MORPHING MODULE ESAT4 – Transmission Lines

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Transmission Lines Unbalanced Line
A device designed to guide electrical energy from one  One wire is at ground potential.
point to another.  The other wire is at signal potential.
 A conductive connections between system elements  Also known as Single-ended T-line.
that carry signal power.

Primary requirements of a transmission line:

 Minimum attenuation to the signal.
 Does not radiate any of the signal as radio
energy. Coaxial Connectors
Designed not only to provide a convenient way to
How to achieve Maximum Power Transfer in T-Lines attach and disconnect equipment and cables but also
 Connect a balance line to a balance load. to maintain the physical integrity and electrical
 Connect an unbalance line to an unbalance load. properties of the cable.
 The load must be purely resistive.  PL-259 or UHF connector
 The ZL = ZO.  BNC
 SMA
Types of Transmission Lines  N-type connectors

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 F-type connectors
Parallel-Wire Line
These are made of two parallel conductors separated PL-259 or UHF connector
by a space of 1⁄2 inch to several inches.


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PL-259 connector matches the output connector
Examples:
found on MF/HF transceivers.
 600Ω - Open-wire line
 Usually joins RG-213 coaxial cable to an HF
 300Ω - Twin lead transceiver.
Parallel-wire lines are rarely used today. BNC

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 Found on older and larger handheld transceivers.
 Used for attaching test instruments and widely

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used connector in LANs and some UHF radios.

Coaxial Cable
It consists of a solid center conductor surrounded by
a dielectric material, usually a plastic insulator
such as Teflon.
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 The most widely used type of transmission line.
 Coaxial cable comes in a variety of sizes, from
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approximately 1⁄4 in to several inches in
diameter.
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Twisted-Pair Cable
Uses two insulated solid copper wires covered with
insulation and loosely twisted together.
 Originally used in telephone wiring and is still
used for that today.
 One of the most widely used types of wiring in
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local-area networks (LANs).

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Balanced VS Unbalanced

Balanced Line
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 Neither wire is connected to ground.

 The same current flows in each wire with respect
to ground but the direction of current in one
wire is 180° out of phase with the current in the
other wire.
 Also known as Differential T-line.
 60dB to 70dB noise reduction
 MORPHING MODULE ESAT4 – Transmission Lines
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SMA
 “SubMiniature version A”
 The 'SMA' connector is found on modern compact
handheld transceivers.
 Usually joins a hand-held transceiver to its
antenna.
N-type connectors
 A common connectors that has the lowest loss at
UHF.
 The connector of choice above 300 MHz.
F-type connectors
 The least expensive coaxial cable connector.
 Widely used for TV sets, VCRs, DVD players, and
cable TV.

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Transmission Line Constants

Primary Line Constants

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Lumped Model
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 L, R, C, & G are normalized per unit length of
the line.
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 EX: H/m, Ω/m, F/m, S/m
 Assumes uniform current and voltage.
 Used when λ becomes significantly greater than
the line’s physical dimensions.
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Secondary Line Constants

Characteristic Impedance, Zo
 The impedance seen looking into an infinitely
long line.
 Surge Impedance
Propagation Constant, γ
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 It is used to express the attenuation and the

phase shift per unit length of a transmission
line.
 Propagation Coefficient
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Characteristic Impedance
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 Zo is determined only by the physical dimensions

of the line.
 Length, frequency, or load have nothing to do
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with it.

Zo of Commonly Used Lines

 MORPHING MODULE ESAT4 – Transmission Lines
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Velocity and Phase Shift

Velocity Factor
 The ratio of the velocity in the transmission
line Vp to the velocity in free space, c.
 The speed of the signal in the transmission line
is slower than the speed of a signal in free
space.
Resonant Line
 A transmission line that is terminated with an
impedance that is not equal to its characteristic
impedance.
 Some or all the incident energy is reflected back
by the load to the source. (NO maximum power
transfer)
 Transmission line length is critical.

Transmission Line Length

Physical length

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The length of the transmission line in terms of
length unit.
Electrical length

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The length of the transmission line in terms of
wavelength
Transmission lines must be least 0.1λ long at the
signal frequency Standing Wave
 Interference pattern due to an incident wave and

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reflected wave (travelling waves).
 Worst case:

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 Short termination
 Open termination
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Delay Lines
 The velocity of propagation of a transmission
line is less than the velocity of propagation in -------------------------NOTES-----------------------
free space.

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Therefore, any line will slow down or delay any

signal applied to it.
 T-lines for this purpose are delay lines.
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Phase Shift in Lines

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Non-resonant vs Resonant

Non-resonant Line
 All of the energy transferred down this line is
absorbed by the load resistance and nothing is
reflected back to the source.
 Achieves Maximum power transfer
 Line with infinite length.
 Line with finite length and is terminated with a
resistive load equal in ohmic value to the
characteristic impedance of the line.
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Short Termination Resonant Lines as Resonant or Reactive Circuits

Open Termination

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Standing Wave Ratio (SWR)

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The ratio of the maximum current to the minimum
current or the ratio of the maximum voltage to the
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minimum voltage, along the line.
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Other SWR Formulas

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Reflection Coefficient
The ratio of reflected voltage to incident voltage.
 MORPHING MODULE ESAT4 – Transmission Lines
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Impedance Matching Example:

Mismatched: Line and Load Type

 If the line is balance, to achieve the maximum
transfer of power, the line should be terminated
with a balance load and vice versa.
Matcher: Balun - A circuit device used to connect a
balanced transmission line to an unbalanced
transmission load.
Microwave Transmission Lines

Microstrip and Stripline

 Special transmission lines constructed with
copper patterns on a printed circuit board (PCB).
 It can be used as tuned circuits, filters, phase
shifters, reactive components, and impedance-
Mismatched: ZL is Reactive matching circuits at these high frequencies such
 When the load is a complex impedance, it is as microwave.

necessary to remove the reactive component to
match the transmission line to the load.
Matcher: Stub - A piece of additional transmission
line that is placed across the primary line as close
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Microwave Integrated Circuits (MICs)
Tinier microstrip and striplines made by using
monolithic, thin-film, and hybrid IC techniques
combined with diodes, transistors, and other

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to the load as possible. components.

Microstrip
 Microstrip is a flat conductor separated by an
insulating dielectric.

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 The microstrip is usually one-quarter or one-half

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wavelength long.
 Shorted lines are usually preferred.
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Mismatched: ZL ≠ Zo
 Maximum power transfer is still unattainable even
if the load is already resistive but its
resistance doesn’t equal to the characteristic
impedance of the line.
Matcher: Quarterwave Transformer - A piece of
transmission line quarter-wavelength long that acts
like a transformer.
It is placed between a transmission line and its
load.
 MORPHING MODULE ESAT4 – Transmission Lines
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Stripline Reactance Axis
 Stripline is a flat conductor sandwiched between
two ground planes.
 More difficult to make than microstrip.
 It does not radiate as microstrip does.
 The length is one-quarter or one-half wavelength
at the desired operating frequency.
 Shorted lines are usually preferred.

Example
Smith Chart
 A sophisticated graph that permits visual
solutions to transmission line calculations.

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 Published by Philip H. Smith

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Prime Center
 A point directly on the center of the chart.
 It corresponds to the Source Impedance, Zo.
 Normalized at system’s impedance commonly at 50Ω.
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Resistance Circle