TRANSMISSION LINE CHARACTERISTICS

1. ABSTRACT
Transmission lines embody a straightforward way to study electromagnetic waves.
This project would typically come late in a first semester electromagnetic course or
early in a second semester course once students have used Maxwell’s time dependent
equations to form wave equations for electric and magnetic fields. The two conductors
of a transmission line make electric field measurements simple since we only need
measure the electric potential between the two conductors. Therefore, we need only
derive a relationship between voltage and current Transmission-line modeling, a
numerical method for field problems, is presented in simple terms that undergraduate
students and nonexperts can understand. The method is shown to be applicable in
solving various problems involving the diffusion equation, Poisson's equation, or the
wave equation. A special application of the method is made to wave propagation
problems. Numerical examples are provided for waveguide problems in one and two
dimensions. Transmission line is a structure intended to transport electromagnetic
signals or power. A rudimentary transmission line is simply a pair of wires with one
wire serving as a datum and the other wire bearing an electrical potential that is
defined relative to that datum. To avoid unnecessary repetition, the words 'line' and
'cable' will be regarded as equivalent for electrical purposes, though their physical
constructions may vary widely in practice. In this report, we will define an ideal line
as one which merely delays a signal by an amount that is calculable and directly
dependent on its length. Though the velocity of propagation (u) and line length (I) are
sufficient to define the one way delay time td = (I/u) it is often more convenient to
specify the time-delay per-unit-Iength tu = (l/u). There is no distortion of wave shape
or change of amplitude for a signal travelling on an ideal line. As a signal progresses
along it, in a given direction, there is a time-independent factor relating line voltage
and line current. This is the characteristic impedance Zo which, for an ideal line, is a
real-number parameter with the dimensions of resistance.
 2. INTRODUCTION

In electrical engineering, a transmission line is a specialized cable or other structure

designed to conduct electromagnetic waves in a contained manner. Transmission lines
are used for purposes such as connecting radio transmitters and receivers with
their antennas (they are then called feed lines or feeders), distributing cable
television signals, trunklines routing calls between telephone switching centres,
computer network connections and high speed computer data buses. RF engineers
commonly use short pieces of transmission line, usually in the form of printed planar
transmission lines, arranged in certain patterns to build circuits such as filters. These
circuits, known as distributed-element circuits, are an alternative to traditional circuits
using discrete capacitors and inductors. The component wavelengths of the digital
signals will usually be shorter than the electrical length of the cable used to connect
the sub systems together. Therefore, the cables should be treated as a transmissions
line. In addition, the digital signal is usually exposed to hostile electrical noise sources
which will require more noise immunity than required in the individual sub systems
environment. The requirements for transmission line techniques and noise immunity
are recognized by the designers of sub systems and systems, but the solutions used
vary considerably Electromagnetic waves do not propagate instantaneously. They
propagate at the speed of light along a lossless conductor surrounded by vacuum, and
at a slower speed when surrounded by material. The characteristic impedance or surge
impedance of a uniform transmission line is the ratio of the amplitudes of voltage and
current of a single wave propagating along the line; that is, a wave travelling in one
direction in the absence of reflections in the other direction. It is a characteristic of
transmission lines experienced by propagating electromagnetic waves.
 3. DISCUSSION

The figure below represents the equivalent circuit diagram of a transmission line:

It is easy to derive that there must be a forward transmitted and backward reflected
wave at a discontinuity in the characteristic impedance in order to conserve energy.
We exploit this consequence to calculate the attributes of the transmission line. This
project can be conducted under the pretext of a power company or communications
company who want to locate faults in their transmission lines.

Here, the two conducting wires have a certain length, and the parameters of the
transmission line is distributed over all its length. These parameters are resistance R,
inductance L, capacitance C and conductance G which we will discuss in detail in the
upcoming section. The two conducting wires due to separation holds some
capacitance. But this dielectric medium does not provide complete insulation hence
some leakage current flows through it. Consider an ideal, infinitely long transmission
line. Exciting the input of this transmission line with the alternating voltage V in(t)
results in the current I in(t). The characteristic impedance of this transmission line is
given by the equation:

Z0=V in(t)/I in(t)

For a uniform transmission line of infinite length

Z o=
√ R o + jw Lo
G o+ jw C o

Where j is the imaginary number and R0 is characteristic resistance (Ω/m),G0 is characteristic conductance (Ω
m)-1 ,L0 is characteristic inductance (Henrys/m),C0 is characteristic capacitance (Farads/m) and ω is natural
frequency (radians/s).

For real-world conductors, it is a good assumption to neglect resistance and

conductance, which greatly simplifies characteristic impedance. This assumption is
called a lossless transmission. Signal propagation delay, which is the inverse of
propagation speed, is the square root of characteristic inductance times characteristic
impedance. And, it is also equal to the square root of the dielectric constant of the
material surrounding the conductor divided by the speed of light.

Z o=
√ Lo
Co

Where L0 is characteristic inductance C0 is characteristic capacitance εr is dielectric constant of surrounding material,
c is speed of light (3 x 108 m/s) tPD has units of time/distance.It is rather a surprising result that propagation delay
depends only on εr. And it is because changes in conductor geometry that affect C0 have an exactly compensating
effect on L0.

4. PROPERTIES OF TRANSMISSION LINE

A transmission line that allows the propagation of electrical waves is assumed to be uniform as
well as symmetrical in nature so as to have a convenient transmission. So, basically, there exist 2
electrical properties of any symmetrical network.

 Characteristic Impedance (Z0):

The characteristic impedance or surge impedance (usually written Z0) of a

uniform transmission line is the ratio of the amplitudes of voltage and current of a
single wave propagating along the line; that is, a wave travelling in one direction
 in the absence of reflections in the other direction. Alternatively, and equivalently,
it can be defined as the input impedance of a transmission line when its length is
infinite. Characteristic impedance is determined by the geometry and materials of
the transmission line and, for a uniform line, is not dependent on its length.
The SI unit of characteristic impedance is the ohm.
The characteristic impedance of a lossless transmission line is purely real, with
no reactive component. Energy supplied by a source at one end of such a line is
transmitted through the line without being dissipated in the line itself. A
transmission line of finite length (lossless or lossy) that is terminated at one end
with an impedance equal to the characteristic impedance appears to the source like
an infinitely long transmission line and produces no reflections.

In terms of parameters characteristic impedance is represented as:

When we consider a completely lossless transmission line, then it is given as:

The symmetrical network is said to be accurately terminated when the characteristic

impedance at it’s both ends is equalized.

 5. CHARACTERISTICS OF TRANSMISSION LINES

5.1 VELOCITY OF PROPAGATION IN THE TRANSMISSION LINE

The velocity factor (VF) also called wave propagation speed or velocity of

propagation VoP of a transmission medium is the ratio of the speed at which a
wavefront (of an electromagnetic signal, a radio signal, a light pulse in an optical
fiber or a change of the electrical voltage on a copper wire) passes through the
medium, to the speed of light in vacuum. For optical signals, the velocity factor is the
reciprocal of the refractive index.

5.2 LENGTH OF THE TRANSMISSION LINE:

5.2.1 Short Transmission Line

If the line is not more than 80 KV or if the voltage is not over than 66 KV then the

line is known as the short transmission line. The capacitance of the line is governed by

their length. The effect of capacitance on the short transmission line is negligible, but

for cable where the distance between the conductor is small, the effect of capacitance

cannot be ignored.
 5.2.2 Medium Transmission Line

The line which is ranging from 80 to 240 km is termed as a medium transmission line.
The capacitance of the medium transmission line cannot be ignored. The capacitance
of the medium transmission line is lumped at one or more point of the lines. The
effect of the line is more at high frequency, and their leakages inductance and
capacitance is considered to be neglected.

5.2.3 Long Transmission Line

The line having a length more than 240 km is considered a long transmission line. All
the four parameters (resistance, inductance, capacitance, and leakage conductance) are
found to be equally distributed along the entire length of the line.

5.3 ATTENUATION COEFFICIENT OF THE TRANSMISSION LINE:

The attenuation coefficient due to scattering by gas molecules is dominated by the

elastic component. Because the size of the gas molecules is small compared to the
optical wavelength, the attenuation coefficient can be expressed in terms of the
Rayleigh cross section σ R.

5.4 IMPEDANCE OF AN UNKNOWN TERMINATION:

The unknown terminating impedance can be determined by measuring standing

wave ratio & distance of a convenient maxima or minima from the load. Normally

for distance measurement minima is used because it is more sharply defined. The

unknown load admittances is given by the transmission equation as

 6. The Velocity of propagation (Vp)
 The Velocity of propagation (Vp)of a cable is the speed at which an electrical signal can
propagate through the cable in comparison to the speed of light. For example, in a vacuum, the
velocity of propagation would be 100% or 1 (depending on how it is represented). So, if the
Propagation Velocity is 70%, it means that the signal in a cable will propagate at 0.7 times the
speed of a signal if the dielectric of the cable was vacuum.

The Velocity factor or Propagation Velocity of a cable can be calculated by the formula below
(where ϵ is the dielectric constant of the dielectric material used in the cable).

The velocity of propagation or velocity factor is a coaxial cable is determined by the dielectric
used. There are a number of materials that are used as the dielectric in a cable. Each of these
dielectrics has a different dielectric constant and thus a different velocity factor. 

7. Coaxial Characteristic Impedance

Taking the characteristic impedance at high frequencies,

One should also know the inductance and capacitance of the two concentric
cylindrical conductors which is the coaxial cable. By definition   and
getting the electric field by the formula of electric field of an infinite line,

where Q is charge,Eo is the permittivity of free space, ṛ is the radial distance

and ṙ is the unit vector in the direction away from the axis. The voltage, V, is

where D is the inner diameter of the outer conductor and d is the diameter of
the inner conductor. The capacitance can then be solved by substitution,
and the inductance is taken from Ampere's Law for two concentric conductors
(coaxial wire) and with the definition of inductance,

 and 
where β is magnetic induction, µo is the permeability of free space, Ф is
the magnetic flux and dS is the differential surface. Taking the inductance per
meter,

Substituting the derived capacitance and inductance, and generalizing them to

the case where a dielectric of permeability µ and permittivity E is used in
between the inner and outer conductors,