W.C.

Chew
ECE 350 Lecture Notes

6. Terminated Uniform Lossless Transmission Lines

Zo, v lossless

Z L LOAD

z = –l z=0

Consider a lossless transmission line terminated in a load of impedance

ZL . A wa v etra v elingto the right will be re ected at the termination. In
general, there will be both positive going and negative going wa ves on the
line. Hence,
V~ (z ) = V e;jz + V e jz :
0 1
+
(1)
Here, = j ,  = 0, because of no loss. The corresponding current, as in
(5.32), is
V V
I~(z ) = e;jz ; e jz ;
0 1 +
(2)
Z Z
qL p
0 0

where Z = 0 C and  = ! LC for a lossless line.

At z = 0,
V~ (z = 0) V0 + V1
= Z L = Z:
V0 ; V1 0
(3)
I~(z = 0)
We can solve for V1 in terms of V0 , i.e.
Z ; Z0
V1 = L V: (4)
ZL + Z0 0
If we dene
Z ; Z0
v = L ; (5)
ZL + Z0
then V = v V , and Equation (1) becomes
1 0

V~ (z ) = V e;jz + v V e
0 0
+ jz : (6)
In the above, v is the ratio of the negative going v oltage amplitude to the
positive going v oltage amplitude at z = 0, and it is known as the voltage
re ection co ecient.
1
 The current re ection coecient is dened as the ratio of the negative
going current to the positive going current at z = 0, and it is
I1 V1
i =
I0
= ; V0
= ;v : (7)
The current can be written as
V V
I~(z ) = e;jz ; v ejz :
0 0
(8)
Z 0 Z 0

The voltage and current in (6) and (8) are not constants of position. We can
dene a generalized impedance at position z to be
V~ (z ) e;jz +  e jz +
Z (z ) = ~ = Z ;jz v jz : (9)
I (z ) e ; v e
0 +

At z = ;l, this becomes

ejl +  e;jl
Z (;l) = Z jl v ;jl : (10)
e ; e
0
v
With v dened by (5), we can substitute it into (10) to give after some
simplications,
Z + jZ tan l
Z (;l) = Z L : 0
(11)
Z + jZ tan l
0
0 L

Shorted Terminations
If ZL is a short, or ZL = 0, then,
Z (;l) = jZ tan l = jX:
0 (12)

inductive
2π
β
π π 3π 5π
2 2 2

capacitive

Open-Circuit Terminations
If ZL is an open circuit, ZL = 1, then
Z (;l) = ;jZ cot l = jX: 0 (13)
2
 x
inductive

π 2π
β
π 3π 5π
2 2 2

capacitive

Standing Waves on a Lossless Transmission Line

The positive going wave in Equation (6) is
V+ (z ) = V0 e;jz ; (14)
and the negative going wave in Equation (6) is
V; (z ) = v V0 e+jz : (15)
We can dene a generalized re ection coecient to be the ratio of V (z) +
to V;(z) at position z. Hence,

;(z) = VV;((zz)) = v e jz :
2
(16)
+

Hence,
V (z ) = V0 e;jz [1 + ;(z )]: (17)
The magnitude of V (z) is then
jV (z)j = jV j j1 + ;(z)j :
0 (18)
A plot of jV (z)j is as shown.
Im Axis

+z
–dmin ρv z=0
1 –z
Re Axis
Γ(z)
1+Γ –d1
(z)

3
 |V(z)|

Vmax

Vmin

–d1 – λ –dmin –d1

z=0
z
2

We can use the triangular inequality and show that

0 jV j (1 ; j;(z)j)  jV (z)j  jV j (1 + j;(z)j):
0 (19)
From (16), j;(z)j = jv j, hence (19) becomes,
0jV j (1 ; jv j)  jV (z)j  jV j (1 + jv j):
0 (20)
The voltage standing wave ratio is dened to be Vmax =Vmin, and from (20),
it is
VSWR = 11 + jv j : (21)
; jv j
If v = 0, then VSWR= 1, and we have no re ected wave. We say that
the load is matched to the transmission line. Note that v = 0 when ZL = Z .0
If jv j =1, then VSWR= 1, and we have a badly matched transmission
line. In a passive load,
0  jv j  1: (22)
jv j =1 only when ZL = 0, or ZL = 1 according to Equation (5). Hence,
1  VSWR < 1: (23)
VSWR is an indicator of how well a load is being matched to the transmission
line. We can solve (21) for jv j in terms of VSWR, i.e.
VSWR ; 1 :
jv j = VSWR (24)
+1
Therefore, given the measurement of VSWR on a terminated transmission
line, we can deduce the magnitude of v . Furthermore, if we know the phase
of v , we would be able to derive ZL from (5), or
ZL = Z
1 + v ; (25)
0
1 ; v
or
ZL = Z
1 + jv j ejv ; (26)
0
v1 ; j j ejv
4
where
v = jv j ejv : (27)

Determining v from jV (z)j

v can be determined from the voltage standing wave measured. The

voltage standing wave pattern is proportional to j1 + ;(z)j, but ;(z) is related
to v as
;(z) = v e2jz : (28)
Writing the polar representation of v , we have,
;(z) = jv j ej (2z+v ) : (29)
However, we know that the rst minimum value of V (z) occurs when ;(z) is
purely negative, or the phase of ;(z) is ;. This occurs at z = ;dmin rst.
In other words,
;2dmin + v = ;: (30)
Since dmin can be obtained from the voltage standing wave pattern measure-
ment, and that  = 2=, we deduce that
 = ; + d :
4 (31)
v
 min

Transmission Coecients

It is sometimes useful to dene a transmission coecient on a transmis-

sion line. The transmission coecient may be dened as the ratio of the
voltage on the load to the amplitude of the incident voltage. Since
V (z ) = V0 e;jz + v V0 e+jz : (32)
The voltage at the load is V (z = 0), and it is given by
V (0) = V0 (1 + v ): (33)
Since the amplitude of the incident voltage is V , we have
0

V (0) 2ZL :
v = = 1 + v = (34)
V 0 ZL + Z 0