . However, t h e p u l s e mod= o p e r a t i o n of t h e s e
l i n e s i n t h e nanosecondandsuhanosecondreqion is l i k e l y t o be
vastly different fro2 i t s performanceunder CW o p e r a t i n g c o z d i t i o n s .
The p h a s e v e l o c i t y i n t h e s e s u r f a c e wave l i n e s is e n o n l i m a r f u n c -
t i o no ff r e q u e n c y .S i n c ea n P.F p u l s e of nanoseconddurationhas a
b r o a d s p e c t r a l band::idth, c o n s i d e r z h l c p u l s e b r o a d e n i n g a n d d i s t o r -
t i o n are l i k e l y t o r e s u l t c a u s i n g a degradationinsystemperfor-
mance.. Hence e x t e n s i v ee x p e r i m e n t a la n da n a l y t i c a li n v e s t i g a t i o n s
were made t o d e t e r n l i n e t h e t i n e - d o m a i n r e s p o n s e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of
t h e s e s u r f a c e x a v e lims t o d c t e m i n c t h e i r s u i t a b i l i t y for t h e p u l s e
r r f l c c t o n e t e r . Among the paranletersmeasuredwere (l! f i e l ds p r e a d ,
a t t e n u a t i o n an6 < i s t o r t i o n of suhxmoocsond pulseg due to dispersion,
(2) CGUpling c o e f f i c i e n t s of d i r e c t i o n a lc ' o u p l c r s 8 s a function

0
C f i 1 3 4 ~ - ~ / 7 ~ 3 / 0 0 0 0 - 0 3 0 6 8 0 0 r 7 5 lY78 I E E E
306
o fs p a c i n gb e t w e e nt k el i n e s , a n d( 3 )r e f l e c t i o nc o e f f i c i e n to f
targetslocatedadjxenttotheline. The Caubau l i n ec h o s e nf o r
t h e e x p e r i r . . e n t s was a No. 1 2 gaugeenamelcoatedwireand a N o . 12
Sauge wire w i t h a 1 5 mil t e f l o n c o a t i n n . The d i e l e c t r i c image l i n e
consistedof a 1.25inchdiametersemicircularpolyethylenerod
mounted a t t h e c e n t e r o f an aluminum C c h a n n e l f i v e i n c h e s w i d e and
2 i n c h e sd e e p .S e v e r a ld i f f e r e n tt y p e so fp u l s e waveformswere
used i n t h e e x p e r i m e n t a l i n v e s t i g a t i o n s ; t h e s e i n c l u d e d (1) an L
band PZ p u l s e b u r s t waveform (pulsewidth % 2 nanoseconds)generated
by a b a s e b a n dr a d a rt r a n s m i t t e r ,( 2 )a n" i m p u l s e "v i d e op u l s ew i t h
a h a l f - u n i t p u l s e w i d t h of 100 picoseconds and a n u l l t o n u l l of
200 picoseconckand ( 3 ) a S band RF p u l s e b u r s t waveform w i t h a
pulsewidthofagproximately1.5 t o 2.5nanoseconds. A sampleof
theresultsobtainedfrsmtheseinvestigationsare shown i n F i g . 1
throughFig. 3 . Loss measurements were made on a 1 0 0f o o tl e n g t h
of Goubau l i n e ( e n a T e l c o a t e d w i r e ) by o b s e r v i n q t h e a m p l i t u d e o f
thepulsereflection from a t a r g e t moved a l o n g t h e l i n e . The
measured d a t a , shown i n F i g u r e 1 i n d i c a t e s a l o s s o f 1.3 dB/100
f e e t f o r t h e L band baseband pulse and a l o s s o f 4 . 5 dB/100 f e e t
f o rt h ei m p u l s e waveform.The i n c r e a s e dl o s sf o rt h ei m p u l s e wave-
form i.s due t op u l s eb r o a d e n i n gc a u s e d by d i s p e r s i o n . F i g u r e 2
shows t h e m e a s u r e d c o u p l i n g c o e f f i c i e n t o f t h e Goubau l i n e d i r e c -
t i o n a l c o u p l e r as a f u n c t i o n of t h e s e p a r a t i o n from t h e main s u r f a c e
wave l i n e . The "impulse" (100 picoseconds)waveform was used i n
t h e s e measurer.ents.

F'iqure 3 g r a p h i c a l l y p o r t r a y s t h e p u l s e b r o a d e n i n g a n d a t t e n -
u a t i o n d u e t o dispersion, undergone by a 1.5 nanosecond pulse with
a 4 . 8 GHz c a r r i e r f r e q u e n c y as it p r o p a s a t e s down t h e d i e l e c t r i c
i n a g e l i n e and t h e Ckxhau l i n e .T h e s e waveforms were c a l c u l a t e d
assumir,g nct c o n d u c t i o n o r d i e l e c t r i c losses i n t h e s u r f a c e wave
Line.The waveform o ft h ei n p u tp u l s e i s shown i nF i g u r e3 a .F i g .
3b s h o x s t h e waveform o f t h e p u l s e a f t e r it has propagated a d i s -
t a n c e of 50 f e e t i n t h e d i e l e c t r i c image l i n e . T h e e q u i v a l e n t
a t t e n u a t i o n c a u s n l hy dispersion, measured on a peak amplitude
b a s i s , is a p p r o x i r a t e l y 1 2 d3/100 f e e t .R e s o l u t i o ni nr a n g ea n d
range r a t e h a s a l s o been g r e a t l y E e g r a d f d d u e t o t h e s l o w e r rise-
time andwiderpulsewidth.figure3c shoxs t h e c a l c u l a t e d waveform
after the pulse has propagated a d i s t a n c e of 1 0 0 f e e t i n t h e t e f l o n
c o a t e d Goubau l i n e . 130 s i g n i f i c a n t d e g r a d a t i o n i n p u l s e s h a p e d u e
to d i s p e r s i o n i s x o t i c e a b l e i n t h i s case. E x p e r i m e n t a lr e s u l t s t o
s u p p o r tt h e s ec a l c u l a t i o n s ail1 b e p r e s e n t e d i n t h i s p a p e r . The
results of these tests h a v e i n d i c a t e d ' h a t t h e Goubau l i n e o f f e r s
the best cozpromise between the various conflicting requirements
demanded by t h e h i g h - r e s o l u t i o n , p u l s e r e f l e c t o m e t e r s y s t e m .

30 7
 ROUND TRIP RELATIVE dB IMPULSE I E A S .
ATTENUATION 4-

-8- 4.5 dB1100

FIGURE le ATTENUATION MEASUREMENT ON No012 ENAMEL WIRE.

COUPLING
CoEFF'CIEM LENGTH OF COUPLER = 5 FT.
-13 I I I

0.25 050 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.Y) 1.75 2.0

-SPACING BETWEEN LINES [INCHES)

FIGURE 2. MEASURED COUPLING COEFFICIENT OF THE GOUBAU LINE COUPLER.

308
F I G 3 a. INPUT PULSE WAVEFORM.

-0.6 ___
- 4
L--.I --L-
. 2 0 2
.L
6
.

TIME fnsl

' F I G 3 b. PULSE WAVEFORM ON DIELECTRIC IMAGE L I N E .

FIG 3 C. PULSE WAVEFORM ON GOUBAU L I N E .

309