UNIT I

Introduction to Metallic
Transmission Lines

Longitudinal
- propagation of electrical power along a transmission line
occurs in the form of transverse electromagnetic (TEM) waves.

- with longitudinal waves, the displacement (amplitude) is in
the direction of propagation.
Two basic kinds of Waves:
Transverse
Longitudinal Waves
Transverse Waves

Wave Velocity
- waves travel at various speeds, depending on the type of
wave and the characteristics of the propagation medium
Frequency
- it is the rate at which the periodic wave repeats.
Wavelength
- it is the distance of one cycle occurring in space.
For free space propagation:
Where:
= wavelength
c = speed of light = 3x10
8
m/s
f = frequency
Wavelength in feet or inches:
Transmission Lines
defined as the conductive connections between the system elements which
carry signal power
Metallic conductor system that is used to guide or transfer electrical energy
from one point to another.
Transfer of output rf energy of a transmitter to an antenna
The used of transmission line is due to that antenna cannot be connected
directly to the transmitter since it is located some distance away.
The transmission line is connected to a source which is called INPUT END.
The input INPUT END is also called as Transmitter End, Sending End or Source.
The other end is called the OUTPUT END or Receiving End or Sink.
Describing transmission line in
terms of impedance
1. INPUT IMPEDANCE
Ratio of voltage to current at the input end
Impedance presented to the transmitter by the transmission line and the
load
2. OUTPUT IMPEDANCE
Ratio of the voltage to current at the output end
Impedance presented to the load by the transmission line and the source.
3. CHARACTERISTICS IMPEDANCE
Impedance at the infinitely long transmission line
Ratio od the voltage and current at any point in the rf line

Balanced Transmission Lines
- with two wire balanced lines, both conductors carry current
- also called as differential signal transmission
Unbalanced Transmission Lines
- also called as single ended signal transmission
- one wire is at ground potential, whereas the other wire is at
signal potential.
Baluns
- stands for balanced to unbalanced
- a device used to connect a balanced transmission line to an
unbalanced load.

Parallel-conductor
- are comprised of two or more metallic conductors separated by a
nonconductive insulating material called dielectric.
Most common parallel-conductor transmission lines:
- are two wire parallel conductors
- consist simply of two parallel wires, closely spaced and separated by air.
- consist of two wires that are generally spaced from 0.25 to 6 inches apart.
- sometimes used as a transmission line between antenna and transmitter
or antenna and receiver.
- advantage of this type is its simple construction.
- principal disadvantage are the high radiation losses and noise pick up due
to the lack of shielding
- is another form of two wire parallel conductor
- is essentially the same as open wire transmission line except that the
spacers between the two conductors are replaced with a continuous solid
dielectric.
- essentially the same as the two wire open line except that uniform
spacing is assured by embedding the wires in a low loss dielectric, usually
polyethylene.

- is formed by twisting two insulated conductors around each other
- are often stranded in units, and the units are then cabled into cores
containing up to 3000 pairs of wires.
- consist of two insulated wires, twisted to form a flexible line without the
use of spacers.
- not used for high frequencies due to the high losses that occur in the
rubber insulation.
- LAN are often wired using twisted pair.
- consist of parallel conductors separated from each other and surrounded
by solid dielectric.
- the conductor are contained within a copper braid tubing that acts as a
shield.
- the principal advantage is that the conductors are balanced to the ground
- the copper braid shield isolates the conductors from external noise pick
up.
Coaxial or Concentric
- used for high data transmission rates to reduce losses and isolate
transmission path.
- consist of a wire mounted inside of and coaxially with a tubular
outer conductor.
- the inner conductor is insulated from the outer conductor by
insulating spacers or beads at regular intervals.
- the main advantage of this is to minimize radiation losses
- are made with an inner conductor that consists of flexible wire
insulated from the outer conductor by a solid, continuous insulating material.
Two types of Coaxial cable connectors:
- Bayonet Neill
Concelman. It is a common type
of RF connector used for a coaxial
cable.
- are made to match the
characteristic impedance of cable
at either 50 ohms or 75 ohms. It is
usually applied for frequencies
below 3 GHz and voltages below
500 Volts.
-is a threaded RF
connector used to join coaxial
cables. It was one of the first
connectors capable of carrying
microwave-frequency signals, and
was invented in the 1940s by Paul
Neill of Bell Labs, after whom the
connector is named.
Waveguide
- Classified as a transmission line
- Used to guide energy from one point to another but the usage is limited to
mean a hollow metal tube
- The EM wave travelling down the waveguide is somewhat slower than the
EM Wave travelling in free space.
Types of Waveguide
BASED ON THE CROSS SECTION
1. Rectangular
2. Elliptical
3. Circular
BASED ON THE MATERIAL
1. Metallic
2. Dielectric
- The installation of waveguide is difficult compare to the other
types of transmission line. Radius of bends must measure than two
wavelengths at the operating frequency to avoid attenuation.

Copper Losses
Radiation Losses
Dielectric Heating Losses
Coupling Losses
Corona
- Is a luminous discharge that destroys
the transmission line
A type of copper loss is Power Loss.
It occurs whenever the current flows
through one of the conductors, and
dissipate energy in the form of heat.
Another type of copper loss is due to
Skin Effect. But can be reduced using
Litzendrant Wire.
SKIN EFFECT current in the
center of the wire becomes smaller
and most of the electron flow is in
the surface


A difference of potential bet. Two
conductors of a metallic transmission
line
- It is the energy radiated caused by
the fields surrounding the conductors
When two section of transmission line
are connected together.
Length of Transmission Line
- A transmission line is considered to or is defined as long if its
length exceeds 1/16
th
of a wavelength, otherwise it is
considered short.

NOTE
- When a power is applied to a short transmission line practically it
reaches at the output end of end of the line.
- Since most transmission lines are electrically long, the properties of the
line should be considered. Example is the voltage necessary to drive
the current.

EXAMPLE:
A line that has a physical length of 3 meters is considered short if it transmits
a radio frequency of 30 kilohertz. On the other hand, the same transmission
line is considered electrically long if it transmits 30000 Megahertz.

To show the difference in physical and electrical lengths of the lines, compute
the wavelength of the two frequencies.
Transmission Line
Equivalent Circuit
Lumped Constants

A transmission line has the properties of inductance, capacitance, and
resistance just as more conventional circuits have. But in conventional circuits
they are lumped into a single device or component.

1. Coil of Wire
2. Two metal plates separated by small space
3. Fixed Resistor

But a transmission line constants are distributed. Meaning all lumped constants
are lumped together.
Distributed Parameters
When current flows through a wire, a magnetic lines of force are set up around
the wire. As the current increase or decrease, the field expands and collapse
that tends to keep the current in the same direction
Distributed Parameters
The two parallel wires act as a plates of capacitor and that air between them is
serving as a dielectric material.
Distributed Parameters
The transmission line has a electrical resistance along its length.
Distributed Parameters
Since Dielectric, even air is not a perfect insulator, a small current known as
LEAKAGE CURRENT flows between two wires. It acts as a resistor parallel
between to wires permitting the flow of current. The property is called
CONDUCTANCE.
Electromagnetic Fields about a
Transmission Line
Distributed constants are basic properties
common to all transmission line and exist
whether or not current flows. But as soon as
current and voltage already exist in a
transmission line, another property becomes
evident. The EM field.

Two kinds of field:
1. Electric field - field associated with
voltage. It exerts force to a charge that
placed on it.
2. Magnetic Field field associated with
current, because it tends to exert
magnetic force on the poles.

- are called secondary constants and are determined from the four
primary constant.
Characteristic Impedance
- sometimes called surge
impedance is defined as the impedance
seen looking into an infinitely long line
or the impedance seen looking into a
finite length of line that is terminated in
a purely resistive load with a resistance
equal to the characteristic impedance of
the line.
- ratio of E to I at every point
in the transmission line

Velocity Wave Propagation
- The inductance of a line delays the charging of the line capacitance.
Therefore the velocity of propagation is related to the values of L
and C.

Q = IT (The total charge is equal to the current multiplied by the time it flows)
Q = CE (The total charge on a capacitor is equal to capacitance multiplied by E
on the capacitor.
Since non e of the charge is lost, the total charge leaving the battery is equal to
the total charge on the line.
- Since the capacitor is charge equal to CE, the voltage
across each inductor must also change

Determining the
Characteristic Impedance
Formulas:
Based on equivalent ckt.:
For extremely low frequency:
For extremely high frequency:
Basic formula of Impedance:
For two parallel transmission line:
For concentric coaxial cable:
Determine the characteristic impedance for an air dielectric two wire
parallel transmission line with a D/r ratio of 12.22.
Ans. 300 ohms
Determine the characteristic impedance for an RG-59A coaxial cable with
the following specs: d= 0.025 in., D= 0.15in. and
r
= 2.23.
Ans. 71.9 ohms
Determine the characteristic impedance for an RG-59A coaxial cable with
the following specs: L= 0.118 H/ft and C= 21pF/ft.
Ans. 75 ohms
Propagation Constant
- is used to express the attenuation and the phase shift per unit
length of a transmission line.
Formulas:
Propagation constant:
Phase shift:
Intermediate and radio frequency:
Current and Voltage distribution:

Velocity and Dielectric Constant
- is defined simply as the ratio of the actual velocity of the
propagation of an electromagnetic wave through a given medium to the velocity
of propagation through a vacuum.
- is simply the relative permittivity of the material.
Where:
V
p
= velocity factor
V
P
= actual velocity of propagation
c = velocity of propagation through the vacuum


Rearranging the equation gives the V
f
= V
P
x c



The velocity at which the electromagnetic waves travels through transmission line depends
on the dielectric constant of the insulating material separating the two conductors.

V
P
=
1

For a given length of RG 8A/U coaxial cable with distributed capacitance
C = 96.6pF/meter, a distributed inductance L = 241.56nH/meter and a
relative dielectric constant of
r
= 2.3, determine the velocity of
propagation and the velocity factor.
Ans. 2.07x10
8
m/s, 0.69 or 0.66
Electrical length of a transmission line
- the length of a transmission line is relative to the length of the wave
propagating.
Delay Lines
- are transmission line design to intentionally introduce a time delay
in the path of an electromagnetic wave.
t
d
= LC (seconds)
INCIDENT AND REFLECTED WAVES
An ordinary transmission line is bidirectional; power can propagate well in both
directions. Voltage that propagates from the source.

Voltage that propagates from the source toward the load is called
INCIDENT VOLTAGE.
Voltage that propagates from the load towards the source is called
REFLECTED VOLTAGE.




REFLECTION COEFFICIENT
The reflection of coefficient is a vector quantity that represents the ratio of
reflected voltage to incident voltage or reflected current to incident current.

=

or

where = reflection coefficient

= incident voltage

= reflected voltage

= reflected current

= incident current






STANDING WAVES
When Z
o
= Z
L
, all the incident power is absorbed by the load. This is
called a MATCHED LINE.

When Z
o
Z
L
, some of the incident power is absorbed by the load,
and some is returned to the source. This is called UNMATCHED
LINE OR MISMATCHED LINE.

STANDING WAVES
When there is a mismatched line, there are two electromagnetic waves,
travelling in opposite direction, present on the line at the same time. These are
called TRAVELING WAVES.
The two traveling waves set up an interference pattern called a
STANDING WAVE.
STANDING WAVE RATIO
The standing-wave ratio (SWR) is defined as the ratio of the maximum
voltage to the minimum voltage or the maximum current to the minimum
current of a standing wave on a transmission line. (Voltage Standing Wave
Ratio).
SWR =

=
+

Vmax = Ei + Er = occur when the incident and reflected waves are in phase
Vmin = Ei Er = occur when the incident and reflected waves are 180 out of
phase.
STANDING WAVE RATIO
=

SWR =
+

SWR =
(1+)
(1)

=
1
+1

Substituting the formula from the original SWR equation
STANDING WAVE ON AN OPEN LINE
When an incident wave waves of voltage and current reach an open
termination, none of the power is absorbed; it all reflected back to the source .

It can be seen that the voltage standing wave has a maximum value of at the
open end and a minimum value one quarter wavelength from the open.

The current standing wave
THE END of
PART 1