1960 Moore: A General Course in Traveling Waves
at the essential or ultimate elements, causes, or principles.
It is inductive reasoning, in which we go from observable
or provable facts or truths to the basic principles under-
lying that truth, to the elements of that truth, or to the
causes of that truth."
Synthesis consists of combining or uniting a series of
parts or known truths into a larger whole.
In electronic circuit studies, the fact that certain func-
tions, such as feedback or degeneration or inductor action,
have occurred constitutes the "observable facts or truths"
mentioned in the Webster definition, and as such they are
A General Course in Traveling Waves*
R. K. MOOREt
Summary-Traveling waves must be considered whenever
the time for a disturbance to propagate from one place to an-
other is important. A course with this as its theme has been
developed to replace the usual course in transmission lines or
distributed constant circuits. Emphasis is placed on the trans-
mission line as a teaching vehicle, but plane waves in space;
vibrating strings and membranes; acoustic waves in gases,
liquids and solids; heat conduction; and chemical diffusion are
also treated. The analogies between the "telegraphers' equations"
and comparable equations describing nonelectrical phenomena
are stressed.
Transients are treated for two special cases: 1) lossless lines
and acoustics, and 2) diffusion and heat transfer. Steady state
analysis using phasors and the Smith Chart is applied to plane
electromagnetic and acoustic waves at all angles of incidence,
as well as to the transmission line. Spherical acoustic waves are
treated briefly.
INTRODUCTION
N electrical engineering we are most likely to think of
of traveling wave phenomena on transmission lines
or perhaps of electromagnetic waves in space.
Actually, of course, traveling wave phenomena are im-
portant in many other fields, including acoustics, me-
chanics, thermal conduction, diffusion, and wave
mechanics.
Mathematically, the waves associated with the various
phenomena may be described in the same manner, and
thus the mathematical analysis of transmission line waves
is the same as that of plane acoustic waves or heat con-
duction waves. The wave equation for the voltage on a
transmission line contains terms proportional to the voltage
* Manuscript received by the PGE, September 28, 1959. This
paper was presented at the IRE Seventh Regional Conference, Al-
buquerque, N.M., May, 1959.
t Dept. of Elect. Engrg., University of New Mexico, Albuquer-
que, N.M.
15
starting points rather than end points in a circuit analysis.
They are the story of what is accomplished. When we
arrive by inductive reasoning at the basic principles under-
lying such truths, the elements of those truths, or the
causes of those truths, we find we are talking about specific
electron currents, moving along definite (and usually
limited) paths in very particular fashions in order to
accomplish these functions.
Electron currents are the causes of those "observable
truths"-they tell the final story of how these functions are
accomplished.
and to the first time derivative and the second time deriva-
tive of the voltage. No other wave phenomenon is described
by an equation that contains all these orders of time
differentiation.
Because of this, a course in the study of transmission
lines may be extended to cover various other types of
waves with a minimum of effort. Such a course has been
developed at the University of New Mexico and is pre-
sented to students in the junior year. The transmission line
is used as the teaching vehicle but many other types of
waves are described in the course, and examples are
chosen from those wave phenomena most pertinent to the
subject being discussed.
The course developed from a transmission line course
on the junior level which had previously been taught at
the University of New Mexico. The students entering this
new course have had a rather thorough treatment (3 se-
mesters) of lumped constant circuits and have had an
introduction to electric and magnetic fields at the mathe-
matical level of vector calculus, through Maxwell's equa-
tions and a brief introduction to plane waves. The course
in "Traveling Waves" replaces the transmission line
course.
There are two lectures per week in a large group and
one three-hour additional session per week. During the
additional session, laboratory experiments are performed
during about six of the sixteen weeks of the term, and the
remaining weeks are devoted to short quizzes and discus-
sion of problems and experiments. There is also a brief
discussion of problems preceding the laboratory during
weeks when laboratory experiments are performed.
We believe quite strongly that this course stressing the
unity of various traveling wave phenomena gives the stu-
dent a great deal of confidence in his ability to deal with a
16 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION February
wide range of engineering problems by the use of tech- TABLE I
niques learned for solving electrical problems. Our courses ANALOGS OF TELEGRAPHER'S EQUATIONS-AA" TYPE
in lumped constant circuits are also being redeveloped Type of wave First equation Second equation
along similar lines, but have not yet reached the breadth
achieved in the Traveling Waves course. Transmission line --= -Ri-LX _ L i = -Gv-C-
ax 01 Ox 0t
DESCRIPTION OF ANALOGIES
Electromagnetic
plane wave OE0
ax
H
atAx
= Ey-
The difference between the traveling wave course de- 01
e

scribed here and the usual transmission line course is "Lossless Waves"
largely in the use of analogies to various other types of
waves. The analogies are developed early so that examples Vibrating string _____ aft
I
--_ PL=
from various fields may be used thereafter. Ox T0-1 Op ap
The first-order differential equations for transmission Sound in gas O= YPa
- o _ au.
Ox 0t Ox at
lines, the "telegrapher's equations," have analogs in nearly 0lu. ap ap 09u5
all the other wave phenomena. These analogs are developed Sound in liquid Ox
- -K-
=
01 Ox
= -PO
01
in the course from the basic principles involved. Thus, the Ou, _ 1 p: ap,, au.
telegrapher's equations for various types of acoustic waves Sound in solid x - =-Po
ax YB 0t dx at
are based upon Newton's second law and D'Alembert's
"Diffusion Waves"
principle, and on the principle of conservation of mass
which results in a continuity equation. Fourier's law of Heat conduction dx - qx
I
= - Spo ar
heat conduction is one of the telegrapher's equations for Oax 01a
a
Oc
heat conduction, and the other is based upon the principle Diffusion of molecules - = -- mv 1 m,--_- - Occ
of storage of heat and heat capacity-it is essentially a Ox D Ox At
continuity equation for heat. Comparable to Fourier's law v =voltage across transmission PL= linear density
of heat conduction is Fick's law of diffusion. The other line T=tension in wire
i=current in transmission line p = pressure
telegrapher's equation for diffusion based
is on the con- L=series inductance per unit u =longitudinal velocity
servation of mass. The various equations are listed in R = series length Po=volume density of mass
resistance per unit ,y = ratio of specific heats of gas
Table I. length p.=ambient pressure
It can be seen from Table I that there is a pair of first- G = shunt conductance per unit K = compressibility
length YB =Young's modulus (bulk)
order equations for each of the phenomena mentioned. C=shunt capacitance per unit p.= longitudinal stress
Both first-order equations for the transmission line con- E =electriclength T = temperature
field strength k =thermal conductivity
tain loss terms (Ri, Gv) and energy storage terms H= magnetic field strength q=longitudinal heat flux
(Lai/at and Cay/at). Ampere's law contains both types of of = conductivity S=specific heat (per unit mass)
= permeability c = concentration
terms and Faraday's law contains only the energy storage e = permittivity D = diffusion coefficient
term. In general, for the other types of waves, the equa- UV= A =transverse force m,,=longitudinal mass flux
transverse velocity
tions shown contain either a term corresponding to the
loss term of the transmission line equation, or a term placement currents may be neglected.
corresponding to the energy storage term, but not both Combining the transmission line equations for the case
(note that for diffusion-type waves these terms do not in which loss is neglected results in the familiar wave
necessarily mean loss or storage of energy for the non- equation for voltage
electromagnetic waves as they do for the transmission line
and electromagnetic waves). Actually, of course, the waves 02v 02v
-= LC
for which no loss terms whatever are listed (vibrating ax, all
-

string and various acoustic waves) do have some loss, so

that one of the first-order equations for these should really where v is voltage, x is distance on the line, L is inductance
contain a loss term; but the loss is ordinarily neglected in per unit length, C is capacitance per unit length, and t
elementary treatments. is time. This may be written in the form
Table I indicates two basic classifications of nonelectric
waves: lossless and diffusion. The vibrating string and the 02v 1 02v
various acoustic waves are essentially lossless. The heat aX2 vP2 at2
conduction and diffusion phenomena all have the same type
of telegrapher's equations. Analogous to the "lossless where vp is the velocity of propagation. Similar equations
waves") are waves on low-loss transmission lines at radio may be developed for all the other low-loss waves as long
frequency, and electromagnetic waves in space. Analogous as we restrict our discussion to plane waves traveling in
to the lossy waves are waves on transoceanic cables where the X direction. Methods for treating low-loss transmis-
series inductance and shunt conductance may be neglected, sion lines, such as "bounce diagrams" for step functions,
and electromagnetic waves in conducting media where dis- impedance charts, standing-wave-ratio computations, and
1960 Moore: A General Course in Traveling Waves 17

so on, may also be applied to the non-electromagnetic loss- TABLE II

less waves. ANALOGOUS QUANTITIES-'A" TYPE
Waves on a transmission line for which series in-
ductance and shunt conductance are neglected are described
mathematically by solutions of the equation
02v ov
- = RC -
ax2 at
where R is the resistance per unit length and other quanti-
ties are as described previously. This may be written as
02v 1 dv
=

ax2 D dt
where D is the diffusion coefficient. Solutions of this equa-
tion for step function initial conditions are in terms of
error functions, and for sinusoidal excitation the attenua-
tion in nepers is the same as the phase shift in radians on
any particular path. That is, there is an attenuation of
55 db per wavelength.
The concepts of phase velocity and wavelength are, of
course, common to all the types of waves when sinusoidal
excitation is assumed. Examination of Table I indicates
that a characteristic impedance may be defined for each
type of wave also. There is a large number of possible
combinations for analogies which might be used. In the
course we talk about two sets of analogies. In the set
labelled "A," analogies are based upon the lineup of the
telegrapher's equations shown in Table I. In the "B" TABLE III
analogies, transmission line equations at the heads of the ANALOGOUS QUANTITIES- -"B" TYPE
columns in Table I are interchanged, the rest of the Type of wave VP zo
columns being retained the same. Thus, in the "A" analo-
gies voltage, velocity, temperature, and concentration are Lossless trans- L
considered analogous quantities and current, force, pres- mission line v i L C1 1/V\LC C
sure, heat flux, and mass flux are considered analogous. Vibrating string fA UV -PL - VT/PL VPLT
In the "B" analogies voltage is analogous to force, pres-
sure, heat flux, and mass flux, whereas current is analogous I YB
to velocity, temperature, and concentration. Actually, of
Sound in solid Px ux P° P YBPo
course, the table could be rearranged in any other way so Cable with neg- /2 / R
ligible L & G v i R C ,/ R '
that, for example, velocity and mass flux might appear in jwcC
the same column with the result that force and concen-
tration would appear in the same column.
Heat conduction qx |r Spo k
/2 k
Spo
/ kSpo
jlw
Table II summarizes the analogies between the various Molecular dif- 1 D
fusion m c 1 - \2cwD
parameters of the waves, the variables, and the derived D
quantities-velocity of propagation and characteristic
impedance. This table is for the "A" analogies. An ab-
breviated version of it for "B" analogies is found in to waves on an infinite transmission line. The concepts of
Table III. phase velocity and wavelength may then be introduced
along with those of attenuation and phase shift on the line.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COURSE The basic idea of a wave traveling down a transmission
After an introduction discussing various types of waves line may also be introduced. It is pointed out that, although
in general terms, the derivation of the telegrapher's equa- the three-dimensional vector forms of the electromagnetic
tions for the transmission line is presented. The wave space wave equations are given, only the plane wave solu-
equation for the transmission line and for waves in space tions will be treated until the very end of the course.
is then derived. The solution at this point in the course is Immediately following this introduction to waves, the
only for sinusoidal excitation, and the discussion is limited telegrapher's equations and associated analogies are de-
 18 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION February
rived for vibrating string and membrane; acoustic waves loading of telephone lines and power transmission analysis
in gases, liquids, and solids; thermal conduction; and by the use of a single section equivalent, are treated.
diffusion, both molecular and charge carrier. There is a After the "stretch," techniques particularly applicable to
mention of other waves with specific reference to the Schro- low-loss lines, such as the Smith impedance chart, are
dinger equation and surface waves in water. Of course a introduced. This is followed by a discussion of resonators
great deal of time could be devoted to derivation of all of various sorts.
these wave equations, but after two or three have been de- The course ends with a discussion of plane waves reflect-
veloped, the rest are presented rather rapidly since the ing at oblique incidence from plane surfaces. The direc-
derivations are all similar. Solutions are presented here tional impedance notion commonly used with electromag-
for sinusoidal excitation, although in the case of lossless netic plane waves is extended to the other types of waves
waves some examples are chosen from transient phe- as well. If there is time, a brief discussion of spherical
nomena such as seismic prospecting. acoustic waves concludes the course.
The next section of the course deals with the general Although this may seem like quite a bit of material for a
solution of the wave equation for lossless waves: three-credit course, by a judicious selection of material
it is quite possible to cover the entire subject in one se-
v = f(x - v,t) + g(x + v,t). mester at the junior level and lose very few of the students,
The phenomenon of reflection is introduced at this point, if any. They are always amazed at the wide variety of
and there is a discussion of pulses bouncing back and problems they can solve using their electrical techniques!
forth on lines of finite length. The radar modulator is pre- EXAMPLES
sented as an example of a transmission line application.
The solution to the diffusion equation in the special case The success or failure of a course of this sort depends,
of a step input is also presented along with various ex- in the author's opinion, upon the use of a liberal number
amples. There is a discussion of the general solution in of realistic or at least quasi-realistic examples. The fol-
terms of separation of variables and the multiple Laplace lowing is a list of some of the examples used in the course
transformation; however, this is not carried out in detail as taught so far:
because it quickly becomes merely an exercise in mathe- Acoustic reflection in rooms
matics. Vibrations in bars
A discussion of steady-state solutions with sinusoidal Seismic prospecting (simplified to plane waves)
excitation and with reflection present is then presented for Appropriate depth for burying pipes to prevent freezing
lossless waves. This is presented in terms of the phasor Temperature in a cylinder wall
diagrams for the line rather than with the use of either Charge carrier diffusion in a diode
the equations or such aids as the Smith charts, although Ballistic pendulum
the equations are developed. It is felt that the student Case-hardening of metal
should have a thorough exposure to working problems Transistor manufacture by diffusion
with the phasor diagram before he is introduced to the Organ pipe resonance
Smith chart; otherwise, he may never learn to appreciate Clarinet resonance
incident and reflected waves on a line carrying sinusoids. RC analogy for heat flow
Of course, the concept of standing waves is introduced at Spring-mass analogy for low-loss transmission lines
this point. After introducing these subjects for the loss- Violin string
less line they are taken up for a lossy line, and the concept Acoustic waves traveling through wall or window
of skin effect is developed as a special case of a lossy wave. Sonar
A brief treatment of lumped models for transmission Arrays of acoustic sources
lines and other waves is given. The artificial transmission Heat flow in transistors.
line is, of course, the lumped electrical model. There are
LABORATORIES
spring-mass models for acoustic waves, reservoir-capillary
models for diffusion waves, and comparable models for To assist in presenting the concepts of traveling waves
the other waves. After developing lumped models for the and also the idea of the analogies, and to acquaint the stu-
various waves in their own systems, the models are mixed dent with measuring something other than electrical quan-
up so that there are electrical models for acoustic and ther- tities, a laboratory is used along with the course. This has
mal waves, diffusion models for thermal waves, mechanical not been developed, at the present time, as thoroughly as
models for electrical waves, and so on. the lecture material.
At this point a "seventh inning stretch" is introduced Experiments with electrical waves utilize artificial trans-
by a discussion of the telephone system and special prob- mission lines for some measurements and slotted lines
lems associated with telephones and power lines. This is operating in the 400-mc range for other measurements. In
largely qualitative, although specific problems, such as one experiment strain gauges are mounted on a steel bar
1960 Clement and Johnson: A First Course in Electrical Engineering
which is struck with a hammer. The resulting strain pulses
are amplified and presented on an oscilloscope, permitting
Polaroid photographs to be taken by the students. Not only
is it thus demonstrated that transients really do travel up
and down the bar, but it is also shown that there is distor-
tion of the pulse due to the difficulty of getting a good
square blow on the end of the bar, and that there is ex-
traneous reflection due to the mounting arrangements and
to the presence of the strain gauges themselves.
Another experiment utilizes an alternating heat wave.
Thermistors are mounted in two positions on an alumi-
num bar and are connected into bridge circuits. The end
of the bar is alternately heated with a torch and cooled
with dry ice. The result is a more-or-less square heat wave
traveling down the bar. Because of the increased attenua-
tion of the higher frequencies, it appears almost sinusoidal
at the thermistors, which are about half a wavelength from
the source. This experiment takes quite a while, because a
period of six minutes is required to get reasonable wave-
lengths. It is easy to make the low temperature side square,
but it is not at all easy to play the torch on the end of the
bar in such a way that a square high temperature side of
the wave results. It is fortunate that the attenuation of the
19
higher frequencies takes care of most of the discrepancies
that would otherwise appear. Incidentally, pressing dry ice
against a red hot bar results in a noise that is somewhat
disturbing to classes going on in the building at the time!
We hope to develop a number of additional non-electri-
cal experiments in the future, and we have been very
pleased with the results of the two we have performed so
far.
CONCLUSION
The course in "Traveling Waves" offered in the second
semester of the junior year at the University of New
Mexico successfully teaches the student the principles of
distributed-constant circuits and in addition introduces him
to the use of the transmission line technique in solving a
wide variety of nonelectrical problems ranging from
acoustics to chemical diffusion. At least as much benefit
results from "undepartmentalizing" the mechanical, ther-
mal, and diffusion waves as from the actual knowledge
imparted in the course. The results of offering this course
for two years are quite satisfactory, and we intend to keep
this course in our curriculum and to attempt to extend the
analogies to some of our other courses.

A First Course in Electrical Engineerin*

P. R. CLEMENTt AND W. C. JOHNSONt

Summary-This article describes the introductory two-semester INTRODUCTION

course in electrical engineering that has been developed over a
period of five years at Princeton University. The aims of the N 1954 the Department of Electrical Engineering at
course are to provide an introduction to the field of electrical Princeton University began planning a major revision
engineering via the basic concepts of electricity and magnetism of its undergraduate curriculum. This revision was
(which are developed through Maxwell's equations in the integral prompted by pressures from several areas. First, the grow-
form), to apply these concepts in developing the fundamentals of ing emphasis on materials and the rapid development of
energy conversion and circuit theory, and to carry forward, in a
continuous and integrated way, a modern treatment of network solid-state devices make it important that the student have,
analysis. Thus, the treatment proceeds from field ideas to circuitsupon graduation, more than a mere speaking acquaintance
and physical apparatus, and to their mathematical models. With with this area. Several years before, the department had
the circuit relations formulated, attention turns to the analysis of
instituted a required course in physical and solid-state
networks, starting with network topology and extending through electronics for seniors, and had also introduced in the
pole-zero ideas. The treatment stops just short of the Laplace
transform. This course is intended to serve as a foundation for electronics courses for juniors the analysis of some tran-
subsequent courses such as electronic circuits, energy conversion, sistor circuits to complement the more traditional material
and advanced network analysis and synthesis, and has been de- on vacuum-tube circuits. But this was not enough.
veloped with the purpose of providing the student with a unifying Second, certain well-established and less rapidly chang-
point of view for these varied topics. ing fields such at network theory and feedback control
systems were becoming more and more a part of the under-
* Manuscript received by the PGE, August 7, 1959. This paper graduate curriculum, whereas in former years they had
was presented at the IRE Seventh Regional Conference, Albuquer- been restricted to graduate work. It seemed desirable to
que, N.M., May, 1959.
t Dept. of Elect. Engrg., Princeton University, Princeton, N.J. incorporate an introduction to these fields in the required