EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 1

Chapter 3: Wave Propagation on Transmission Lines................................................... 2

3.1 Why communicate using waves?.................................................................... 2
3.2 Wave Basics.................................................................................................... 4
3.3 Signals............................................................................................................. 6
3.4 Phase and Group Velocity.............................................................................. 9
3.5 Transmission Channel Characteristics.......................................................... 15
3.6 Transmission Lines....................................................................................... 17
3.7 Circuit models for transmission lines........................................................... 19
3.8 Waves on Ideal Transmission Lines............................................................. 25
3.11 Waves on Real Transmission Lines.............................................................. 26
3.12 Reflections from Transmission Line Terminations...................................... 28
Infinitely long line................................................................................................. 28
3.13 Open Circuited Line...................................................................................... 29
Bounce diagram for Open Line............................................................................. 34
3.14 Short Circuited Line...................................................................................... 36
Bounce diagram for the Short Circuited Line....................................................... 38
3.15 Inductive and Capacitive Loads on Transmission Lines.............................. 38
Summary of Wave Propagation on Transmission Lines............................................... 41


EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 2
Chapter 3: Wave Propagation on Transmission Lines
Static currents and fields as treated in Chapter 1 and 2 are the basis of many electrical
phenomena, but there are also a large number of useful technologies that require time-
varying fields. In particular this is true for wave propagation, which in one form or
another, is the foundation of electronic communication. In this chapter, we will study
wave propagation in simple 1-Dimensional media. The mathematical formalism that we
will develop is a good model for wave propagation on transmission lines, and the wave
propagation phenomena we observe on transmission lines will help our understanding of
more complex situations like electromagnetic wave propagation in free-space and on
fiber optic cables.
The subject under study in this chapter is illustrated by the simple communication system
of Fig. 3.1. It consists of a transmitter, a receiver, and a transmission channel. The
transmitter sends information in the form of an electromagnetic signal into the channel,
which directs the signal to the receiver. We are going to look closely at how the
transmission channel can be implemented, and how information is propagating across the
channel to the receiver. Most real systems are of course symmetrical with a transmitter
and receiver in either end. We will see that a well designed channel can be used for
sending signals in both directions simultaneously.


Transmitter Receiver
Transmission channel
Bit stream

Figure 3.1. Simple block diagram showing the basic components of a
communication system.

3.1 Why communicate using waves?
The speed and capacity of communication systems based on electromagnetic wave
propagation are the reasons such systems are dominating modern communications.
Electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light, which is 310
8
m/s in vacuum and
approximately 210
8
m/s or 450,000,000 miles/hour on fiber optic cables. That allows us
to send signals over long distances with very little delay. Clearly the propagation speed
of the information, lets call it the information speed, is an important attribute of a
communication system.
Another very important characteristic of a communication system is its capacity, i.e. the
amount of information it can deliver in a unit of time, typically given in bits per second.
In a single channel, the capacity, or bit rate, is a measure of how densely in time and
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 3
space we can stack bits on the channel. The bit rate is directly determined by the
bandwidth of the channel, so we often specify the bandwidth rather than the capacity.
More often than not, when we speak of a fast communication system, we really mean a
high-capacity system. The information speed is more or less the same for all
electromagnetic communication links, while the capacity can vary by many orders of
magnitude from low-speed telephony systems with bandwidths less than 10 kHz to
modern, high-speed fiber optic systems with potential capacities of close to 100 Tb/s.
To understand the importance of propagation speed and information capacity, lets briefly
consider some alternatives to communications based on wave propagation. How is
communication with waves different from communication based on mass transport (i.e.
physically passing an object containing the information to your audience). This is a time
honored method of communication with the mail system (snail mail) being the most
ubiquitous example.
The problem with mail and other mass transport-based communication technologies, is of
course that moving massive objects like letters over long distances takes a lot of time and
energy. The Pony Express took 10 days (longer in the winter) to cover the almost 2,000
miles from St. J oseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California, through the present day states
of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California. That is very
slow compared to electromagnetic signals traveling at 210
8
m/s or 450,000,000
miles/hour on fiber optic cables. There is no practical way of achieving comparable
information speeds for mass-transport based systems.
The capacity of mass-transport based communication is, however, quite impressive. We
can put a lot of information into a letter and even more onto electronic storage media. In
the future, the information might be stored as atoms precisely positioned on a surface, as
has already been demonstrated by researchers at IBM Corporation.



Figure 3.2. Corporate acronym spelled out with Xenon atoms on a Nickel crystal
surface. (From: D.M. Eigler, E.K. Schweizer, Positioning single
atoms with a scanning tunneling microscope. Nature 344, 524-526,
1990).

Another possible mechanism for communicating information over long distances is to use
diffusion. We could, for example, stretch a metal wire between the transmitter and
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 4
receiver of information. By heating the wire in the transmitter end and letting the heat
propagate by diffusion to the receiver end, we can transmit a set of heat pulses that is
coded with the information we want transferred.
The problem with this type of communication is again that it requires too much time and
power. Diffusion is a slow process and heating a long metal wire requires lots of energy.
If we look closer at the time it would take to send one bit of information over a metal
wire by heat diffusion, we realize that there are two effects that limits the amount of
information that can be transmitted.
The first is simply the speed of heat propagation on the wire. It is much slower than
electromagnetic wave propagation. That in itself is not a problem if we could stack a
large number of bits on a short length of string, because even though each bits moves
slowly, there could still be a large number of bits arriving per second. The main problem
of communication by heat diffusion is that we cannot stack bits very densely, because the
bits would spread out and overlap with neighboring bits so that the information is lost.
To avoid this effect, we must spread the bits far apart. The information capacity of
communication systems based on diffusion is therefore limited both by the speed of
propagation, and by the inability of the transmission channel to support rapid changes
between different values.
We already know that electromagnetic waves travel at the highest possible speed, and in
our study of wave propagation, we will find that electromagnetic waves travel in a well
defined direction so that a waveguide can act as a pipeline with bits of information that
are stacked very closely.
In addition to information speed and capacity, wave propagation also has other
advantages over competing communication based on other phenomena. Typically, the
energy per unit of information that is communicated is much less for electromagnetic
communication than for systems based on mass transport, diffusion and other
mechanisms. The energy use is a very important characteristic of a communication
system, but we will not study this here. Instead we will concentrate on information speed
and capacity.

3.2 Wave Basics
Wave propagation typically involves two different energy storing mechanisms. A wave
propagates when one of the energy storing mechanisms is excited locally. This local
excitation spreads to the other storage mechanism adjacent to the original excitation.
This secondary excitation then couples back into the first storage mechanism and so on.
Some well-known examples of this dual energy storage include sound waves where
energy is stored alternately as pressure (elastic energy) and movement (kinetic energy),
waves on a string where the energy storing mechanisms are stress of the string (elastic
energy) and motion of the string (kinetic energy), and electromagnetic waves where the
energy is transferred between electric and magnetic fields.
We describe waves by the amplitude of one of the energy-storing mechanisms. For
example, for waves on a string we could write down a mathematical expression
describing the undulations of the string as a function of time and distance along the
string, or we could choose to describe the tension in the string, again as a function of time
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 5
and distance. Both descriptions are valid and there really isnt one that is better than the
other. The choice we make depends mostly on convention. Electromagnetic waves, for
example, are conventionally described by their electric field, but we might just as well
use the magnetic field.
The simplest (and maybe most boring!) wave is what is called a harmonic wave. It is a
perfectly period wave with an amplitude that is a (co)sinusoidial function of space and
time. Mathematically, the amplitude of a simple harmonic wave can be expressed as:
( )

= z t v E E

2
cos
0

This is a harmonic wave with wavelength, , that travels to the right (in the direction of
increasing values of z) at the speed v. This wave is depicted in Fig. 3.2 as a function of
the normalized spatial variable, i.e. Fig. 3.2 shows the function:

= z E E

2
cos
0


1 2 3 4 5
- 1
- 0. 5
0. 5
1

Figure 3.3. Harmonic wave as a function of one spatial coordinate. The wave is
perfectly periodic with a wavelength .
The propagation speed of a harmonic wave is related to its period (T) and wavelength by
the expression:
T v =
Alternatively, we can write the wavelength as a function of the frequency,
T
f
1
= , of the
wave:
f
v
=
z/

E
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 6
We will also often find it convenient to use the natural frequency, , and the propagation
constant, k. These are defined as follows:
f = 2

2
= k
With these standard definitions, the expression for the wave as a function of space and
time can be rewritten:
( ) ( ) ( ) z k t E z k t f E z t v E E = =

cos 2 cos
2
cos
0 0 0

The velocity of the wave can now also be written in terms of the natural frequency and
the propagation constant:
k
f f v

= = = 2
2


3.3 Signals
The wave of Fig. 3.2 is periodic, but continues for all of time and occupies the whole z-
axis. It does not have a start or an end. It never changes, so it does not contain any
information. To encode information on the wave, we must somehow change, or
modulate, it as a function of time to create a signal. By signal we mean a waveform
whose future shape cannot be predicted by the receiver based on what the waveform has
been in the past. A signal is therefore random or stochastic in nature. In the following
we will discuss signals without considering their randomness. The discussion is therefore
simplified, but the conclusions we draw are valid also for true signals.
The waveform in Fig. 3.4 is starting to resemble what we think of as a signal. It is the
sum of two harmonic waves and can be expressed:

+
=

=
z z
z z
z z E

2
5 . 0 cos
2
5 . 10 cos
2
2
10 11
cos
2
2
11 10
cos
2
11 cos
2
10 cos
2
1

Here we have used the well-known mathematical identity
[ ] [ ] y x y x y x cos cos 2 cos cos = + +
to express the sum of to cosines and a product of two cosines. This type of signal that
can be written as a product of a carrier (average frequency) and an envelope (difference
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 7
frequency), is called a carrier signal. It is the form of signal most typically used in most
communication systems.
We see both from the mathematical expression and the graphical representation of Fig.
3.2 that this waveform can be thought of as a high-frequency (the average of the two
frequencies of the sum) modulated by a low-frequency (the difference of the two
frequencies) signal. The waveform is still periodic, so it is not really a signal, but the
relationship between the frequencies of the waveform, and it variation in time is the same
as for stochastic signals.

1 2 3 4 5
- 1
- 0. 5
0. 5
1

Figure 3.4. The sum of to harmonic signals (red curve) appears as a wave at the
average frequency of the two harmonics, modulated by an envelope
function, which is a harmonic at the difference frequency of the two
original harmonics. The envelope is shown in green (cos[z/]).
By adding more harmonics, we obtain signals that have the square shape that we
associate with binary or digital signals. For example, if we add six harmonics with the
proper weights, we get the square wave of Fig. 3.5. This signal can be expressed:
[ ]

+ =
6
1
55 . 0 sinc cos 5 . 0
n
n
z
n E

This type of signal, which has frequencies all the way down to DC or zero frequency, is
called a base band signal. As noted above, most communication systems use some kind
of carrier-modulated signal, rather than base band signals.


z/
E
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 8
Note: The weighting function, [ ]
[ ]
n
n
n


=
55 . 0
55 . 0 sin
55 . 0 sinc

, is obviously not randomly

chosen. The sinc function is the Fourier transform of a top-hat or rectangular function
which is defined as: ( )

=
otherwise 0
5 . 0 1
rect
t
t . By using this weighting function for the
summation of the frequencies, we get the best possible approximation to a square wave in
the time domain. Mathematically, the relationship between a rectangular wave and the
sinc function can be expressed: ( ) [ ] ( )

= =

a
a
t f j
at d e
a
t a
a
f
a
5 . 0
5 . 0
2
1
rect F sinc
1

. If the
sum above is carried to infinity, the resulting waveform is a perfect square wave.

0. 5 1 1. 5 2 2. 5 3
- 1
- 0. 5
0. 5
1
1. 5

Figure 3.5. The sum of six correctly-weighted harmonic signals (blue curve) looks
very much like the square-waves we associate with binary or digital
signals. The six harmonic components of the signal are also shown.
In Fig. 3.4 we see that the envelope, which we think of as the signal (even though it is
periodic), is a harmonic at the difference frequency of the two parts of the sum. The
range of frequencies (i.e. the difference between the highest and lowest frequency)
therefore determines how fast the signal is turned off and on. We observe the same thing
in Fig. 3.5. It is quite obvious that the more frequencies we add, the steeper the slope of
the transition between the two levels of the binary signal. This leads us to the conclusion
that the total range of frequencies, the bandwidth, of a signal is closely related to the
speed, or more accurately, the information capacity of the signal.
The rise and fall times are most often quantified in terms of the transition time from 10%
to 90% of the full value as shown in Fig. 3.6. For simple signals (base band signals with
z/
E
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 9
a single-pole roll off) we can relate the rise time, t
10-90
, to the bandwidth, f, through the
relationship:

35 . 0
2
35 . 0
90 10
f
t


t
100%
Rise time
t
10-90
90%
10%
Fall time
t
90-10

Figure 3.6. Definitions of rise and fall times of a binary signal.

3.4 Phase and Group Velocity
Now lets consider again a wave that is harmonic in both space and time:
( ) z k t E E = cos
0

This wave propagates with a phase velocity
( )
( ) k k z k t E
z k t E
dz
dE
dt
dE
dE
dt
dE
dz
dt
dz
v

=


= = = =
sin
sin
0
0

This is of course the same expression we found earlier by using the definitions of
velocity, wavelength, and frequency. A sum or superposition of two harmonic waves
with a difference in frequency of 2 and a difference in propagation constant of 2k
can be described as:
( ) ( ) [ ] ( ) ( ) [ ] { } z k k t z k k t E E E + + + = + cos cos
0 2 1

As before, we use the identity
[ ] [ ] y x y x y x cos cos 2 cos cos = + +
to rewrite the expression as a product
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 10
( ) ( ) kz t kz t E E E = + cos cos 2
0 2 1

A more complex signal consisting of several frequency components can likewise be
expressed as a product of a carrier (average frequency) and an envelope. If we assume
that the distribution of harmonics is symmetric around the center frequency, we find the
following simple expression:
( ) ( ) [ ]
[ ] [ ]

=
=
=
=

= + + =
N i
i
i
N i
N i
i sig
z k i t i E z k t
z k i k t i E E
1
cos cos 2
cos



In both the simple sum of two harmonics and in the more complex case of several
harmonics, the envelope propagates at the velocity:
k
v

=


In the limit of small frequency differences, this becomes:
dk
d
v
g

=
This quantity is the group velocity. It is the velocity of an envelope or signal that consists
of a number of frequencies.
The relationship between the propagation constant, k, and the natural frequency, ,
determines the relative velocities of the different frequency components of a propagating
wave. This relationship, which we call the dispersion relation ship, is therefore very
important fro all types of wave-propagation phenomena. In Fig. 3.7, we show examples
of dispersion relation ships. Note that these curves are not to scale. They are for
illustrative purposes, not for calculations.

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 11


k
Light line in
vacuum
Typical dispersion in
single mode fiber

Figure 3.7. Dispersion relationships for electromagnetic waves in vacuum and in
optical fibers. examples of dispersion relation ships. The dispersion
relationships are not to scale. In particular, the variation in group
velocity for optical fibers is vastly exaggerated for illustrative
purposes.
Looking at Fig. 3.7, we recognize that we must distinguish between three different cases:
Case 1: When all the frequencies of the signal have the same phase velocity, then
obviously the phase and group velocities are the same. In this case, the signal travels
with at the phase velocity, and the signal is not changed or distorted as it travels.
Electromagnetic waves in vacuum behave in this way, and their phase and group
velocities are both the speed of light, which has the value 2.99810
8
m/s in vacuum. .
Case 2: When the frequencies of the signal travel at different phase velocities, but the
relationship between the frequency and the propagation constant is linear so that there is a
well-defined group velocity and all higher order derivatives are zero (i.e.
,........) 0 , 0
3
3
2
2
= =
dk
d
dk
d
, then the signals travel at a fixed velocity lower than the speed
of light in vacuum. We often say that such a wave also propagates without signal
distortion. This is not strictly correct because there is some distortion, but the envelope
of the signal is not distorted by propagation. A signal with a much higher average
frequency than difference (envelope) frequency will therefore, for all practical purposes,
propagate without distortion, as illustrated in Fig. 3.8. A baseband signal (i.e. a signal
that contain frequencies all the way down to DC) and other signals, in which the average
frequency is comparable to the frequency differences will undergo periodic distortions
even if they have a well-defined group velocity. The original signal is, however,
periodically recovered, so the propagation distortion of such signals is really not
distortion in the true sense.

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 12
0. 2 0. 4 0. 6 0. 8 1 1. 2 1. 4
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1
1
2
3
4

0. 2 0. 4 0. 6 0. 8 1 1. 2 1. 4
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1
1
2
3
4


Figure 3.8. The two graphs show a signal consisting of 13 harmonics as a function
of normalized propagation distance, z/, at two different propagation
times ft=0, and 0.375. The signal undergoes periodic distortions due
to the phase velocity differences, but the envelope propagates
undistorted.
Figure 3.8 shows the signal
( ) ( ) ( )

=
=

+ + =
6
6
i 0.35 sinc 50 2 100 2 cos
i
i
carrier
z
i t f i E

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 13
as a function of the normalized propagation distance, z/, at times ft=0 and ft=0.375.
The differences in phase velocities for the different harmonics lead to distortion, but the
envelope of the signal is undistorted. The distortion is limited to a shift of the carrier
frequency with respect to the envelope. This shift is not very noticeable, so the
distortions are difficult to observe and unimportant for practical communication systems.
Case 3: In many communications channels, the relationship between the frequency and
the propagation constant has terms of higher than linear order, as shown in Fig. 3.9.


k
Light line
Surface plasmon
dispersion

Figure 3.9. Illustration of a dispersion relationship that is highly non-linear. The
non-linearity means that signals propagation on this channel will be
distorted.
The non-linear dispersion leads to distortion of the signals during propagation. In this
case, the envelope of the signal will also be affected, so the distortion can significantly
degrade the signal. This is illustrated in Fig. 3.9, which shows the following two signals:
( ) ( ) ( )

=
=

+ + =
6
6
i 0.35 sinc 50 2 100 2 cos
i
i
carrier
z
i t f i E

( ) ( ) ( )

=
=

+ + + =
6
6
2
i 0.35 sinc 50 2 01 . 0 100 2 cos
i
i
disp c
z
i t f i i E

The two signals are identical at t=0. One of the signals (the red curve) is the same as the
one shown in Fig. 3.8. It has a linear dispersion relationship. The other signal (the green
curve) differs from the first only in a slight non-linearity of the dispersion relationship.
We see that the non-linearity has disastrous consequences. The dispersive signal
becomes spread out such that a receiver cannot distinguish between the high and low
values of a binary signal. As was the case for the dispersive base-band signal, the
distortion is not periodic and the original signal is not recovered by simply looking at the
signal at some future time when the frequency components again are in phase.
The non-dispersive signal is also, strictly speaking, distorted as was the case in Fig. 3.8.
The distortion is simply a shift of the carrier relative to the envelope, however, and this
type of distortion is of little or no practical consequence when the carrier frequency is
large compared to the bandwidth of the signal. For most practical purposes, we can
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 14
therefore say that a signal that propagates with a group velocity that is different from the
phase velocity, but that does not have a non-linear dispersion relationship, will not be
distorted by propagation.

0. 2 0. 4 0. 6 0. 8 1 1. 2 1. 4
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1
1
2
3
4

0. 2 0. 4 0. 6 0. 8 1 1. 2 1. 4
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1
1
2
3
4

0. 2 0. 4 0. 6 0. 8 1 1. 2 1. 4
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1
1
2
3
4


0. 2 0. 4 0. 6 0. 8 1 1. 2 1. 4
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1
1
2
3
4

0. 2 0. 4 0. 6 0. 8 1 1. 2 1. 4
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1
1
2
3
4

0. 2 0. 4 0. 6 0. 8 1 1. 2 1. 4
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1
1
2
3
4


Figure 3.10. These graphs show how the envelope of a signal becomes complete
unrecognizable when subject to distortion caused by dispersion. The
red curve shows the same waveform as in Fig. 3.8, while the green
curve shows the propagation of a dispersive signal. Note that the
green curve is covered by the red one in the first graph where the two
are identical. The signals are plotted at times ft=0, 1.375, 2.75, 4.125,
5.50, and 6.875.
In the above we have talked about signals that are dispersive and therefore become
distorted during propagation. A close consideration reveals that it is not so much the
signal as the transport medium that causes dispersion and distortion. Dispersion is caused
by the fact that different frequencies travel at different velocities, and that the velocity
difference as a function of the frequency difference is not linear. Dispersion is therefore
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 15
not a function of the signal sent by a transmitter, but of the transmission channel. A
channel, in which different frequencies travel at different velocities such that signals
become distorted, is said to be dispersive. This leads to the realization that we can have
channels with opposite dispersion so that one can undo the distortion created by another.
This approach is indeed practical, and is much used in modern fiber optic communication
systems.

3.5 Transmission Channel Characteristics
Now we are ready to identify the important characteristics of communication channels.
Based on our discussion of communication systems and signals, we find the following to
be parameters that will determine the usefulness and capacity of a communication
channel:
Speed: The ideal communications system delivers information to the receiver with a
minimum of delay. The speed of information propagation on the channel is therefore
important. Electromagnetic waves are superior in this regard as they travel at the speed
of light.
Bandwidth: We have seen that a signal with rapid modulation must consist of a wide
range of frequencies. In other words: the larger the bandwidth of a signal, the larger its
information carrying capacity. A theoretical transmission channel with infinite
bandwidth would be able to support the ideal bit stream of Fig. 3.11 (assuming for a
second that we somehow could generate such an ideal signal). In reality, all transmission
channels have finite bandwidths, so the best we can do is to present the receiver with a bit
stream with rounded corners and finite slopes as shown in the bottom graph of Fig. 3.11.
The beauty of digital signal processing is that the real bit stream does not compromise the
information. On the other hand, if the ideal bit stream was possible, we would be able to
stack the bits arbitrarily close and achieve infinite information capacity. There is clearly
a limit to how close the bits can be stacked when using a real transmission channel.


t
Ideal bit stream
Real bit stream

Figure 3.11. Comparison of a fictitious ideal bit stream that would require
infinite bandwidth, to a real bit stream of finite bandwidth.
The ideal information transmission channel, even though it cannot support the ideal bit
stream, must be able to transmit a wide range of frequencies, i.e. the transmission channel
must have a wide bandwidth. This is the reason optical fibers have become the dominant
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 16
technology for long-distance communications. A single optical fiber in theory has a
signal bandwidth up to 100 THz (1 THz =10
12
Hz). This means that a single fiber can
support more than 10 million phone conversations simultaneously!
Distortion: We have seen that dispersive transmission channels will distort signals such
that the information is lost or at least compromised. Distortion can in principle be
undone by simply sending the signal through another transmission channel with
dispersion opposite of the one that compromised the signal, but this solution is often
impractical, and sometimes impossible if non-linear effects are also present in the
transmission channel. It is therefore important that the transmission channel have low
dispersion. For most Radio Frequency (RF) communication systems, dispersion is not a
problem, but it is a serious problem in modern fiber optics.
Non-linear effects: If we send a single-frequency signal, E
0
cos(t), through a linear
transmission channel, we get the same signal with an attenuated amplitude at the receiver.
If we also get higher order terms of the type [E
0
cos(t)]
2
, [E
0
cos(t)]
3
,.,
[E
0
cos(t)]
n
, then the channel is non-linear. The extra frequency components generated
by non-linear effects distort the signal and reduce the power in the real signal. Non-
linearity is therefore a problem that we would like to avoid on information transmission
channels.
Signal Attenuation: Clearly we need to transmit sufficient power to the transmitter for it
to be able to detect the signal. The transmission channel must therefore not be too lossy.
Signal strength can be lost in two ways. The energy of the signal can be absorbed by
some material, or it can be directed away from the receiver. To avoid absorption, we
must simply make our transmission channel of materials that do not absorb the signal
energy. Electromagnetic waves are superior to most other waves in this regard, because
they can travel through a wide range of materials with very little loss (at least in some
part of the electromagnetic spectrum). Most other wave phenomena lose energy fast
during propagating, but there are situation where acoustic waves outperforms
electromagnetics, e.g. signal transmission through water.
Electromagnetic waves can also travel in vacuum, where they of course experience no
absorption. Electromagnetic-wave propagation in vacuum is still lossy in the sense that
the waves spread and some of the signal energy will miss the receiver. Electromagnetic
waves are also generally less sensitive to the medium they travel through and in particular
they travel with less loss through air. So although a number of specialized
communication systems based on acoustic waves and other wave phenomena exist, truly
long-distance, high-speed, high-bandwidth communication is only practical with
electromagnetic waves.
Technology: The available technology for generation, transmission, and detection of
information is also of course important for determining the practicality of a given
communication system. Using this criterion, we again find that systems based
electromagnetic waves have many strong advantages over their competitors: (1) The
prevalent computation technology (electronic integrated circuits on silicon chips) is based
on electromagnetism, so using electromagnetic communications systems leads to fewer
and simpler problems in integration of computation and communication. (2) The
technology for generation of high-bandwidth electromagnetic signals is very advanced.
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 17
(3) Ditto for electromagnetic detector technology. (4) We have better technologies for
low-loss electromagnetic waveguides than for any other type of signal transmission.
For all the reasons mentioned above, we will concentrate on electromagnetic waves in
this course. Most, if not all, of the physical phenomena we describe can readily be
extended to other types of waves.

3.6 Transmission Lines
Waves generally travel in 3-D space and are in general quite complex. As engineers we
create structures, called transmission lines or waveguides, on which wave propagation is
limited to 1-D. This simplifies the description of the waves, and is of course very
practical, because it means that we can direct the waves to where we want them. This
leads to high efficiency communications systems, because if the system is engineered
correctly, most of the transmitted energy can be directed to the receiver. We still have to
contend with absorption and reflection, however.
Figures 3.12 and 3.13 show schematically the construction of different types of
transmission lines that are used in practice. The simplest is the twisted pair shown on the
left of Fig. 3.12. It consists of two isolated wires that are twisted around each other.


Figure 3.12. Different practical implementation of electromagnetic transmission
lines. From left to right we have a twisted pair, co-axial cable,
parallel-plate transmission line, and a microstrip line. The twisted pair
and co-axial cable are used for long distance applications, while the
parallel-plate and microstrip lines are most often used on printed
circuit boards and on electronics chip. Note that these schematic
drawings are not to scale.
To understand how an electromagnetic wave can propagate on the simple twisted-pair
structure, consider harmonic currents running in opposite direction in each of the two
wires. The currents in each little section of line then set up magnetic fields outside the
conductors. The currents also lead to accumulation of charge along the conductors, so
that an electric field is set up. Each short length of line can therefore be thought of as a
small inductor storing magnetic energy, and a small capacitor storing electric energy.
When a wave is transmitted over the twisted pair, the electric and magnetic disturbance at
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 18
the front of the wave simply spreads down the line as in any wave propagation. The
details of how that happens will be clear when we develop a mathematical model to
describe wave propagation on transmission lines. Note that this explanation of wave
propagation on transmission lines implies that the signal energy travels outside the wires,
even though the currents are on the wires.
The reason the two wires are twisted, rather than simply being held parallel, is to
minimize disturbance from the surroundings. Electromagnetic noise impinging on the
line will be picked up differently in the two wires because they are positioned differently
with the respect to the source of the noise. By wrapping the two wires around each other,
however, the coupling to the two wires is largely equalized so that the noise does not
show up as a differential voltage between the wires. Twisted pairs therefore are much
less susceptible to outside influences than parallel wires.
The co-axial cable to the right of the twisted pair in Fig. 3.12 is simply the twisted pair
taken to its logical conclusion by letting one wire completely surround the other. The
shielding from external disturbance is therefore almost perfect for co-axial cable, but the
fundamental principle of operation is the same as for the twisted pair. The energy of a
propagating wave on the co-ax is in the volume between the two conductors, with little or
no energy outside the outer conductor. The currents flow in the conductors as for the
twisted pair. In most practical implementations, the volume between the two conductors
of the co-axial cable is filled with a low-loss dielectric material.
The other two transmission lines of Fig. 3.12 are used mostly on planar substrates where
their geometry makes them simple to implement. They are not as well shielded as the co-
axial cable, but that is not such a big problem since they are often shielded by their
packages and mostly used for communication over relatively short lengths.




Figure 3.13. Waveguides for electromagnetic radiation. The optical fiber on the
left is typically used for very long distance communication using light
in the 1.3 to 1.6 um wavelength range, while the metallic waveguide
on the right is much used in the distribution of radar signals.
The waveguides of Fig. 3.13 are in many ways similar to the transmission lines of Fig.
3.12, but there are significant differences. The structures of Fig. 3.13 have less than two
conductors (the fiber has none, while the rectangular waveguide has one), so they cannot
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 19
support DC electric fields. The wave propagation on the optical fiber is similar to
propagation through free space in that the electric and magnetic fields are set up without
the benefit of conductors that can support currents. The difference between free-space
and fiber propagation is that the fiber directs the wave so that it energy does not spread,
but is sent to the correct destination.
The rectangular waveguide does support currents that set up magnetic fields and charge
distributions that set up electric fields in the interior of the guide. The currents and
charge distributions cannot be stationary, however, so the rectangular waveguide does not
support DC fields. Since the rectangular waveguide is relatively simple to make without
any dielectric material in its internal volume, this type of guide allow directed
electromagnetic wave propagation through vacuum. The lack of absorptive materials in
the guide enables high fields, so the hollow guide can transmit signals at very high
powers. This makes hollow waveguides practical for radar installations and other high
power applications. Neither the fiber, nor the rectangular waveguide support Transverse
Electro Magnetic (TEM) fields as we will discuss in more detail in later chapters.

3.7 Circuit models for transmission lines
Based on the above explanation of how waves propagate on transmission lines, we can
create the simple model shown in Fig. 3.14. Each segment of the line is modeled as a
series inductor that stores magnetic energy and a parallel capacitor that stores electric
energy. In Fig. 3.14 we also show a voltage source with its series resistor, but for now
our focus is on the transmission line.

C
1

z
L
1

V
0

C
2

L
2

C
3

L
3

Z
0


Figure 3.14 Simple model of two-conductor transmission line. Notice that the line
is loss less. This is of course an idealization that is only
approximately correct in practice.
The simple model of Fig. 3.14 is unrealistic in that we assume that the currents flowing in
the conductors do not experience any ohmic losses. A more realistic model includes both
series and parallel resistors as shown in Fig. 3.15. The series resistance, which we can
assume is very small in good transmission lines, represents the finite resistance of the
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 20
conductors, while the parallel resistance, which is very high in good transmission lines,
represent the finite conductivity of the material filling the volume between the
conductors.

R
C
G
L
I(z+z,t)
V(z,t) V(z+z,t)
I(z,t)

Figure 3.15 A more complete transmission line model also includes series and
shunt resistors to represent the losses in the line.
Using the model of Fig. 3.15, we can develop a mathematical description of wave
propagation on transmission lines. We will start by using Kirchoffs voltage law to write
an equation for the voltage drop across one element of the line.
( ) ( ) ( )
( )
t
t z I
z L t z I z R t z V t z z V

= +
,
, , ,
The line is continuous, so we should use this equation in the limit of small element
lengths, i.e. we will take limit of the above equation when the length, z, approaches
zero.
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) t z I
t
L R
z
t z V
z
t z V t z z V
z
,
, , ,
0
lim

+ =

+


Similarly we can use Kirchoffs current law to find an expression for the change in
current through the element.
( ) ( ) ( )
( )
t
t z z V
z C t z z V z G t z I t z z I

+
+ = +
,
, , ,
As before, we take the continuous limit of this equation.
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 21
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) t z V
t
C G
z
t z I
z
t z I t z z I
z
,
, , ,
0
lim

+ =

+


To simplify the mathematics, we now disregard the losses of the line, i.e. we set the series
resistor and the parallel conductor to zero. On ideal, loss-less transmission lines, the
above equations simplify to:
( ) ( )
t
t z I
L
z
t z V

, ,

( ) ( )
t
t z V
C
z
t z I

, ,

Combining these two equations, we find the wave equations for transmission lines (the
one-dimensional wave equations). The voltage wave equation is found by taking the
partial derivative of the voltage equation above, and substituting the current equation into
the resulting expression.
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

z
t z I
t
L
t
t z I
z
L
t
t z I
L
z
z
t z V , , , ,
2
2

( ) ( )

t
t z V
C
t
L
z
t z V , ,
2
2

( ) ( )
2
2
2
2
, ,
t
t z V
LC
z
t z V

Likewise, the current wave equation is found by taking the partial derivative of the
current equation above, and substitute the voltage equation into the resulting expression.
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

z
t z V
t
C
t
t z V
z
C
t
t z V
C
z
z
t z I , , , ,
2
2

( ) ( )

t
t z I
L
t
C
z
t z I , ,
2
2

( ) ( )
2
2
2
2
, ,
t
t z I
LC
z
t z I

We can now solve either of these two equations to find the voltage or current on the
transmission line, and then use relationships between the voltage and current to find the
other. It is common to use the wave equation for the voltage, so that will be our choice.
( ) ( ) ( )
2
2
2 2
2
2
2
, 1 , ,
t
t z V
v t
t z V
LC
z
t z V
p

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 22
where
LC
v
p
1
= is the phase velocity of wave propagation on the loss-less line. That
this is indeed the case will become obvious when we examine the solutions to the wave
equation.
We now make the absolutely astonishing discovery that any function of the form

p
v
z
t f is a solution to the 1-D wave equation! This can be seen by direct
substitution into the wave equation. Fist we substitute the solution into the left-hand side
of the equation and simplify:

p
p
p
p p
v
z
t
v
z
t V
v
z
t
z z z
v
z
t V
z
z
v
z
t V
2
2

=
p
p
p
p
p
p
v
z
t
v
z
t V
z v
v
z
t
v
z
t V
v z
1 1

=
z
v
z
t V
v
z
t
v
p
p
p
1

2
2
2
1 1 1

=
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
v
z
t
v
z
t V
v
v
z
t
v
z
t V
v
v
z
t
v

Then we substitute the solution into the right-hand side of the equation, and simplify to
see that we arrive at the same expression as for the left-hand side:
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 23

p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
v
z
t
v
z
t V
v
z
t
t t
v
t
v
z
t V
t
v t
v
z
t V
v
2 2 2
2
2
1 1 1

=
t
v
z
t V
v
z
t
v
v
z
t
v
z
t V
t
v
p
p
p
p
p
p
2 2
1 1

2
2
2 2
1 1

=
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
v
z
t
v
z
t V
v
v
z
t
v
z
t V
v
z
t
v

We see that
( ) ( )
2
2
2 2
2
, 1 ,
t
t z V
v z
t z V
p

, so we have proven that all functions of the form

( )
p
v z t f are solution to the 1-D wave equation for the voltage on an ideal
transmission line.
Using the same procedure, we can prove that signals of the form ( )
p
v z t f + are also
solutions to the wave equations. This means that waves can travel in both directions on
the line. Such counter propagating waves do not interfere with each other. This is both
good news and bad news. It is good that we can use the line to send signal in both
directions simultaneously, but it also means that any discontinuity on the line might lead
to reflections. This is indeed bad news, and we will see that reflections cause problems
for practical signal propagation on transmission lines.
The complete solution to the voltage wave equation is therefore:
( ) ( ) ( )
p p
v z t V v z t V z t V + + =
+
,
where we have used the superscript +to identify the forward propagating wave, and the
superscript to identify the backward propagating wave. Similarly we can show that this
type of function is also a solution to the wave equation for the current on the ideal
transmission line:
( ) ( ) ( )
p p
v z t I v z t I z t I + + =
+
,
Combining these general solutions with the equation we found earlier relating the current
to the voltage on the ideal transmission line, we find:
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 24
( ) ( )

t
t z I
L
z
t z V , ,

( ) [ ] ( ) [ ] ( ) [ ] ( ) [ ]

+ +
u
u I
L
u
u I
L
u
u V
v u
u V
v
p p
1 1

( ) [ ] ( ) [ ] ( ) [ ] ( ) [ ]

+ +
u
u V
u
u V
L
C
u
u I
u
u I

( ) ( ) ( ) [ ]
( ) ( ) ( ) [ ] const v z t V v z t V
Z
z t I
const v z t V v z t V
L
C
z t I
p p
p p
+ + =
+ + =
+
+
0
1
,
,

where C L Z =
0
is the characteristic impedance of the transmission line. This shows
that to within a constant, the current and voltage of the transmission line are related
through something that looks very much like Ohms law. The constant is truly
unimportant. It simply shows that we can have a DC current and a DC voltage on the
line that are independent of the propagating waves. The characteristic impedance is the
ratio of voltage to current of a wave on the transmission line. It has units of ohms, and
for the loss less lines we consider, it is a real, positive number.
Note, however, the difference in the signs of the forward and backward propagating
voltages and currents. It signifies nothing more than the fact that the current is directed
in the opposite directions for the forward and backward propagating waves, but it is
nevertheless worthwhile considering this asymmetry briefly. It means that if we look at
currents and voltages at one point along a transmission line, we are able to determine the
direction of the wave. This is important in the context of the picture we have of wave
propagation being caused by energy in one location spreading to neighboring locations,
from which the energy spreads to other locations further away and so on. In light of this
picture, you might ask what it is about waves that give them the property of well-defined
propagation direction. Diffusion, which can be described very similarly, does not have
this nice property. The answer is the asymmetry in the relationship between the two
energy storing mechanisms of the wave. This type of asymmetry is present in all true
wave phenomena, although it might not take such a simple form as in our 1-dimensional
transmission line model.
The characteristic impedance, C L Z =
0
, of the transmission line is a very important
parameter. Together with the phase velocity,
LC
v
p
1
= , it completely describes our
transmission line model. (This is of course true for any two variables that allow us to
derive L and C, which are the only parameters of our model). We will use the
characteristic impedance later to determine reflections from transmission line
discontinuities.
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 25
When discussing the transmission line implementations shown in Fig. 3.12, we made the
point that the electro-magnetic energy of the wave is stored and propagates outside the
conductors. That means that the energy is traveling at the speed of light in the medium
between the conductors. The phase velocity of wave propagation on transmission lines is
therefore the speed of light, so we have:
c
LC
v
p
= =
1

In particular, if the volume between the conductors is vacuum, the velocity of the signal
is the sped of light in vacuum!

3.8 Waves on Ideal Transmission Lines
That solutions of the forms ( )
p
v z t f and ( )
p
v z t f + exist on transmission lines
means that any waveform, no matter how abrupt, will propagate on the transmission line
without loss and without distortion as shown in Fig. 3.16. Another way to state the same
fact, is to say that the phase velocity is the same for all frequencies on an ideal
transmission line. That means that the group velocity is the same as the phase velocity,
and that there are no non-linear terms in the dispersion relationship, i.e. the signals
traveling on the line are not distorted.


t=0 t=t
1

l=v
p
/t
1

z

Figure 3.16. An ideal transmission line supports all traveling waves that can be
expressed ( )
p
v z t f , where v
p
is the phase velocity of all harmonics
on the line. The phase velocity is given by
LC
v
p
1
= .
This result tells us that an ideal transmission line has arbitrarily large transmission
capacity! Any differentiable signal can be transmitted. The requirement that the signal
must be differentiable is not really a limitation. All it means is that signals with infinite
slope, e.g. the ideal bit stream of Fig. 3.17, are not allowed, but any arbitrarily close
approximation to this signal, i.e. a signal with finite (but very high) slope can be
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 26
transmitted. So we can conclude that ideal transmission lines have arbitrarily high
transmission capacity, even though the signal speed is finite.


t
Ideal bit stream
1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0

Figure 3.17. An ideal transmission line can support signals that are arbitrarily close
to the ideal bit stream. This means that we can stack bits arbitrarily
close on the line, and the transmission capacity is arbitrarily high.

3.11 Waves on Real Transmission Lines
In reality, we cannot send arbitrarily fast signals on real transmission lines of course. So
what is the difference between the ideal transmission line and real-world transmission
lines? There are three effects that are fundamental to real transmission lines, but that are
not present in our idealized model: loss, dispersion, and reflection.
Loss: In our original transmission line model and equations, we include loss, but the
losses are ignored when we go to the ideal line. Real transmission lines have loss, and,
furthermore, the losses are frequency dependent. Typically, the transmission line losses
increase with frequency so that high frequency components of the signal are lost, while
the low frequency components are transmitted.
We often characterize frequency dependent losses by giving the 3-dB bandwidth of the
transmission line. In many practical systems, the transmission can be modeled by a
simple transfer function of the form:
( )
0
1
1

j
H
+
=
The absolute value of this transfer function is reduced from its maximum value by a
factor of 2
-0.5
at the 3-dB frequency,
0
. This means that the energy transfer, which goes
as |H()|
2
, is reduced by a factor of 2 at this frequency. This is illustrated in Fig. 3.18.

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 27


|H()|
1

0

2
-0.5


Figure 3.18. This schematic graph shows the absolute value of the transfer function
of a typical transmission line in a log-log plot. Frequency dependent
losses limit the bandwidth of the line.
Clearly the limited bandwidth of real transmission lines will limit the bandwidth of the
signals that can be transmitted on the line. This again limits the information content of
the signals that can be transmitted and therefore the information transmission capacity of
the line. Frequency dependent loss of this sort is the ultimate limit on any real
transmission line or wave guide.
Dispersion: We have seen that dispersion causes signal distortion. All real transmission
lines will exhibit some dispersion, but for most types of lines, dispersion does not limit
transmission capacity. This is because most lines have a combination of relatively high
losses and low bandwidth that makes the distortion created by dispersion insignificant for
the relatively low bandwidths and transmission lengths that are being used. (Note that
the distortion caused by dispersion increases with bandwidth and propagation length.)
The exception is optical fibers. Optical fibers have such wide bandwidth (~100 THz)
and low loss (0.2 dB/Km), that their relatively low dispersion indeed becomes the limit
on bandwidth. As mentioned above, distortion caused by dispersion can be undone by
passing the distorted signal through a transmission line with the opposite dispersion of
the line that created the distortion. This technique is widely used in modern fiber optics.
Dispersion is, as stated above, not important for most applications of electrical
transmission lines, so we will postpone further discussions of this effect until we study
fiber optics in later chapters.
Reflection: The forward and backward propagating waves on an ideal transmission line
do not couple, i.e. energy is never transferred between these two waves. At
discontinuities of the line, however, we might have reflections, which will couple energy
from between the two waves. Typically we have to worry about discontinuities at the
start and end of the line, but there are also cases where significant discontinuities are
present in the middle of a line. In the following we will see how to analyze different
discontinuities and how to minimize reflections from them.

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 28
3.12 Reflections from Transmission Line Terminations
A transmission line by itself is useless. It needs terminations to perform useful functions.
These terminations create the possibility for reflections. We will now study some
common simple examples to better understand the nature of these reflections.
Infinitely long line
The first case we will study is the infinitely long line driven by a step function starting at
time, t=0, from a voltage source with an internal resistance, R
s
. This situation is shown
in Fig. 3.19a. To find the voltage at the source end of the transmission line, we use the
fact that the impedance of the line is Z
0
. This means that we can use the equivalent
circuit of Fig. 3.19b to find the voltage:
S
S
R Z
Z
V V
+
=
0
0
0


V
0

V
0

R
S

a)
Z
0
V
S

R
S

b)
Z
0
V
S

Figure 3.19. Infinitely long transmission line driven by a voltage step. The
equivalent circuit in b) can be used to find the voltage on the line.
Once the step voltage, V
S
, has reached the line, the step travels along the line at the line
velocity,
LC
v
p
1
= . At the same time there is also a current step traveling along with
the voltage step. This is illustrated in Fig. 3.20.

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 29

v
p
V
0

R
S
+Z
0

V
0
Z
0

R
S
+Z
0

L=v
p
t
0
z
V
+
(t=L/v
p
, z)
L=v
p
t
0
z
I
+
(t=L/v
p
, z)
v
p

Figure 3.20. Voltage and current step wave forms propagating on an infinitely long
transmission line.
Before the step voltage is turned on at t=0, the voltage and current on the line are both
zero. At t=0, a voltage wave and a current wave start propagating along the line. There
are no reflected or other backward propagating waves, so the ratio of voltage to current is
given by the characteristic impedance, Z
0
.
The power supplied by the voltage source is given by:
S
o
S
S
R Z
V
R Z
V
V I V P
+
=
+
= =
0
2
0
0
0 0

Part of this power is dissipated in the source resistance. The rest is stored as magnetic
energy in the inductors of the line and electric energy in the capacitors of the line.

3.13 Open Circuited Line
Infinitely long lines are not realistic of course, so we now turn our attention to lines of
finite length. The first case we will look at is a line that has no termination, i.e. it ends in
an open circuit as shown in Fig. 3.21. To make the treatment more concrete, we have
made the source resistance one fourth of the line impedance in this example.

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 30

V
0

R
S
=Z
0
/4
Z
0
V
S

V
L

L=v
p
t
d


Figure 3.21. Open circuited transmission line of finite length, L, driven by a voltage
step, V
0
, at t=0. As time approached infinity, the voltage on the line
must approach V
0
and the current must approach zero.
During the time it takes the voltage and current waves to reach the open circuit at the end
of the line, the situation is exactly the same as for the infinitely long line. The voltage
and current waves propagates on the line without reflection, and the ratio of the two is the
characteristic impedance. This is shown in Fig. 3.23a.
Once the step waves reach the end of the line, a reflected wave will start traveling
backwards on the transmission line. This backward propagating wave is necessary,
because without it the ratio of voltage to current at the end of the line is not compatible
with the termination. Consider the general case where the transmission line is terminated
in a resistor R
L
, as shown in Fig. 3.22.

R
L

Z
0

V
L


Figure 3.22. Transmission line terminated in a resistor, R
L
. At the termination, the
currents and voltages must fulfill the conditions imposed by the line
and the load simultaneously.
The voltage and current at the end of the line is given by:
( ) ( )
p p L
v z t V v z t V V + + =
+

( ) ( )
p p L
v z t I v z t I I + + =
+

Earlier we found that these are related through the characteristic impedance:
( ) ( ) [ ]
p p L
v z t V v z t V
Z
I + =
+
0
1

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 31
At the end of the line, the current and voltage must also fulfill Ohms law of the
termination:
L
L
L
R
V
I =
This leads to the following expression relating the forward and backward propagating
waves:
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) [ ]
( ) ( )
( )
( )
0
0
0
0
0 0
0
1
1
1 1
Z R
Z R
R
Z
R
Z
v z t V
v z t V
R
Z
v z t V
R
Z
v z t V
v z t V v z t V
R
Z
v z t V v z t V
L
L
L
L
p
p
L
L
p
L
p
p p
L
p p
+

=
+

+
=

+ + =

+ + = +
+

+
+ +

The ratio of the reflected, backward-propagating wave to the forward-propagating wave
is called the reflection coefficient,
L
, of the termination. The reflection coefficient for
current is the negative of the one for voltage. This can be seen from the fact that the ratio
of voltage to current is Z
0
for forward propagating waves and Z
0
for backward
propagating waves: :
( )
( )
( )
( )
L
p
p
p
p
v z t V
Z
v z t V
Z
v z t I
v z t I
=

+
+

0
0
1
1

Now we will look at the reflection coefficient for different types of terminations:
0
0
= =
L L
Z R : When the line is terminated in its characteristic impedance, there is
no reflection. This is the ideal case that we very often try to achieve in practical systems.
0
0
> >
L L
Z R : When the line termination is larger than the characteristic
impedance, the reflection is positive, meaning that the backward-propagating voltage has
the same polarity as the forward-propagating voltage. The backward propagating current,
on the other hand, is negative for a positive backward-propagating wave voltage.
0
0
< <
L L
Z R : When the line termination is smaller than the characteristic
impedance, the reflection is negative, meaning that the backward-propagating voltage has
the opposite polarity of the forward-propagating voltage.
1 0 = =
L L
R : A short-circuited line has a reflection coefficient of negative unity.
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 32
1 0
1
= =
L
L
R
: An open-circuited line has a unity reflection coefficient.
In our example of an open-circuited line, the backwards-reflected voltage from the open
circuit is equal to the forward propagating voltage, while the backwards-reflected current
is equal, but opposite, of the forward-propagating current. The total voltage on the line
where both the forward and backward propagating waves exist is therefore twice the
value of the forward propagating wave alone. The current, on the other hand, is zero
where both the forward and backward propagating waves exist. This is shown in Fig.
3.23b).
Once the backward-propagating wave reaches the source, it is reflected from the
mismatched source impedance with a reflection coefficient given by:
6 . 0
4 5
4 3
4
4
0
0
0 0
0 0
0
0
=

=
+

=
+

=
Z
Z
Z Z
Z Z
Z R
Z R
L
L
S

The total voltage wave traveling towards the load after the first reflection from the source
is then:
( ) ( )[ ] [ ]
0 0
12 . 1 6 . 0 1 1 8 . 0 1 0 4 2 V V V t t t V
S L L S d d S
= + = + + = < <
The corresponding current is:
( ) ( )[ ] [ ]
0
0
0
0
48 . 0 6 . 0 1 1 8 . 0 1 0 4 2
Z
V
Z
V
I t t t I
S L L S d d S
= = + = < <
This is illustrated in Fig. 3.23c).
Once the second forward-propagating voltage reaches the load, it is also reflected with a
unity reflection coefficient, and the voltage at the load is given by:
( ) ( )[ ]
[ ]
0 0
64 . 0 6 . 0 6 . 0 1 1 8 . 0
1 0 5 3
V V
V t t t V
L S L S L L S d d L
= + =
+ + + = < <

The corresponding current is:
( ) ( )[ ]
[ ] 0 6 . 0 6 . 0 1 1 8 . 0
1 0 5 3
0
0
= + =
+ = < <
Z
V
I t t t I
L S L S L L S d d L

This is illustrated in Fig. 3.23d).
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 33
-0.48 I
0
z
1.6 V
0

V(t,z)
I(t,z)
0.8 V
0

z
0<t<t
d

v
p
0.8 I
0
z
v
p

I
0
=V
0
/Z
0

V(t,z)
I(t,z)
0.8 V
0

z
t
d
<t<2t
d

v
p
0.8 I
0
z
v
p

1.6 V
0

V(t,z)
I(t,z)
1.12 V
0

2t
d
<t<3t
d

v
p
z v
p

-0.48 I
0
z
V(t,z)
I(t,z)
1.12 V
0

L=v
p
t
d

3t
d
<t<4t
d

v
p
L=v
p
t
d

z v
p
0.64 V
0

a)
b)
c)
d)

Figure 3.23. Voltage and current step wave forms propagating on a transmission
line terminated in an open circuit.
The information of Fig. 3.23 is reproduced in Fig. 3.24 and 3.35 in a more compact form.
It is clear from these graphs that the values of the voltage and current are fluctuating
around their final values. This is not a very desirable situation, so in practice we try to
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 34
avoid this by terminating transmission lines in their characteristic impedance both at the
load and source ends.


1.21
0.64
1.6
1 2 3 4 5 6
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
t/t
d

V
s
(t)/V
0

V
L
(t)/V
0

1.12
0.928

Figure 3.24. Voltages at the ends of the open-circuited transmission line as a
function of time.


0.288
-0.48
0.8
1 2 3 4 5 6
1.0

0.5

0.0

-0.5

-1.0
t/t
d

Z
0
I
s
(t)/V
0


Figure 3.25. Current as a function of time on the open-circuited transmission line.

Bounce diagram for Open Line
A convenient way to visualize and keep track of the bounces on a mismatch transmission
line, is to use a bounce diagram. The bounce diagram for the open-circuited transmission
line is shown in Fig. 3.26. In the two-dimensional bounce diagram, we mark time along
the (negative) vertical axis, and propagation length along the horizontal axis. At each end
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 35
of the diagram, we write the total voltage at that end in the given time interval, while we
write the value of the latest reflected wave on the line that represents this reflected waves
propagation. The end result is a very compact graph that contains all the important
information about the wave propagation in a convenient form.

z
t
V
s
=0.8 V
0

V
s
=1.12 V
0

V
s
=0.928 V
0

V
L
=0
V
L
=1.6 V
0

V
L
=0.64 V
0

V
L
=1.126 V
0

s
=-0.6
L
=1
2t
d

4t
d

6t
d

t
d

3t
d

5t
d

7t
d

0.288 V
0

-0.48 V
0

0.8 V
0

0.8 V
0

-0.48 V
0

0.288 V
0

-0.1728 V
0

Figure 3.26. Bounce diagram for the open-circuited transmission line.
It is clear from this example that the total voltage and current will approach what we
know are their final values of V
0
and zero, but that it will take an infinite number of
bounces before the values are exact. (In practice there will be noise on the line, so that
after a finite number of bounces the values are within the noise of their final values).
This is not very practical, so we always try to terminate the lines in its characteristic
impedance. At the load end, that might not be possible, because we might not have full
control over this part of the system, but we usually can match the source impedance to
the line impedance. If we do that, we will never have more than one reflected wave on
the line before we reach steady-state.

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 36
3.14 Short Circuited Line
The short circuited line is very similar in many ways to the open line. In both cases the
absolute value of the reflection coefficient at the end is unity, and it is easy to see what
the voltages and currents will be as time approaches infinity. The short circuited line is
shown in Figs. 3.27 through 3.29. Again we have made the source resistance one fourth
of the line impedance.


V
0

R
S
=Z
0
/4
Z
0
V
S
R
L
=0
V
L
=0
L=v
p
t
d


Figure 3.27. Short circuited transmission line of finite length, L, driven by a voltage
step, V
0
, at t=0. As time approached infinity, the voltage on the line
must approach zero and the current must approach V
0
/R
S
=4V
0
/Z
0
.
During the time it takes the voltage and current waves to reach the open circuit at the end
of the line, the situation is exactly the same as for the infinitely long line. The voltage
and current waves propagates on the line without reflection, and the ratio of the two is the
characteristic impedance. This is shown in Fig. 3.28a.
Once the wave reaches the load, the voltage is reflected with a reflection coefficient of
negative unity. The voltage at the load therefore goes to zero at this time, and the current
doubles as shown in Fig. 3.28b. The reflection from the source is again -0.6, so the
second forward-propagating voltage has the value 0.48V
0
, and the current increases to
2.02V
0
/Z
0
as shown in Fig. 3.28c. After the second reflection from the load, the voltage
is again zero, and the current has increased to 2.5V
0
/Z
0
as shown in Fig. 3.28d. It will
take a large number of bounces before the voltage and current approaches their final
values of zero and 4V
0
/Z
0
, so this example illustrates the importance of matching the
source impedance to the transmission line.

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 37

v
p
2.5 I
0
2.02 I
0
v
p

1.6 I
0
1.6 I
0
0.8 V
0

0.48 V
0

0.8 V
0

z
V(t,z)
I(t,z)
0.8 V
0

z
0<t<t
d

v
p
0.8 I
0
z
v
p

I
0
=V
0
/Z
0

V(t,z)
I(t,z)
0.8 V
0

z
t
d
<t<2t
d

v
p
0.8 I
0
z
V(t,z)
I(t,z)
2.02 I
0
2t
d
<t<3t
d

v
p
z
z
V(t,z)
I(t,z)
0.48 V
0

L=v
p
t
d

3t
d
<t<4t
d

v
p
L=v
p
t
d

z
v
p
a)
b)
c)
d)

Figure 3.28. Voltage and current step wave forms propagating on a transmission
line terminated in an open circuit.

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 38
Bounce diagram for the Short Circuited Line
The important information about the short-circuited line is repeated in the bounce
diagram of Fig. 3.29. These types of diagrams are useful for simple examples as the ones
we have shown, but they are indispensable when the situation becomes complex with
multiple reflections that all have to be kept track of. The analysis of transmission lines
with resistive terminations, discharging of charged transmission lines, transmission lines
with pulse excitation, reflections from junctions between transmission lines, transmission
line splits, and other complex systems are all greatly simplified by the use of bounce
diagrams.


z
t
V
s
=0.8 V
0

V
s
=0.48 V
0

V
s
=0.288 V
0

V
L
=0
V
L
=0
V
L
=0
V
L
=0

s
=-0.6
L
=-1
2t
d

4t
d

6t
d

t
d

3t
d

5t
d

7t
d

0.288 V
0

0.48 V
0

0.8 V
0

-0.8 V
0

-0.48 V
0

-0.288 V
0

-0.1728 V
0


Figure 3.29. Bounce diagram for the short-circuited transmission line.

3.15 Inductive and Capacitive Loads on Transmission Lines
Reactive terminations are a little more complex to analyze than pure resistive
terminations, because the effective impedance becomes a function of time. The
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 39
inductively terminated transmission line of Fig. 3.30, will behave as a shot-circuited line
after a long time, but it will it will behave as an open-circuited line at short times.

L
V
0

R
S
=Z
0

Z
0
V
S
V
L

L=v
p
t
d


Figure 3.30. Transmission line terminated in an inductive load. Note the source
impedance matches the transmission line characteristic impedance, Z
0
.
To analyze the situation, we begin with the relationships between the voltages and current
at the load:
( ) ( ) L t V L t V V
L
, ,
+
+ =
( ) ( ) [ ] L t V L t V
Z
I
L
, ,
1
0
+
=
dt
dI
L V
L
L
=
This leads to the following expression relating the forward and backward propagating
waves:
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) [ ]
( )
( )
( )
( ) L t V
L
Z
dt
L t dV
L t V
L
Z
dt
L t dV
L t V L t V
dt
d
Z
L
L t V L t V
,
,
,
,
, , , ,
0 0
0
+
+

+ +
= +
= +

For a step excitation we have
( )
0
,
=
+
dt
L t dV
and ( )
2
,
0
V
L t V =
+
, so we find the following
equation for the reflected, backward-propagating wave:
( )
( )
L
V Z
L t V
L
Z
dt
L t dV
2
,
,
0 0 0

= +

We see that V
0
/2 is a particular solution to this equation, so the complete solution can be
written:
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 40
( )
L
t Z
e C
V
L t V

+ =
0
2
,
0

At the time the reflection first takes place, the reflection coefficient is unity, so we have:
( )
2
, 0
0
V
L V =

. The constant, C, must therefore have the value V

0
, so the solution
becomes:
( )
L
t Z
e V
V
L t V

+ =
0
0
0
2
,
This solution is shown schematically in Fig. 3.31.


v
p
-0.5 V
0

0.0 V
0

0.0 I
0
-1.0 I
0
2.0 I
0
0.5 V
0

V(t,z)
I(t,z)
1.0 V
0

z
t
d
<t<2t
d

v
p
1.0 I
0
z
I
0
=V
0
/2Z
0
a)
b)
v
p

0.0 I
0
-1.0 I
0
2.0 I
0
0.5 V
0

V(t,z)
I(t,z)
1.0 V
0

z
t
d
<t<2t
d

v
p

1.0 I
0
z
I
0
=V
0
/2Z
0


Figure 3.31. Voltage and current on a transmission line with an inductive
termination.

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 41
Summary of Wave Propagation on Transmission Lines
Wave Basics
The amplitude of a harmonic wave can be expressed as:
( ) ( ) ( ) z k t E z k t f E z t v E E = =

cos 2 cos
2
cos
0 0 0

Where we have used the following definitions:
wavelength, , that travels to the right (in the direction of increasing values of z) at the
speed v. The propagation speed of a harmonic wave is related to its period (T) and
wavelength by the expression:
T v =
Alternatively, we can write the wavelength as a function of the frequency,
T
f
1
= , of the
wave:
f
v
=
We will also often find it convenient to use the natural frequency, , and the propagation
constant, k. These are defined as follows:
f = 2

2
= k
The velocity of the wave can now also be written in terms of the natural frequency and
the propagation constant:
k
f f v

= = = 2
2

Signals
The sum of two harmonic waves has the characteristics of a signal, as in this example:

= z z z z E

2
5 . 0 cos
2
5 . 10 cos
2
11 cos
2
10 cos
2
1

A signal that can be written as a product of a carrier (average frequency) and an envelope
(difference frequency), is called a carrier signal.
A square-wave signal can be expressed as a sum of frequencies, as in this example:
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 42
[ ]

+ =
6
1
55 . 0 sinc cos 5 . 0
n
n
z
n E

This type of signal with frequencies all the way down to DC, is called a base band signal.
The total range of frequencies, the bandwidth, of a signal is inversely related to the
speed, or more accurately, the information capacity of the signal. The rise and fall
times are quantified in terms of the transition time from 10% to 90% of the full value of
the signal. For simple signals (base band signals with a single-pole roll off) we have:

35 . 0
2
35 . 0
90 10
f
t
Phase velocity:
k
v

=
Group velocity:
dk
d
v
g

=
v
g
=v
p
: The signal travels with at the phase velocity without distortion.
v
g
v
p
, but the dispersion relationship is linear: The signal travels with at the group
velocity without significant distortion. The carrier is shifted with respect to the envelope,
but the envelope is not distorted.
v
g
v
p
, and the dispersion relationship is non-linear: The signal is distorted during
propagation.
Transmission Channel Characteristics
Speed: The ideal communications system delivers information with a minimum of delay.
Bandwidth: The larger the bandwidth of a signal, the larger its information carrying
capacity, so we want a transmission line that can support a wide bandwidth
Distortion: The ideal transmission line has low dispersion so that signals are not
compromised by distortion.
Non-linear effects: Non-linear effects distort signals and reduce their power, so non-
linearity is unwanted in transmission lines
Signal Attenuation: The ideal transmission channel should have low loss.
Technology: Transmission lines should be compatible with common technology for
signal generation and detection.
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 43
Circuit models for transmission lines
R
C
G
L
I(z+z,t)
V(z,t) V(z+z,t)
I(z,t)

Complete transmission line model that includes series and shunt resistors.
Using this model, we find the voltage and current wave equations:
( ) ( )
2
2
2
2
, ,
t
t z V
LC
z
t z V

( ) ( )
2
2
2
2
, ,
t
t z I
LC
z
t z I

The complete solution to the voltage wave equation:
( ) ( ) ( )
p p
v z t V v z t V z t V + + =
+
,
( ) ( ) ( )
p p
v z t I v z t I z t I + + =
+
,
=> ( ) ( ) ( ) [ ] const v z t V v z t V
Z
z t I
p p
+ + =
+
0
1
,
The characteristic impedance, C L Z =
0
, together with the phase velocity,
LC
v
p
1
= ,
completely describes our transmission line model.
Electro-magnetic energy propagates outside the conductors, so the energy is traveling at
the speed of light in the medium between the conductors: c
LC
v
p
= =
1

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 44
Waves on Real Transmission Lines
The solutions ( )
p
v z t f and ( )
p
v z t f + means that any waveform will propagate on
without loss and without distortion, so ideal transmission lines have arbitrarily large
transmission capacity! Real transmission lines have loss, dispersion, and reflections.
Loss: Many practical systems can be modeled by a simple transfer function:
( )
0
1
1

j
H
+
=
Dispersion: All real transmission lines will exhibit some dispersion, but for most types
of lines, dispersion does not limit transmission capacity. The exception is optical fibers.
Reflection: Waves are reflected at transmission-line discontinuities.
Infinitely long line

V
0

V
0

R
S

a)
Z
0
V
S

R
S

b)
Z
0
V
S

Infinitely long transmission line driven by a voltage step.
The step voltage, V
S
, travels along the line at the line velocity, LC v
p
1 = . There are
no reflected or other backward propagating waves, so the ratio of voltage to current is
given by the characteristic impedance, Z
0
. The power supplied by the voltage source is:
S
o
S
S
R Z
V
R Z
V
V I V P
+
=
+
= =
0
2
0
0
0 0

S
S
R Z
Z
V V
+
=
0
0
0

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 45
Open Circuited Line

V
0

R
S
=Z
0
/4
Z
0
V
S

V
L

L=v
p
t
d


Open circuited transmission line of finite length, L, driven by a voltage step, V
0
.
Once the waves reach the end of the line, a reflected wave will start traveling backwards.
Reflection coefficient:
( )
( )
0
0
0
0
1
1
Z R
Z R
R
Z
R
Z
v z t V
v z t V
L
L
L
L
p
p
L
+

=
+

=
+
+
=
+

0
0
= =
L L
Z R . 0
0
> >
L L
Z R . 0
0
< <
L L
Z R . 1 0 = =
L L
R .
1 0
1
= =
L
L
R
.
After the first reflection from the open, the backwards-reflected voltage is equal to the
forward propagating voltage, while the backwards-reflected current is equal, but
opposite, of the forward-propagating current. The total voltage on the line is therefore
twice the value of the forward propagating wave alone. The current, on the other hand, is
zero where both the forward and backward propagating waves exist.
The backward-propagating wave is reflected from the mismatched source impedance:
6 . 0
4 5
4 3
4
4
0
0
0 0
0 0
0
0
=

=
+

=
+

=
Z
Z
Z Z
Z Z
Z R
Z R
L
L
S

EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 46
Bounce diagram for Open Line

z
t
V
s
=0.8 V
0

V
s
=1.12 V
0

V
s
=0.928 V
0

V
s
=0
V
s
=1.6 V
0

V
s
=0.64 V
0

V
s
=1.126 V
0

s
=-0.6
L
=1
2t
d

4t
d

6t
d

t
d

3t
d
5t
d
7t
d
0.288 V
0
-0.48 V
0
0.8 V
0
0.8 V
0
-0.48 V
0
0.288 V
0
-0.1728 V
0


Short Circuited Line

V
0

R
S
=Z
0
/4
Z
0
V
S
R
L
=0
V
L
=0
L=v
p
t
d


Short circuited transmission line of finite length, L, driven by a voltage step, V
0
.
EE41 Physics of Electrical Engineering 47

z
t
V
s
=0.8 V
0

V
s
=0.48 V
0

V
s
=0.288 V
0

V
s
=0
V
s
=0
V
s
=0
V
s
=0

s
=-0.6
L
=-1
2t
d

4t
d

6t
d

t
d

3t
d
5t
d
7t
d
0.288 V
0
0.48 V
0

0.8 V
0
-0.8 V
0
-0.48 V
0
-0.288 V
0
-0.1728 V
0

Inductive and Capacitive Loads on Transmission Lines

L
V
0

R
S
=Z
0

Z
0
V
S
V
L

L=v
p
t
d


Transmission line terminated in an inductive load.
Complete solution: ( )
L
t Z
e C V L t V

+ =
0
0
,