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INTRODUCTION
The transmission line has a single purpose for both the transmitter and the antenna. This purpose is to transfer the energy
output of the transmitter to the antenna with the least possible power loss. How well this is done depends on the special physical
and electrical characteristics of the transmission line.
The Navy uses many different types of transmission mediums in its electronic applications. Each medium has a certain
characteristic impedance value, current-carrying capacity, and physical shape and is designed to meet a particular requirement.
TRANSMISSION LINE TYPES
The five general types of transmission mediums include parallel-line, twisted pair, shielded pair, coaxial line, and
waveguides. The use of a particular line depends on the applied frequency, the power-handling capabilities, and the type of
installation.
Transmission lines are generally categorized as either unguided or guided.
Guided transmission media are those with some form of conductor that provides a conduit in which EM signals are
contained. Physical transmission media include metallic cables and optical cables.
Unguided signals are emitted then radiated through air or vacuum. The direction of propagation in an unguided
transmission medium depends on the direction in which the signal was emitted and any obstacles that the signal may
encounter while propagating.
Metallic transmission lines include open wire, twin lead and twisted pair copper wire as well as coaxial cable.
Optical fibers include pastic and glass core fibers encapsulated in a wide assortment of cladding materials.
A transmission line is a metallic conductor system used to transfer electrical energy from one point to another using electri cal
current flow. More specifically, a transmission line is two or more electrical conductors separated by a non-conductive insulator
(dielectric).
There are two basic kinds of waves: longitudinal and transverse.
With longitudinal waves, the displacement is in the direction of propagation.
With transverse waves, the direction of displacement is perpendicular to the direction of propagation.
With unbalanced transmission line, one signal is at ground potential, whereas the other signal is at signal potential.
This type of TL is also called sindle-ended signal transmission. Unbalanced transmission lines have the advantage of
requiring only one wire for each signal and only one ground line is required no matter how many signals are grouped
into one conductor.
2
I.
Parallel-wire TL are comprised of two or more metallic conductors (usually copper) separated by a nonconductive
insulating material called a dielectric. Common dielectric materials include air, rubber, polyethylene, paper, mica,
glass and Teflon. The most common parallel-conductor TL are open-wire, twin lead and twisted pair (UTP and
STP).
1.
Open-wire transmission line consists simply of two parallel wires, closely spaced and separated by air. Nonconductive
spacers are place at periodic intervals not only for support but also to keep the distance between the two conductors
constant. The distance between the conductors are generally 2 and 6 inches. The only ad vantage of this type of TL is
its simple construction. Because there is no shielding, radiation losses are high and the cable is susceptible to
crosstalk.
2.
Twin lead is essentially the same as open-wire TL except that the spacers between the conductors are replaced by a a
continuous solid dielectric that ensures uniform spacing along the entire cable.
3.
A twisted-pair TL is formed by twisting two insulated conductors around each other. Twisted pairs are often stranded
in units, and the units are cabled into cores containing up to 3000 wire pairs. The size of twisted-pairs varies from 16
AWG to 26 AW G. The higher the gauge wire number, the smaller the diameter and the higher the resistance.
NOTE
Twisted-pair cable is used for both analog and digital signals and is the most
commonly used transmission medium for telephone networks, building cabling
system and local area networks because it is simple to install and relatively
inexpensive when compared to coaxial and optical fibers.
There are two basic types of twisted-pair TL specified by the EIA/TIA 568 Commercial Building Telecommunications
Cabling Standard for local area networks: 100 UTP and the 150 STP..
Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cable consists of two copper wires where each wire is separately encapsulated in PVC
(polyvinyl chloride) insulation. The wires are twisted two or more times at varying lengths to reduce crosstalk and interference.
The minimum number of twists for UTP cable is two per foot.
Pair 1: blue/white strips and blue
Pair 2: orange/white strips and orange
Pair 3: green/white strips and green
Pair 4: brown/white strips and brown
Shielded Twisted-pair cable is a TL consisting of two copper conductors separated by a solid dielectric material. The
wires and dielectric are enclosed in a conductive metal sleeve called foil. If the sleeve is woven into a mesh it is called
a braid. STP cable is thicker and less flexible than UTP cable, making it more difficult and expensive to install.
However, STP cable offers greater security and greater immunity to interference.
Cat 7 shielded screen twisted pair cable (SSTP) is comprised of four pairs of 22 or 23 AWG copper wire surrounded
by a metallic foil followed by a braided metallic shield.
Foil twisted-pair cable is comprised of four pairs of 24 AWG copper wire encapsulated in a common metallic foil
shield with PVC outer shield.
Shielded foil twisted pair cable is comprised of four pairs of 24 AWG copper wires surrounded by a common metallic
foil encapsulated in a braided metallic shield. This cable type offers superior EMI protection.
NOTE
II.
Plenum is given to the area between the ceiling and the roof of a single story building or between
the ceiling and the floor of the next higher level in a multistory building.
The NEC requires plenum cable to have special fire resistant insulation. Plenum cables are
coated with Teflon, which does not emit noxious chemicals when ignited.
The basic coaxial cable consists of a center conductor surrounded by a dielectric material, then a concentric shielding
and finally an outer jacket. Shielding refers to the woven or stranded mesh that surrounds some types of coaxial
cables. There are two basic types of coaxial cables: rigid air filled and solid flexible.
The RG numbering system typically used with coaxial cables refers to cables approved by the US DoD.
There are essentially two types of coaxial cable connectors BNC connectors and type-N connectors.
BNC connectors are sometimes referred to an bayonet mount as they can be easily twisted on or off.
N-type connectors are threaded and must be screwed on or off.
WAVEGUIDES
Parallel wire transmission lines cannot effectively propagate EM energy above approximately 20 GHz, because of
attenuation caused by skin effect and radiation losses. A waveguide is a hollow conductive tube, usually rectangular in crosssection but sometimes circular or elliptical. In a waveguide, conduction of energy occurs not in the walls but rather through the
dielectric within the waveguide which is usually dehydrated air or inert gas.
The cross-sectional area of a waveguide must be of the same order as the wavelength of the signal it is propagating.
Therefore, a waveguide are generally restricted to frequencies above 1 GHz.
The cut-off frequency is the minimum frequency of operation of a waveguide. It is an absolute limiting frequency;
frequencies below the cut-off frequency will not be propagated by the waveguide. The cut-off wavelength is defined as the
largest free space wavelength that is just unable to propagate in the waveguide. In other words, only frequencies with
wavelengths less than the cut-off wavelength can propagate down the waveguide.
Dimension a determines the cut-off frequency of the waveguide according to the following mathematical relationship:
Phase velocity is the apparent velocity of the particular phase of the wave. It is the velocity with which a wave
changes phase in a direction parallel to the walls of the waveguide. Phase velocity can be determined by measuring
the wavelength of a particular frequency wave.
Group velocity is the velocity at which information signals are propagated. Group velocity can be measured by
determining the time it takes for a pulse to propagate a given length of waveguide.
NOTE
The phase velocity is always equal to or greater than the group velocity, and their product is
equal to the square of the free space propagation velocity.
Phase velocity may exceed the speed of light. The principle that no form of energy can travel at a
greater velocity than light is not violated because it is the group velocity, not the phase velocity,
that represents the propagation of energy.
NOTE
Velocity factor is defined simply as the
ratio of the actual velocity of propagation
of an EM wa ve through a given medium to
the velocity of propagation through a
vacuum.
Dielectric constant is simply the relative
permittivity of a material. Dielectric
constant depends on the type of
insulating material used.
The difference of potential between two conductors of a metallic transmission line causes dielectric heating.
Coupling loss occurs whenever a connection is made to or from a transmission line or when two sections of
transmission lines are connected together. Discontinuities tend to heat up, radiate energy and dissipate power.
Corona is a luminous discharge that occurs between two conductors of a transmission line when the difference of
potential between them exceeds the breakdown voltage of the insulator.
The energy radiated from the conductors is called radiation loss and depends on the dielectric material, conductor
spacing and length of transmission line. Radiation losses are reduced by properly shielding the cable and is directly
proportional to frequency.
3.
4.
The two EM wa ves that travel in opposite directions that are present on the line at the same time set up an interference
pattern known as standing waves.
The reflection coefficient is a vector quantity that represents the ratio of the reflected voltage to incident voltage or
the incident current to reflected current. When Zo = ZL all the incident power is absorbed by the load. This is called a matched
line. When Zo Z L some of the incident power is absorbed by the load and some is returned to the source. This is called an
unmatched line.
NOTE
From the given equations, it can be seen that the
maximum worst case value for is 1 (Er = Ei) and the
minimum value and ideal condition occurs when is 0.
If the incident and reflected voltage are equal in
amplitude, SWR = infinity. This is the worst case
condition.
Standing WaveRatio (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 of a transmission line.
Quarter-wavelength transformer matching is used to match transmission lines to purely resistive loads whose
resistance is not equal to the characteristic impedanc eof the line. It is not a broadband impedance -matching device
and works only at a single frequency.
RL = Z o the line acts as a transformer with 1:1 ratio
RL > Z o the line acts as a step-down transformer
RL < Z o the line acts as a step-up transformer
Stub matching. When a load is purely inductive or purely capacitive, it absorbs no energy. The reflection coefficient is
1 ans the SWR is infinity. When the load is a complex impedance, it is necessary to remove the reactive component to
match the transmission line to the load. Transmission line stubs are commonly used for this purpose.
A transmission line stub is simply a piece of additional transmission line that is placed across the primary line
as close to the load as possible. The susceptance of the stub is used to tune out the susceptance of the load. With stub
matching, either a short or an open stub can be used, however, shorted stubs are preferred because open stubs have
a tendency to radiate especially at higher frequencies.
TIME-DOMAIN REFELCTOMETR Y
A technique that can be used to locate an impairment in a metallic cable is called time domain reflectometry (TDR). A
discontinuity on the cable causes a portion of the transmiited signal to be reflected rather than continuing down the cable. If no
energy is returned, the line is either infinitely long or terminated in a resistive load with an impedance equal t o the characteristic
impedance of the line.
TDR operates in a fashion sense similar to radar. The exact distance between the impairment and the source can be
determined by the following mathematical relationship:
REVIEW QUESTIONS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Describe the behavior of an open and shorted transmission line as a circuit element.
10. Describe how stub matching and quarter wavelength transformer matching is accomplished.
SHORT PROBLEMS:
1.
Determine the SWR for a 75 transmission line that is terminated in a load resistance Z L = 50 .
2.
For a transmission line with E i = 0.4 V and Er = 0.002 V, determine the standing wave ratio.
3.
Determine the characteristic impedance for an air-filled concentric transmission line with a D/d ratio of 6.
4.
Using a TDR, a transmission line impairment is located 2500 m from the source. If the elapsed tie from the beginning of
the pulse to the reception of the echo is 833 ns, determine the velocity factor.
5.
For a given length of coaxial cable with distributed capacitance C = 48.3 pF/m and distributed inductance L = 241.56
nH/m, determine the velocity factor and velocity of propagation.