1

Chapter 2
Transmission Lines

Dr. Seyed Ebrahim Esmaeili

Engineering Electromagnetics
 Outline
2

 General Considerations
 Transmission Line Model
 Transmission Line Equations
 Wave Propagation on a Transmission Line
(Wave Equations)
 General Considerations
3

A transmission line is a two-port network connecting a generator circuit at

the sending end to a load at the receiving end

- A transmission line connects a generator to a load.

- By modelling transmission lines in the form of equivalent circuits, we
can use Kirchhoff’s voltage and current laws to develop wave
equations whose solutions provide an understanding of wave
propagation, standing waves, and power transfer.
 General Considerations
4

- Transmission lines include:

• Two parallel wires
• Coaxial cable
• Microstrip line
• Optical fiber
• Waveguide
• etc.
 General Considerations
5

- Is the pair of wires connecting the voltage source to the RC load a

transmission line? Yes.

- The wires were ignored in circuits courses. Can we always ignore

them? Not always.

Generator connected to an RC circuit through a transmission

line of length l
 General Considerations
6

- If the generator voltage is cosinusoidal in time, then the voltage

across the input terminals AA’ is:

where ω = 2πf is the angular frequency, and if we assume that the

current flowing through the wires travels at the speed of light, then the
voltage across the output terminals BB’ will have to be delayed in time
relative to that across AA’ by the travel delay-time l/c.
 General Considerations
7

- Thus, the time delay associated with the length of the line l manifests
itself as a constant phase shift φ0 in the argument of the cosine.

- At t = 0, and for f = 1 kHz , if:

(1) l = 5 cm:

(2) But if l = 20 km:

 General Considerations
8
 General Considerations
9

- Transmission lines may be classified into two basic types:

• Transverse electromagnetic (TEM) transmission lines:
- Electric and magnetic fields are orthogonal to one another,
and both are orthogonal to direction of propagation.
- A good example is the coaxial line shown in Fig. 2-5: the
electric field is in the radial direction between the inner and
outer conductors, while the magnetic field circles the inner
conductor, and neither has a component along the line axis
(the direction of wave propagation)
• Higher-order transmission lines:
- Waves propagating along these lines have at least one
significant field component in the direction of propagation.
Hollow conducting waveguides, dielectric rods, and optical
fibers belong to this class of lines.
 General Considerations
10
 General Considerations
11
 Transmission-Line Model
12
 Transmission-Line Model
13
 Transmission-Line Equations
14

ac signals: use phasors

Transmission line
equation
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
15
(Voltage as a function of current and vice versa)

attenuation
constant
complex propagation
constant
Phase constant
Combining the two equations leads to:
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
16
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
17
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
18
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
19
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
20

In general:

wave along +z because coefficients of t and z

have opposite signs

wave along –z because coefficients of t and z

have the same sign
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
21
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
22
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
23
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
24
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
25
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
26
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
27
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
28
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
29
 Wave Propagation on
a Transmission Line (Wave Equations)
30