CH.

Transmission Lines
(16 marks)

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Basic Principle

Transmission line is a current carrying conductor.

Fundamentals of Transmission Line
• There are two types of commonly used transmission lines.
Transmission Line
 
 Co-axial cable Parallel wire
( Unbalanced) (Balanced)

• Balanced line is made of two parallel conductors spaced

from one another by a distance of 1/2 inch upto several
inches.
• Insulating spacers may be used in the wires to be separated.
• Unbalanced line has one conductor at the center and
outer braided conductor which is grounded.
• Of the two types of transmission lines, co-axial is most
widely used
Co-axial Cable
Continued….
Frequency Range:
• Co-axial cables carries signals of higher-frequency ranges
from 100 kHz to 500 MHz.
Applications:
• Co-axial cable is used when unbalanced properties are
needed, as in interconnection of a broadcast transmitter to its
grounded antenna.
• It is also employed at UHF and microwave frequencies to
avoid risk of radiation from the transmission line itself.
1. Telephone cables.
2. Cable TV system (for cable connections).
3. Local Area Networks (LAN) for computers.
Continued….

Fig. Connection between Dish Antenna and TV

:

Receiver
Comparison between Parallel Wire and Co-axial Cable
 Equivalent Circuit Of Transmission Line

Fig. General Equivalent Circuit of Transmission Line

RF Equivalent Circuit

Fig. Transmission Line RF Equivalent Circuit

Primary Constants of Transmission Line
• Consider a long transmission line consisting of two parallel
uniform conductors carrying current, there is a magnetic field
around the conductors and voltage drop along them.
• The existence of magnetic field indicates that the lines have
series inductance (L) and voltage drop indicates the presence of
series resistor (R).
Effect of Primary Constant on Transmission line:
• The primary constants take into account both the forward and
return lines.
• They are constant, in that they do not vary with voltage or
current, however, they are frequency dependent to some extent.
• The series resistance R increases with frequency as a result of
skin effect.
 Continued…
• The inductance is almost independent of frequency for open lines, but
tends to decrease with increasing frequency for screened cables.
• The capacitance C is almost independent of frequency whereas the
conductance G tends to increase with frequency because of increasing
dielectric loss with increase in frequency.
• Voltage applied across the conductor produces an electric field between
the conductor and charge them. This shows that lines have Shunt
capacitance (C) and Shunt conductance (G).
• The four constants R, G, L and C are called primary constants of
transmission line.
• When these constants are uniformly distributed along the line it is called
uniform transmission line shown in Fig.
Four primary constants:
R - Series resistance, ohms/unit length
L - Series inductance, heneries/unit length
C - Shunt capacitance, farads/unit length
G - Shunt conductance, susceptance/unit length
Secondary Constants of Transmission Line
• There are two secondary constants of transmission
line.
(i) Characteristic impedance (ZO) and
(ii) Propagation constant ().
Characteristic Impedance (ZO)
• Any circuit that consists of series and shunt
impedances must have an input impedance.
• For the transmission line this input impedance will
depend on the type of line, its length and termination
at the far end.
Definition:
Characteristic impedance of a transmission line, ZO is the
impedance measured at the input of this line when its
length is infinite.
• Method of Calculation:
• If a line has infinite length, all the power fed into it will
be absorbed, because the voltage drops across the
inductance and leakage current through capacitance.
Continued…
Continued….
 Continued….
Therefore,
Zo=√R+jwL / √G+jwc
• Equation shows the characteristic impedance of transmission line
may be complex.
• At radio frequencies, (or at high frequencies) the resistive
components are ignored.
• L >> R, C >> G
•  ZO = √L/√c
• 
• ... L is measured in H/m and C in f/m.
• At low frequencies
• R >> L, G >> C
•  Zo= √R/√G
• The characteristic impedance ZO for a telephone line is between
200 to 600 .
Advantages/ Disadvantages of Transmission Line
Advantages
(i) Simple construction.
(ii)Flexible.
(iii) Higher mechanical strength.
(iv) Less expensive.
Disadvantages
(i) Increase in power loss with increase in
frequency.
(ii)Cannot handle high voltages.
Losses in Transmission Line
• There are three ways in which energy, applied to a
transmission line may be dissipated before reaching
the load are −
1. Radiation loss.
2. Conductor heating loss (or I2R loss).
3. Dielectric heating loss.
Continued….
1 Radiation Loss
• Radiation losses occur because a transmission line may act
as an antenna if the separation between conductors is an
appreciable fraction of a wavelength.
• This occurs more to parallel-wire lines than co-axial lines.
• Radiation losses increase with frequency for a given
transmission line.
2 Conductor Heating (or I2R) Loss
Conductor heating loss is proportional to the current and
therefore inversely proportional to the characteristic
impedance.It is also increased with frequency, because of
skin effect.
Continued….
3. Dielectric Heating Loss
• Dielectric heating is proportional to the voltage
across the dielectric and hence inversely proportional
to the characteristic impedance for any power
transmitted.
• This loss also increases with frequency for any given
dielectric medium.
• For air, dielectric heating remains negligible.
• For co-axial lines at 1 GHz, these losses vary from as
much as 200 dB/100 m for a solid-dielectric, flexible
6 mm line.
Standing Waves

• Definition:
• The forward and reflected waves on the incorrectly
terminated transmission line produce an interference
pattern known as standing wave.
• A standing wave is the unique distribution of voltage
and current along the transmission line that is not
terminated in its characteristic impedance.
• The concept of standing wave can be best
understood by considering the two cases of
impedance mismatch at load or the antenna end
of the transmission line.
• (i) An open circuit and (ii) A short circuit
Shorted Load

Fig. Standing Waves on a Shorted Transmission Line

 Continued…..
The waveform below the transmission line shows the
voltage and current at each point on the line.
•We can measure these voltages and current at each
point with the help of multimeter.
•As shown the voltage is zero while the current is
maximum because short circuit means zero impedance.
•All the power is reflected back towards the source.
•The voltage and current variations distribute
themselves according to the wavelength of the signal.
•The pattern repeats for every one-half wavelength.
•The voltage and current levels at the source will be
dependent on the signal wavelength and actual line.
 Open Load

Fig. Standing Waves on an Open-Circuit Transmission

Line
Open circuit means an infinite impedance, so that
voltage at the end of the line is maximum and the
current is zero.
• All the energy is reflected, thereby setting up this
stationary pattern of voltage and current standing
waves.
• Practically, transmission line won’t have a short or
open.
• Instead, the load impedance will not be equal to
the transmission line (characteristics) impedance.
 Mismatch in Load:
The antenna will have reactive component, either inductive or
capacitive as well as its resistance.
•The mismatch will produce standing waves, but with less
amplitude, their distribution is shown in Fig

Fig. Transmission Line with Mismatched Load with resulting

Standing Waves
 Resonant Line

A line terminated in other than characteristic

impedance is called a resonant line.

Non-Resonant Line
 
•A line terminated in its characteristics impedance is
called a non-resonant or flat line
 Reflection in Transmission Lines
Reflection of energy occurs when there is an impedance
irregularity i.e. when the primary constants of the line are
not uniform along the line or the terminated impedance at
the far end is different from ZO.
•This reflection will be maximum when line is open
circuit (terminating impedance ZR = ).
•This reflection will be negligible (or zero) when line is
short circuit
(i.e. ZR = 0).
•This reflection normally is undesirable on transmission
line.
•If a line is terminated by its characteristic impedance
does not reflect power, such a line is called non-resonant
line. The reflection coefficient of such line is zero. If
ZRZO Zo = ZR- Z / Z Z
0 R+ 0
 Standing Wave Ratio (SWR)

If ZR  ZO, some of the power is absorbed in the load

and rest is reflected back.

 
Fig. Standing Wave
•Thus as shown in Fig. , one set of waves V and I
travelling towards the load and the reflected set is
travelling back to source.
 Reflection in Transmission Lines
Reflection of energy occurs when there is an impedance
irregularity i.e. when the primary constants of the line are not
uniform along the line or the terminated impedance at the far
end is different from ZO.
•This reflection will be maximum when line is open circuit
(terminating impedance ZR = ).
•This reflection will be negligible (or zero) when line is short
circuit (i.e. ZR = 0).•This reflection normally is undesirable on
transmission line.
•If a line is terminated by its characteristic impedance does
not reflect power, such a line is called non-resonant line. The
reflection coefficient of such line is zero.
If ZR  ZO
 Standing Wave Ratio (SWR)

If ZR  ZO, some of the power is absorbed in the load

and rest is reflected back.

 
Fig. Standing Wave
• Thus as shown in Fig, one set of waves V and I
travelling towards the load and the reflected set is
travelling back to source.
Continued…..

Definition of Standing Wave:

The two sets of travelling wave travelling in
opposite direction set-up an interference pattern
known as standing waves.
Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) - Definition:
The ratio of maximum and minimum magnitudes
of current or voltage on the line having standing
wave is called Standing Wave Ratio (SWR).
The magnitude of standing waves on a transmission line is
determined by the ratio of the maximum current to the
minimum current along the line.
SWR = Vmax = Imax
Vmin Imin

•For a properly terminated transmission line,

Load impedance = Characteristic impedance
i.e.ZL = ZO
 No reflection takes place.
 Vmax = Vmin
  For ideal case
Definition of Standing Wave:
The two sets of travelling wave travelling in opposite
direction set-up an interference pattern known as
standing waves.
Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) - Definition:
The ratio of maximum and minimum magnitudes of
current or voltage on the line having standing wave is
called Standing Wave Ratio (SWR).
 The magnitude of standing waves on a transmission
line is determined by the ratio of the maximum current to
the minimum current along the line.
SWR = Vmax/Vmin =Imax/Imin
SWR = Imax/Imin =Vmax/Vmin

•For a properly terminated transmission line,

Load impedance = Characteristic impedance
i.e.ZL=ZO
 No reflection takes place.
 Vmax=Vmin
  For ideal case
SWR= 1
 Reflection Coefficient (K or R)

If a finite piece of line is terminated in an impedance not

equal to characteristic impedance (i.e. ZR  ZO) then
some of the power will be absorbed by termination and
remaining power will be reflected towards source.
If Vi is the incident voltage and Vr is the reflected
voltage wave, then their ratio will tell us what is
happening along the line.
Definition:
The ratio of reflected voltage to incident voltage is
called reflection coefficient (K).
K= Vr/Vi or K= Ir/Ii
If the line is terminated in its characteristic
impedance i.e. ZL = ZO, then there is no reflected
voltage so that .K=0

If the line is open or shorted, the total reflection

occurs. ZL  ZO. That is Vr and Vi are same.
In this case K=1
 Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR)

The ratio of maximum voltage to minimum

voltage along a transmission line is called VSWR.
Taking only r.m.s. values,
Vmax = |Vi| + |Vr|
Vmin = |Vi| − |Vr|
Vi  r.m.s. value of incident voltage
Vr  r.m.s. value of reflected voltage
By definition,
VSWR=|Vmax|= |Vi| + |Vr|
|Vmin| |Vi| − |Vr|
Continued….
Continued….
 Quarter and Half Wavelength Line

Transmission lines that are exactly quarter wavelength

or a half wavelength long have important impedance-
transforming properties and for this purpose these are
used at radio frequencies.
 Impedance Inversion by Quarter-Wavelength
Lines
Consider Fig.shows a load impedance ZL connected to a piece of
transmission line of length s, having characteristic impedance ZO.
 
 
Fig.Loaded Line
•When the length s is exactly a quarter wavelength line (or odd
number of quarter-wavelength) and the line is lossless, then the
impedance Zs, when looking towards the load is given by,
 (4.10)
•This relation is called reflective impedance, means the quarter
wavelength reflects the opposite of its load impedance (also
known as impedance inversion).
 Properties of Quarter Wavelength Line:

Equation represents a very important and

fundamental relation which shows important
properties as follows:
1.Unless a load is resistive and equal to
characteristic impedance of the line, standing
waves of voltage and current are set-up along
the line with node and antinode repetition rate
of /4 shown in Fig.
Properties of Quarter Wavelength Line:
Equation represents a very important and fundamental
relation which shows important properties as follows:
1.Unless a load is resistive and equal to characteristic
impedance of the line, standing waves of voltage and
current are set-up along the line with node and
antinode repetition rate of /4 shown in Fig.

Fig.Standing Waves along a Mismatched Transmission Line;

Impedance Inversion
 Continued…
Note that,
(i)The voltage and current minima are not zero.
(ii)The load is not a short circuit so that SWR is not
infinite.
(iii)The current nodes are separated from the voltage
nodes by a distance of /4.
•At point A (current node, voltage antinode) the line
impedance is high.
•At point B (current antinode, voltage node) it is
reverse i.e. line impedance is low.
•In order to change the impedance at A, it is
necessary to change the SWR of the line.
 Continued….
Equation above states this relation mathematically.
Another interesting property of the quarter-wave line is
seen if in equation the impedances are normalized with
respect to the ZO.
Dividing by ZO to both the sides,
We have, Zs/Zo=Zo/Zs
But, Zs/Zo= Zs
and ZL/Zo =ZL
Hence, Zo/ZL =1/ZL
Substitute this in equation (4.11),
Zs =1/ZL
Zs =ZL where, Y is the
normalized admittance of the load.
 Quarter-Wave Transformer and Impedance
Matching
Properties:
1. Quarter-wave transformer has a length of /4 at only one
frequency.
2. It is highly frequency dependent and in this respect similar to a
high – Q tuned circuit.
3. The practical behaviour of transmission line transformer and
ordinary tuned transformer is identical but difference in
construction.
4. Quarter-wave transformer used as a filter, to prevent unwanted
frequencies from reaching the load, such as antenna.
5. If impedance matching is required for broadband, the
transformer must be constructed with high resistance wire to
reduce its Q, thereby increasing bandwidth.
 Properties of Lines of Various Lengths

We know that a piece of transmission line /4 long and short circuited
at far end (or /2 long and open circuited at far end) behaves exactly
like a parallel tuned circuit.
 

Fig. Transmission Line Sections and their LC Equivalents

 Continued….
If the frequency of operation is reduced, then there is
reduction in shunt inductive reactance and increase in
shunt capacitance reactance.
• Inductive current predominates and thus the
impedance of circuit is purely inductive.
• Now same piece at the new frequency is less than
/4 long, since how the wavelength is greater and length of
line is unchanged.
• Thus, we have important property that a short
circuited line less than /4 long appears as a pure
capacitance.
• The various possibilities are shown in Fig. 4.18 which
is nothing but table of various line lengths, termination and
their equivalent LC circuits.
 Impedance Matching

The best way to prevent a mismatch between the antenna

and transmission lines is correct design.
•But, practically mismatches occurs.
i.e. the antenna resistance may be other than the
characteristic impedance of the line or the antenna may be
inductive or capacitive.
•One solution is to tune the antenna, by adjusting its length.
•Also, we can insert impedance matching circuit or antenna
tuner between the transmitter and the transmission line.
•This can be balun (balance to unbalance transformer) or
LC, L, T or  network.
•These circuits will make the transmitter to behave properly
but will not reduce the SWR on the transmission line.
 Stubs

It is possible to connect sections of open or short circuited

line known as stub or tuning stub in shunt with the main line
at a certain point to effect the impedance matching.
• The matching with the help of tuning stub or stub is
called stub matching and it has following advantages.
(i)Length (l) and characteristic impedance (ZO) remains
unchanged.
(ii) Mechanically, it is possible to add adjustable
susceptance in shunt with the line.
•A stub matching is of two types.
Stub Matching
 
Single Stub Matching Double Stub Matching
 Single Stub Matching
A type of transmission lines frequently employed for single stub
matching is shown in Fig.

Fig.: Single Stub Matching

Continued….
The main element of this transformer is a short circuited
section of line whose open end is connected to the main line
at a particular distance from the load end.
•Where the input conductance at that point is equal to the
characteristic conductance of the line, and the stub length is
adjusted to provide a susceptance equal in value but opposite
in sign, to the input susceptance of the main line at that point.
•So that, the total susceptance of the main line at that point is
zero.
•The combination of stub and the line will thus present a
conductance which is equal to the characteristic impedance of
the line, i.e. the main length of the HF transmission line will be
matched.
 Advantages &Demerits of Single Stub Matching
Advantages of short circuited stub −
(i) Less power radiation and
(ii) Effective length variation is possible by shorting bar,
thus, a short circuited stub is invariably used. For lossless
short circuited stub VR = 0.
Demerits of Single Stub Matching
•The single stub matching suffers from the two main
disadvantages as follows:
(i)The range of terminating impedances which can be
transferred is limited.
(ii)It is useful only for a fixed frequency because as the
frequency varies, the position of stub has to be varied.
Double Stub Matching
The disadvantages of single stub matching are
overcome by using double stub matching as
shown in Fig.

Fig. Double Stub Matching

Balun

A Balun or a balance to unbalance transformer, is a

circuit element used to connect a balanced line to
unbalanced line. i.e. it is used to connect an
unbalanced (coaxial) line to a balance antenna such
as a dipole.
• As shown in Fig. 4.21 here the windings
associated with the balanced
system is symmetrically arranged with respect to a
grounded electrostatic shield so that stray
capacitances enevitably present will not introduce
unbalance.
 Continued…

Fig. Balanced to Unbalanced Transformation With

The Help of Tuned Transformer
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