Chapter 11
Transmission Lines
Objectives
List the types of transmission lines
Calculate the impedance of
transmission lines
Calculate velocity of propagation and
delay factor
Analyze wave propagation and
reflection for various line configuration
Describe how standing waves are
produced
Use the Smith chart to find input
impedance
Use the Smith chart to match loads to
lines
Definition
A transmission line is the conductive
connection between system elements
that carry signal power
This “conductor” may at first appear to
be a short circuit, but in fact will react
differently when high frequencies are
propagated along the line.
Types of Transmission Lines
Two-wire open line
Twisted pair
Unshielded twisted pair (UTP)
Shielded Pair
Coaxial Lines
Balanced/Unbalanced lines
Two Wire Open Line
FIGURE 11-1 Parallel two-wire line.
Gary M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Beasley Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Modern Electronic Communication, 7e Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
FIGURE 11-2 Two-wire ribbon-type lines.
Gary M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Beasley Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Modern Electronic Communication, 7e Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Two Wire Open
Also called twin lead or two wire ribbon cable
Usually spaced from ¼ to 6 inches apart
Used as the transmission line from antenna to
receiver or antenna to transmitter
The end connected to the source is called the
generator or input end
The end connected to the load is the load or
output end.
Electrical Characteristics
Depend on the construction
Essentially a long capacitor where the
capacitance is inversely proportional to the
spacing between the wires and directly
proportional to the length of the line
Capacitive reactance is inversely proportional
to the capacitance and frequency
Thus the line will have a total
impedance resulting from:
– Pure resistance caused by the wire itself
– Capacitive reactance
– Conductance which passes through the
dielectric medium
– Inductive reactance caused by the
magnetic fields which are produced by the
passing of current through the wires
FIGURE 11-9 Equivalent circuit for a two-wire transmission line.
Gary M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Beasley Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Modern Electronic Communication, 7e Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
If the line is uniform along its length, the
resistance and conductance are usually
negligible which results in an LC
network
FIGURE 11-10 Simplified circuit terminated with its characteristic impedance.
Gary M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Beasley Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Modern Electronic Communication, 7e Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Characteristic Impedance
Z0 symbolizes the characteristic
impedance.
This impedance can be determined by
using Ohm’s Law: applied voltage
divided by the current flowing through
the wire.
If the inductance and capacitance is
known, the impedance is given by
taking the square root of (L/C)
– A line with 4H/m and 1.5 pF/m will exhibit a
characteristic impedance of 51.6
If the spacing between the wires and
the diameter of one of the conductors
and type of dielectric is known, the
impedance can be found by:
– Z0 = 276 2 D
log
d
– A D/d ratio of 3 and air dielectric will result
in an impedance of 215
Line Losses
When calculating impedance of lines,
losses are often ignored, but in real life
these losses cannot be ignored.
Major losses
– Copper
– Dielectric
– Radiation or induction
I2R losses
Resistance of any conductor is never zero.
So when current is passed through the wire,
energy is lost in the form of heat
Since R = l/A
These losses can be reduced by reducing the
resistance of the wire by
– Reducing the length
– Increasing the cross sectional area of the wire
– Using a wire with a lower resistivity
Skin Effect
At high frequencies, the I2R losses are
generally due to skin effect.
– When DC is applied the distribution of electron
movement is fairly uniform
– When AC is applied, the flux density at the center
of the wire is greater than at the outer edge thus
the the reactance is is also greater. The more
reactance the lower the current.
– If other words, when AC is applied the current will
flow faster on the outer edge of the conductor than
through the center
Skin Effect
Since inductive reactance is directly
proportional to the frequency, the skin effect
increases with frequency as well.
Since the current is forced to the outside
edge, the resistance cross section is also
reduced thus increasing the resistance.
At sufficiently high frequencies, current will
cease to flow in two wire lines
Dielectric Losses
These losses are directly proportional to
the voltage across the dielectric
These losses also increase with
frequency
Losses are lowest in air dielectrics
Radiation or Induction Losses
These are caused by the electrostatic and
electromagnetic fields surrounding the
conductors.
The electrostatic fields charge nearby objects
The magnetic fields induce an EMF in nearby
conductors.
These losses can be minimized by
terminating the line with a resistive load equal
to the line’s characteristic impedance
Twisted Pair
What is Twisted Pair?
Two insulated wires twisted to form a
flexible line without the use of spacers.
It is not used for high frequencies
because of the high losses that occur in
the insulation
Wet lines increase losses dramatically
FIGURE 11-3 Twisted pair.
Gary M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Beasley Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Modern Electronic Communication, 7e Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Unshielded Twisted Pair
(UTP)
CAT5
Category 5 computer networking cable
capable of handling a 100MHz bandwidth
Most often used in LANs
Transmit data at rated up to 100Mbps for a
length of 100m
CAT5 cable consists of four color-coded pairs
of 22 or 24 gauge wires terminated with an
RJ-45 connector
CAT5
The precision in twisting along the
length and at the terminations provide a
significant increase in signal
transmission performance
Balanced operation of the wire pairs
helps to maintain the required level of
performance in terms of cross talk and
noise rejection
Important CAT5 UTP Parameters
Attenuation
The amount of loss in the signal
strength as it propagates throughout the
conductor
Cross Talk
Unwanted coupling caused by
overlapping electric and magnetic fields
Near End Cross Talk (NEXT)
A measure of the level of cross talk or
signal coupling within the cable
A high NEXT dB level is desired
Attenuation to Cross Talk (ACR)
Combined measure of attenuation and
cross talk.
The larger the bandwidth the higher the
ACR
The larger the bandwidth the greater the
data capacity
Delay Skew
Measure of the difference in time for the
fastest to the slowest wire pair in a UTP
cable
Proposed for new specifications in
CAT6 and CAT7 lines
Power Sum NEXT
Measures the total cross talk of all cable
pairs ensuring that the cable can carry
data traffic on all four pairs at the same
time with minimal interference
Return Loss
A measure of the ratio of power transmitted
into a cable to the amount of power returned
or reflected.
Signal reflection is due to impedance
changes in the cable link and the impedance
changes related to cable loss.
CAT5, CAT6 and CAT7 cables must have low
return loss specs.
Categories
CAT 3 Class C Telephone lines
CAT5 Class D Computer networks
CAT5e Computer networks
CAT6 Class E up to 250MHz
CAT7 Class F up to 600MHz
Wiring Standards for
CAT5 and RJ-45
Defined by the Telecommunications
Industry Association standard TIA568B
Shielded Pair
What is Shielded Pair?
Consists of parallel conductors separated
from each other and surrounded by a solid
dielectric.
Conductors are contained within a copper
braid tubing that acts like a shield
Assembly is covered by a rubber coating for
protection from elements and mechanical
damage
FIGURE 11-5 Shielded pair.
Gary M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Beasley Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Modern Electronic Communication, 7e Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Shielded Pair
Principal advantage is the the
conductors are balanced to ground
– The capacitance between the cables is
uniform through out the line
– Copper braid shield isolates the conductors
from external noise and prevents the signal
on the shielded pair cable from radiating to
and interfering with other systems
Coaxial Cable
What is Coaxial Cable (coax)?
Coaxial cable consists of two concentric
conductors separated by a dielectric.
The outer conductor may be a copper or
aluminum tube or wire braid and the
inner conductor may be a wire or small
tube, depending on the type of coax.
The dielectric may be air, plastic or
ceramic
Types
Rigid or air coaxial line
Flexible or solid coaxial line
Electrical configuration of both is the
same
Rigid Coaxial Cable
Consists of a wire mounted inside of
and coaxially with a rigid tubular outer
conductor. (wire within a tube)
The inner conductor is insulated from
the outer conductor by insulating
spacers or beads, at regular intervals.
The spacers are made of Pyrex or
polystyrene, located at regular intervals
FIGURE 11-6 Air coaxial: cable with washer insulator.
Gary M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Beasley Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Modern Electronic Communication, 7e Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Advantages
Chief advantage of this line is its ability
to minimize the radiation losses
The electric and magnetic fields do not
extend outward from the outer
conductor
The fields are confined to the space
between the two conductors
Noise pick up is also prevented
Disadvantages
Expensive to construct
Must be kept dry to prevent excessive
leakage between the two conductors,
although leakage can be reduced by
backfilling the cable with inert gas
Excessive high frequency losses limit
the length of line used
Ten Minute Break
Flexible Coaxial Cable
The inner conductor consists of flexible
wire insulated from the outer conductor
by a solid continuous insulating material
Flexibility may be gained if the outer
conductor is made of braided wire
Flexible Coaxial Cable
Polyethylene plastic as well as Teflon,
is used to separate the two conductors.
The use of the plastic for insulation
results in greater losses than for the air
dielectric but cuts down on losses due
to moisture
These losses are much less than for
other dielectrics.
FIGURE 11-7 Flexible coaxial.
Gary M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Beasley Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Modern Electronic Communication, 7e Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Characteristic Impedance of Coax
138 D
Z0 = log
d
Balanced/Unbalanced Lines
Unbalanced Line—Coaxial
The electrical signal is carried by the
center conductor with respect to the
shield or grounded outer conductor
Balanced Line—two wire
The same current flows in each wire but
1800 out of phase with that flowing in
the center conductor
Another way to look at it: the currents in
the two wires of a balanced line are
equal, but flowing in opposite directions.
Common Mode Rejection (CMR)
Measures the ability of a balanced line
to reject signals flowing in the same
direction in both conductors.
Any noise or unwanted signal picked up
by the balanced line is picked up by
both conductors, thus the noise is
effectively canceled out
Practical CMMRs are from 40 to 70dB
Baluns
Circuits that convert unbalanced to
balanced lines
Typically center tapped transformers
Sections of transmission line may also
be used
DC Voltage Propagation
What is happening?
Assume an I2R loss
of zero
When S1 is closed:
– VL1 is very high
preventing any
current to flow to C1
– Thus VC1 is zero,
making the voltage
across the remaining
portion of the line
also 0
When VL1 decays to 0:
– Current will flow to C1,
increasing the voltage
across C1 to Ebb (source
value)
– At this point VL2 will
increase to oppose VC1,
preventing C2 from
charging until VL2 decays
– Now C2 will charge
through L2 and L1
This action will continue until all the
capacitors are charged.
Since the line is infinite, there will be
infinite capacitors to charge taking an
infinite amount of time.
Remember that current is flowing in a
finite amount
Velocity of Propagation
The electric and magnetic fields
associated with the current are said to
propagate down the line
The speed at which an electrical signal
moves through a conductor is called the
velocity of propagation
d
Vp = LC
Delay Line
A length of a transmission line designed
to delay a signal from reaching a point
by a specific amount of time
t= LC
Velocity Constant/Factor
Velocity constant or factor is the ratio of
actual velocity to velocity in free space
1
Vf =
Wavelength
The distance traveled by a wave during
a period of time or one cycle
v
= f
Non-Resonant Line
Traveling DC Waves
Nonresonant line is one of infinite length or
that is terminated with a resistive load equal
in ohmic value to its characteristic impedance
All of the energy is transferred down the line
and absorbed by the load.
The voltage and current waves are called
traveling waves and move in phase with one
another from source to load.
The length is not critical
Traveling AC Waves
The charging of the line when AC is applied is very
similar to when DC is applied.
All instantaneous voltages produced by the generator
travel down the line in the order in which they were
produed.
If the voltage waveform is plotted at any point along
the line, the resulting waveform will be a duplicate of
the generator waveform
Since the line is terminated with its characteristic
impedance, all the energy produced by the source
will be absorbed by the load.
Resonant Line
Resonant Line
A transmission line terminated with an
impedance that is not equal to the
characteristic impedance
May be terminated with a short or open
Length of line is critical
DC—Open Terminations
Assume the characteristic impedance of
the line is equal to that of the source
Thus the applied voltage will be divided
equally between the source and the
line.
Each capacitor will charge
to the voltage of the one
before it.
No current will flow through
inductor L3 and its field will
collapse attempting to
keep current flowing in the
same direction.
The additional current
must attempt to flow
through C3 doubling the
voltage across C3.
This increase in
voltage must be felt
by C2 and C1
Apparently there is a
voltage moving back
from the terminals
toward the source.
Reflection
The abrupt reversal in direction of voltage and
current
The polarity and amplitude of the reflected
wave voltage is the same as that of the
incident wave
The current is reflected back with an opposite
polarity because when the field collapsed, the
current dropped to zero.
Reflected waves are undesirable
DC—to Shorted Lines
The voltage reflection is out of phase
with the incident voltage wave
The current reflection is in phase with
the incident current wave
The resultant load voltage is always
zero
Standing Waves: Open Line
Waveforms that apparently seem to
remain in one position, varying only in
amplitude
At the end:
– Current is zero
– Voltage is maximum
– Voltage and current are out of phase by 900
Standing Waves: Shorted Line
At the end of a shorted termination:
– Current is maximum
– Voltage is zero
– Current and voltage are out of phase by
900
FIGURE 11-19 Development of standing waves.
Gary M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Beasley Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Modern Electronic Communication, 7e Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Maximums and Minimums
Maxs and Mins occur all along the
transmission line
These are predictable if the applied
frequency and type of line termination is
known.
Standing Wave Ratio
Reflection Coefficient ()
Er
= Ei
ZL Z 0
= ZL Z 0
VSWR/SWR
Ratio of max voltage to min voltage
E max
VSWR = E min
1
VSWR = 1
Effect of Mismatch
Full generator power does not reach the load
Cable dielectric may break down as a result
of high value standing waves of voltage
Existence of reflections increases the power
loss in form of I2R losses
Noise problems
Ghost signals can be created
Quarter Length Transformer
Used to match a line to a resistive load
Example
– To match a resistive load RL to line with
impedance Z0
– Use a length of line of impedance Z01 equal
to ¼ wavelength of signal
– Z01 = Z 0 RL
The main idea is to reflect two signals
equal in amplitude but separated by ¼
wavelength
They effectively cancel each other out.
The reflected signals still exist but the
source is fooled into thinking otherwise
Electrical Length
The length of a line in wavelengths as
opposed to physical length
Voltage maximums occur at /2
intervals
If the line is less than /2 , the
reflections still occur but the line is so
short that there is no voltage variation
along the conductor.
Example
For a 300Hz signal in air
– Velocity is 3 x 108 m/s
= 3 x 108 m/s / 300 = 1x106 m or 621mi
For a 10GHz signal in air
= 3 x 108 m/s / 10GHz =3cm or 1.2 in
Smith Chart
Transmission Line Impedance
ZL jZ 0 tan s
Zs = Z0
Z 0 jZL tan s
s = distance from the load to the point
where it is desired to know the line
impedance (electrical degrees)
Complexity is deterrent
Smith Chart
Impedance chart developed by P.H. Smith
used to analyze transmission lines
Two sets of lines
– Circular lines tangent to each other at the right
hand side of the chart represent resistance
– Arcs tangent to each other at the right hand side of
the chart represent constant reactance
FIGURE 11-25 Smith chart.
Gary M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Beasley Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Modern Electronic Communication, 7e Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Using the Smith Chart
1) normalize the impedance
– Divide all impedances by the lines characteristic impedance
– For a 50 line, this means dividing both resistance and
reactance by 50
2) plot the resulting point on the chart
3) draw the corresponding VSWR circle
4) extend the radius through zLto intersect with the
outer scale
5) subtract this number from 0.5
6) divide the length of the transmission line by /2
retaining the remainder
7) subtract value found in step 5 from that found in
step 6
8) locate this value on outer circle on top half of chart
9) draw a line from the center to this point
10) the point at which this line intersects the VSWR
circle represents zin—the normalized input impedance
Multiply zin by Z0 to get the input impedance
FIGURE 11-26 Smith chart for Ex. 11-8.
Gary M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Beasley Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Modern Electronic Communication, 7e Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Matching Impedances with Chart
1) normalize load impedance
2) plot zL and draw the VSWR circle
3) move from zL clockwise until line is resistive
(crosses horizontal line)
4) this is the point at which the matching /4 line will
be inserted
5) find the normalized and actual resistance of the
matching section
FIGURE 11-27 Smith chart for Ex. 11-9.
Gary M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Beasley Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Modern Electronic Communication, 7e Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Stub Tuners
Single Stub Tuner: the stub’s distance
from the load and the location of its
short circuit are adjustable to allow a
match between line and load
Double Stub Tuner: has fixed stub
locations but the position of the short
circuits is adjustable to allow a match
between line and load
FIGURE 11-28 Stub tuners.
Gary M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Beasley Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Modern Electronic Communication, 7e Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Applications
Discrete circuit simulations
Baluns
Filters
Slotted lines
Time domain reflectrometry
Summary
Quiz
Review
Types of transmission lines
Calculate the impedance of transmission lines
Calculate velocity of propagation and delay factor
Describe how standing waves are produced
Use the Smith chart to find input impedance
Use the Smith chart to match loads to lines
