A28558 Calculators may be used in this examination but

must not be used to store text. Calculators with

the ability to store text should have their
memories deleted prior to the start of the
examination

A Smith chart is provided.

College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

School of Engineering
Department of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering

Degree of M.Sc.
Communications Engineering and Networks,
RF and Microwave Engineering
also with Industrial Studies

04 24098
Principles of Communication Systems
Paper 2

January Examinations 2017

Time Allowed: 1hour and 30 minutes

Candidates should attempt TWO questions

All questions carry equal marks

The marks allocated to each part of each question are shown in square brackets in
the right-hand margin.

Permittivity of free space 0 = 8.85410-12 F/m

Permeability of free space 0 = 410-7 H/m
Velocity of light in vacuum c = 3108 m/s

1 TURN OVER
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1. (a) Design an impedance matching network, using a lossless transmission

line and a lossless open circuit stub, both having characteristic impedance
50Ω. The matching network has to match a load impedance of 30 + j20 Ω
to a 50 Ω generator impedance. Annotate the Smith chart provided to
show how you determined the electrical lengths of the line and the stub.
Attach your Smith chart to your answer booklet. In your answer booklet
you should give a clear diagram of the network showing the electrical
lengths of the lines and showing where the load impedance is connected. [5]

(b) There are two velocities associated with wave propagation on

 d
transmission lines, given by the following two expressions: and .
 d
(i) What are these two velocities normally called? [1]
(ii) In what circumstances are these two velocities equal? [1]
(iii) In what circumstances, if any, can each of these velocities exceed
the velocity of light in vacuum? Explain your answers. [2]

(c) Derive the equation for the second of the two velocities given in part b), by
considering two sinusoidal waves on the same transmission line. (You
may use the trigonometric identity given at the end of the question.) [3]

(d) The complex propagation constant and characteristic impedance for a

transmission line are given by,
jL  R
  ( jL  R)( jC  G) and Z o 
jC  G
(i) What do the symbols R, L, C, G and  represent? [1]
(ii) Write down the equations for the propagation constant and
characteristic impedance for the case of a lossless line. [1]
(iii) Derive an equation for the propagation constant of a line in which the
loss is low, but not zero. (You may need to use the power series
expansion given at the end of the paper.) [1]

(e) In the wide microstrip approximation, the inductance per unit length and
capacitance per unit length are given by:
h w
L and C  respectively.
w h
where   r 0 is the permeability,    r 0 is the permittivity, w is the line
width and h = 0.508 mm is the substrate height. Assume that the line is
lossless, and that r  1 and  r  2.2 . Calculate the following:
(i) The widths, in mm, of for microstrip lines with characteristic
impedances of 20 Ω and 50 Ω respectively. [2]
(ii) The length, in mm, of a quarter wavelength microstrip line at 10 GHz. [1]

(f) When the simplifying assumptions in part (e) are removed, how would you
expect each of your answers to change? Explain your answers. [2]

You may require the following equations:

A B A B x x2
cos A  cos B  2 cos cos 1  x 1  
2 2 2 8
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2. (a) With the aid of matrix equations, explain how an S parameter matrix
and an ABCD matrix can be used in different ways to describe the
linear relationships between voltages and/or currents in a two-port
network. In your explanation, describe what measurements would be
necessary to determine the values of the elements. [5]

(b) Explain briefly why direct measurement of S-parameters is more

practical than direct measurement of ABCD parameters at microwave
frequencies. [3]

(c) Using basic linear circuit analysis, derive the ABCD matrices for the
following circuit elements or simple networks viewed as 2-port
networks. In each case assume that the two ports share a common
ground:

(i) A series impedance, Zs. [2]

(ii) A shunt admittance, Yp. [2]
(iii) A symmetrical “T” network constructed from two series
impedances Zs and one shunt conductance Yp. [3]

(d) A 10dB matched attenuator is a symmetrical two-port component that

can be inserted between a 50Ω generator and a 50Ω load to reduce the
power delivered to the load by a factor of 10, while having zero
reflection coefficient at the input port . A symmetrical “T” network of
resistors can be used for this purpose. Calculate the required resistor
values. You may find it helpful to use your result from part (c). [5]

3 TURN OVER
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3. (a) A third order Butterworth low pass filter has a 3 dB cut-off frequency of
3 GHz. Sketch a graph of S21 and S11 in dB versus frequency. Assume
that the filter elements are all lossless. [4]

(b) The ‘g’ values for a Butterworth filter can be calculated using the
following expressions:

g 0  g n 1  1

 (2 k  1) 
g k  2 sin 
 2n 

Explain what these g values represent. What is n, and how does its
value affect the filter response? [2]

(c) Using the equations given in part (b), design a 3 element filter to meet
the specification given in part (a), using an inductor as the first element,
with source and load impedances of 50 Ω. Draw a circuit diagram of
your filter, clearly indicating the element values. [4]

(d) The input impedance of a lossless transmission line with electrical

length θ (in radians) and characteristic impedance Zline terminated in a
load impedance Zload is given by:

Z load  j Z line tan 

Z in  Z line
Z line  j Z load tan 
(i) Using this equation, derive approximate equations for the series
inductive reactance of a short length of high impedance
transmission line, and the shunt capacitive susceptance of a
short length of low impedance transmission line.
(Hint: consider values of Zline very much bigger than Zload and very
much smaller than Zload , and use a first order small angle
approximation for tan θ .) [4]

(ii) Hence design a new version of your low pass filter from part (c),
using short sections of line with characteristic impedances 20Ω
and 100Ω. Draw a diagram indicating the impedances and
electrical lengths (in radians or degrees) of the line sections. [4]

(iii) What are the advantages and disadvantages of the transmission

line version, compared to the lumped element version? [2]

4 END OF PAPER