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Voltage Standing Wave Ratio

Research · December 2010

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 Voltage Standing Wave Ratio

Saber Izadpanah Tous

Abstract - When a transmission line (cable) is terminated by an impedance that does not match the
characteristic impedance of the transmission line, not all of the power is absorbed by the termination.
Part of the power is reflected back down the transmission line. The forward (or incident) signal mixes
with the reverse (or reflected) signal to cause a voltage standing wave pattern on the transmission
line. The ratio of the maximum to minimum voltage is known as VSWR, or Voltage Standing Wave
Ratio. In this paper has been reviews methods of calculating the VSWR, Practical implications of
VSWR, ways of improving VSWR and instrument measurement.

Keywords - VSWR , transmission line, impedance, reflect, Mismatch, antenna

1- Introduction

I N telecommunications, standing wave ratio1

uuuis the ratio of the amplitude of a partial
standing wave at an antinode (maximum) to the
amplitude at an adjacent node (minimum), in an
electrical transmission line.
The SWR is usually defined as a voltage ratio
called the VSWR, for voltage standing wave ratio.
A VSWR of 1:1 means that there is no power
being reflected back to the source. This is an ideal
situation that rarely, if ever, is seen. In the real
world, a VSWR of 1.2:1 (or simply 1.2) is
considered excellent in most cases. VSWR value
1.2:1 denotes a maximum standing wave
amplitude that is 1.2 times greater than the
minimum standing wave value. It is also possible
to define the SWR in terms of current, resulting in
the ISWR, which has the same numerical value.
The power standing wave ratio (PSWR) is defined
as the square of the VSWR. In an EMC2 lab
where many of the tests are very broadband in
nature, a VSWR of 2.0 or higher is not
uncommon. At a VSWR of 2.0, approximately
10% of the power is reflected back to the source.
1
SWR
2
Electromagnetic Compatibility
1
Not only does a high VSWR mean that power is
being wasted, the. reflected power can cause
problems such as heating cables or causing
amplifiers to fold-back [1],[2].
2- Different methods of calculating VSWR
Reflections occur as a result of discontinuities,
such as an imperfection in an otherwise uniform
transmission line, or when a transmission line is
terminated with other than its characteristic
impedance. The reflection coefficient Γ is defined
thus:
= (1)
( reflected wave and forward wave)
Γ is a complex number that describes both the
magnitude and the phase shift of the reflection.
The simplest cases, when the imaginary part of Γ
is zero, are:
1) Γ = − 1: maximum negative reflection, when
the line is short-circuited.
2) Γ = 0: no reflection, when the line is perfectly
matched.
3) Γ = + 1: maximum positive reflection, when
the line is open-circuited.
For the calculation of VSWR, only the magnitude Mismatch Loss (or Transmission Loss) is the
of Γ, denoted by ρ, is of interest. Therefore, we measure in dB of between the incident power and
define: the power actually absorbed by the termination.
Mismatch Loss can be calculated by the following
ρ = | Γ| (2) formulae:

At some points along the line the two waves ℎ = −10 (1 − )=

interfere constructively, and the resulting (8)
= 10 ( )
amplitude is the sum of their amplitudes: −

= + = + = For instance, if 100 watts forward power is

(3)
= (1 + ) delivered into a load and 15 watts is reflected, 85
watts is absorbed by the load. This gives a
At other points, the waves interfere destructively, reflection coefficient of 0.387, a VSWR of 2.26, a
and the resulting amplitude V is the difference return loss of 8.2dB and a mismatch loss of 0.7
between their amplitudes: dB. In other words, the power actually absorbed
(or not reflected) by the termination is 0.7 dB less
than the forward power delivered to the
= − = − =
(4) termination. Keep in mind that the terminating
= (1 − ) device may have its own internal losses and
therefore may not utilize all of the absorbed
The voltage standing wave ratio is then equal to: power in the intended fashion. Such is the case
with an antenna that may have some losses
= = (5) associated with its balun1 [3],[4].

3-Practical implications of VSWR

Always, 0 ≤ ρ ≤ 1 and 1 ≤ VSWR ≤ ∞
With the use of coax cables, measuring voltage
The most common case for measuring and
along the cable is impractical. Dual-directional
examining VSWR is when installing and tuning
couplers can be used to measure the forward and
transmitting antennas. When a transmitter is
reverse power, and these values can then be used
connected to an antenna by a feed line, the
to compute VSWR.
impedance of the antenna and feed line must
match exactly for maximum energy transfer from
the feed line to the antenna to be possible. The
impedance of the antenna varies based on many
= (6)
factors including: the antenna's natural resonance
at the frequency being transmitted, the antenna's
height above the ground, and the size of the
Where, reverse power and forward conductors used to construct the antenna.
wave.
When an antenna and feed line do not have
VSWR can also be represented other ways, such
matching impedances, some of the electrical
as Return Loss, Mismatch Loss and Reflection
Coefficient. energy cannot be transferred from the feed line to
Return Loss is the measure in dB of the ratio of the antenna. Energy not transferred to the antenna
forward and reverse power. If the return loss is is reflected back towards the transmitter. It is the
interaction of these reflected waves with forward
10dB, then 1/10 of the forward power is reflected
back. Return Loss can be calculated by the waves which causes standing wave patterns.
Reflected power has three main implications in
following formulae:
radio transmitters: Radio Frequency (RF) energy
losses increase, distortion on transmitter due to
= 10 = reflected power from load and damage to the
transmitter can occur [5].
= −20 = (7)
−1
= −20 = −20
+1 1
BALnced to Unbalanced
2
Some of practical instances that cause reflect but also to match the impedance of the source to
power and damage to transmitter [4]: the antenna.

1) Type of antenna

Fig.5. Balun

It is common practice in EMC testing to include

attenuators at any point where there is an
impedance mismatch. One emissions standard, for
instance, specifies using an attenuator at the
Fig.1. Yagy Antenna connector of a biconical antenna since it has a
high VSWR at some frequencies. One of the
conducted immunity standards suggests using a
2) type of antenna cable 6dB pad at the input of the coupling device, which
is commonly 150 ohms. Attenuators obviously
cause power loss, but they reduce VSWR by
providing an apparently better termination to a
signal. For example, look at a 6dB attenuator in
Fig.1 and its affect on circuit impedance.
Following is a schematic for a 50 ohm 6dB
attenuator:
Fig.2. Heliax cable

3) connector

Fig.6. 6dB attenuator circuit

Fig.3. Connector Type N

4- ways of improving VSWR

One way is to use impedance matching devices Fig.7. 6dB attenuator

where a change in impedance occurs.

If a 50 ohm termination is added to the output of

Fig.4. impedance matching device
Baluns are used extensively in antennas to not
only convert from balanced to unbalanced signals
3
this attenuator, the source will see a 50 ohm load.
Two extremes for terminating a transmission line
are open and short circuits. In a completely open
circuit, the impedance would be infinite. Adding
this 6dB pad to the output of a signal source,
without terminating the output of the attenuator,
would cause the source to see an 84 ohm
termination (17 ohms in series with 67 ohms).
Shorting the output of the attenuator would cause
the signal source to see a 30.5 ohm termination. In
each case, the VSWR would be approximately
1.65:1.
Another way to matching the impedance of the
antenna to the impedance of the feed line is
typically done using an antenna tuner. The tuner
can be installed between the transmitter and the
feed line, or between the feed line and the
antenna. Both installation methods will allow the
transmitter to operate at a low VSWR [1].
Fig.8. impedance matching device
5- instrument measurement
1) VSWR meter: The SWR meter or VSWR
meter measures the standing wave ratio in a
transmission line. The meter can be used to
indicate the degree of mismatch between a
transmission line and its load (usually a radio
antenna), or evaluate the effectiveness of
impedance matching efforts.
Fig.9. VSWR meter
1) Directional SWR Meter: Referring to the above
diagram, the transmitter (TX) and antenna (ANT)
terminals are connected via an internal
transmission line.
This main line is electromagnetically coupled to
two smaller sense lines (directional couplers)
which are terminated with resistors at one end,
and diode rectifiers at the other. The resistors are
chosen to match the characteristic impedance of
the sense lines.
The diodes convert the magnitudes of the forward
& reverse waves to FWD and REV DC voltages,
4
respectively, which are then smoothed by the
capacitors.
Fig.10. A simple directional SWR meter
3) SWR Bridge: SWR can also be measured using
an impedance bridge circuit. The bridge is
balanced (0 volts across the detector) only when
the test impedance exactly matches the reference
impedance. When a transmission line is
mismatched (SWR > 1:1), its input impedance
deviates from its characteristic impedance; thus, a
bridge can be used to determine the presence or
absence of a low SWR.
Note that an SWR meter does not measure the
actual impedance of a load (i.e., the resistance and
reactance), but only the mismatch ratio. To
measure the actual impedance, an antenna
analyzer or other similar RF measuring device is
required. Note also that for accurate readings, the
SWR meter must be matched to the line
impedance, usually 50 or 75 ohms. To
accommodate multiple impedances, some SWR
meters have switches on the rear, to select the
resistance appropriate for the sense lines. An
SWR meter should be connected to the line as
close as possible to the antenna: All practical
transmission lines have a certain amount of loss,
which causes the reflected wave to be attenuated
as it travels back along the line. Thus, the SWR is
highest closest to the load, and only improves as
the distance from the load increases.
When not actually measuring SWR, it is best to
remove the more usual types of passive SWR
meter from the line. This is because the internal
diodes of such meters can generate harmonics
when transmitting, and intermodulation products
when receiving. Because active SWR meters do
not usually suffer from this effect, they can
normally be left in without causing such
problems.
 6- conclusion

In this article reviews perfect VSWR and some of

the ways to its improvement. VSWR very
important that should be considered in design
high frequency circuit.
VSWR Any closer to one is better, because shows
most matching between transmission line and
load.

7- References

[1]sD.K.Misra,”Radio-Frequencey & Microwave

ssssCommunication Circuits” John Wily & Sons
dd fInc,(2004).

[2]aJ.Link,”Optimizing Wireless/RF Circuits”,

snmChapter2, Mc Graw-Hill Inc,(1999).

[3] G.Gonzalez,”Microwave TransistorChapter2,

sssssPrentice-Hall Inc,(1984).

[4]aR.Gilmore,L.Besser,”Practical RF Circuit
ddmDesign for Modern Wireless Systems”,
ddmArtech House Inc,(2003).

[5] Hutchinson, Chuck, ed. (2000). The ARRL

fnm Handbook for Radio Amateurs 2001.

[6] The ARRL Antenna Book (21st ed.), The

ccmAmerican Radio Relay League, Inc, 2007.

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