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Lecture 5
Voltage Reflection Coefficient
Examples
Standing Waves

ECE230

Date: 18.01.2016

Indraprastha Institute of
Information Technology Delhi

ECE230

Voltage Reflection Coefficient

To determine the unknowns 0+ and 0 , we need to consider the lossless
transmission line in the context of complete circuit including a generator
circuit at its input terminals and a load at its output terminals.

At the load side:

VL
ZL
IL
Where, and are
the total voltage and
current at the load.

VL V ( z 0) V0 V0

V0 V0
I L I ( z 0)

Z0 Z0

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ECE230

Voltage Reflection Coefficient (contd.)

VL V ( z 0) V0 V0

V0 V0
ZL

V
0
0

VL
ZL
IL
Solving for

V0
V0

V0 V0 V0 V0
I L I ( z 0)

Z0 Z0
Z0

Z0

Z
V
Z L Z0

L
0
0
gives: V
V

V0
Z L Z0
Z L Z0
The ratio of the amplitudes of the reflected and the
incident voltage waves at the load is called voltage
reflection coefficient

V0 Z L Z 0

V0
Z L Z0

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ECE230

Example 1
A 100 transmission line is connected to a load consisting of a 50
resistor in series with a 10pF capacitor. Find the reflection coefficient at
the load for a 100MHz wave.

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ECE230

Example 2
A 150 lossless transmission line is terminated in a capacitor with
impedance = 30. Calculate .

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ECE230

Example 3
Show that = 1 for a lossless line connected to a purely reactive load.

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ECE230

Standing Wave and Standing Wave Ratio

Another traditional real-valued

measure of load match is
j z
V
0 e
Voltage Standing Wave Ratio
(VSWR). Consider again the
Z0
voltage along a terminated
transmission line, as a function
z = -l
of position .

V0e j z

V ( z ) V0 e j z 0e j z
For a short circuited line: 0 = -1

ZL

z=0

V (l ) V0 e j l 0e j l
V (l ) V0 e j l e j l
2jsin(l)

V (l ) 2 jV0 sin l

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ECE230

Standing Wave and Standing Wave Ratio (contd.)

v(l , t ) Re V (l )e jt Re 2 jV0 sin( l )e jt
v(l , t ) 2V0 sin( l )cos(t ( / 2))
Definitely not a
traveling wave!!

Always zero for -l=0 i.e., the

point of short-circuit

Where has the traveling

wave V(z) gone?

As the time and space are decoupled No wave propagation

takes place
The incident wave is 180 out of phase with the reflected
wave gives rise to zero crossings of the wave at 0, /2, ,
3/2, and so on standing wave pattern!!!

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ECE230

Standing Wave and Standing Wave Ratio (contd.)

()/20 +

Corresponding l: 0,
, 2, 3

Spatial Location:
0, /2, , 3/2

Standing Wave Pattern for Various Instances of Time

for
arbitrarily
terminated line:

V (l ) V0 e j l 0e j l V0 e j l 1 0e j 2 l

V (l ) A(l ) 1 (l )

Valid anywhere
on the line

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Standing Wave and Standing Wave Ratio (contd.)

V (l ) A(l ) 1 (l )

Valid anywhere
on the line

Under the matched condition, 0 = 0 and therefore (-l) = 0 as

expected, only positive traveling wave exists.
For other arbitrary impedance loads: Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) or
Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) is the measure of mismatch.
SWR is defined as the ratio of maximum voltage (or current) amplitude
and the minimum voltage (or current) amplitude along a line therefore,
for an arbitrarily terminated line:

V (l ) max
VSWR
V (l ) min

We have: V (l ) V0 e j l 1 0e j 2 l

Two possibilities for extreme values:

0e j l 1

0 e j l 1

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ECE230

Standing Wave and Standing Wave Ratio (contd.)

Max. voltage: V(l ) max V0 1 0

1 0
VSWR
1 0

Apparently:

V(l )

Min. voltage:

0 0 1

Note if 0 = 0 (i.e., = 0 ), then

VSWR = 1. We find for this case:

min

V0 1 0

1 VSWR

V ( z)

max

V ( z)

min

V0

In other words, the voltage magnitude is a constant

with respect to position .

Conversely, if 0 = 1 (i.e., = 0 ),
then VSWR = . We find for this case:

V ( z)

max

2 V0

V ( z)

min

In other words, the voltage magnitude varies

greatly with respect to position .
In practice, SWR can only be defined for lossless line as the SWR equation
is not valid for attenuating voltage and current

Indraprastha Institute of
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ECE230

Example 4
A 50 lossless transmission line is terminated in a load with impedance
= (100 + 30). Calculate voltage reflection coefficient and the
voltage standing wave ratio.