Standing-Wave Ratio

■ Takashi Ohira

L
et us recall the January 2020 installment of
a
“Enigmas, etc.” (see Figure 1). Now, consider
Z1
that the load impedance slightly deviates from
the source’s conjugate, i.e., Z1∗

Z 1 = R + jX, (1)
Z 2 = R - jX + dZ. (2)
va = Z1∗ia
(a)
This implies that wave reflection takes place at the
port, which results in a small increment of standing- b
wave ratio (SWR) from unity. Which of the following is Z1
observed as the SWR?
Z2
dZ dZ
a) 1 + b) 1 +
R X
dZ dZ
c) 1 + d) 1 + . va = Z1 ib
R+X R + X2
2
(b)
Note that the deviation is much smaller than the
original resistance, i.e., dZ % R. The correct answer Figure 2. How to impose Ohm’s law separately on a and b.
(a) Load with conjugate-matched impedance Z1*. (b) Load
with unmatched impedance Z2 ≠ Z1*.
Z1
will not just give the SWR in question but also lead us
Z2
Γv to a wonderful gateway into the world of non-Euclidean
geometry. Stay tuned for the answer in next month’s issue.

Solution to the January 2020 Puzzle

Figure 1. Figure 1 from the January 2020 installment of
The key to solving the problem presented in the Janu-
“Enigmas, etc.”
ary 2020 installment of “Enigmas, etc.” is to decompose
the waves into incidence a and reflection b. We first
Takashi Ohira ([email protected]) is with Toyohashi University of load the source with its conjugate-matched impedance
Technology, Aichi, Japan. Z )1, as shown in Figure 2(a). There is no reflection, so
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2019.2952041 we observe only incident voltage v a and current i a at
Date of current version: 9 January 2020 the port. Ohm’s law leads to

108 February 2020

 i
v
A
ia ib
va V vb

(a) (b)

Figure 3. The waves a and b arrive at the port and superpose

each other. (a) The voltmeter in shunt. (b) The ammeter in series.

TABLE 1. The three reflection coefficients at a glance.

Instance for
Special Load
Impedance Figure 4. A single needle indicates both the SWR and Γp in
Domain Open Short Match percentage.
Symbol Expression 3 0 Z*1
Current
Although the previous five equations result in such a
Ci Z 2 - Z *1 1 * 0
- Z1 simple and common shape, we should note that they
reflection Z2 + Z1 Z1
coefficient work together elegantly to deduce the answer to this
Voltage –1 0
enigma as follows.
Cv Z 1 $ Z 2 - Z *1 Z1
reflection Z *1 Z 2 + Z 1 Z *1 Get a pencil and paper to confirm the formulation.
coefficient Substituting (3)–(6) into (7), we obtain
Power Cp Z 2 - Z *1
2 1 1 0
Z *1 i a + Z 1 i b = Z 2 i a - Z 2 i b . (8)
reflection Z2 + Z1
coefficient Then we solve it for i b i a, resulting in
*
* Ci = ib = Z2 - Z1 . (9)
va = Z i . 1 a (3) ia Z2 + Z1

We next replace the load with Z 2, which differs This is called the current reflection coefficient. Be aware
from Z )1, as shown in Figure 2(b). In this case, we focus that the asterisk on Z 1 stays only in the numerator. Ap-
on the reflected wave represented by v b and i b . Look- plying (3) and (4) again to (9), we finally reach
ing back at the left-hand side from the port, the same *
law turns into C v = v b = Z 1* i b = Z 1* $ Z 2 - Z 1 . (10)
va Z1 ia Z1 Z2 + Z1
vb = Z1 ib . (4)
This is called the voltage reflection coefficient and is ex-
Remember that subscript b indicates only the reflected actly what we expected to solve the enigma. Among
quantity. The original voltage source should not explic- the four candidates provided last month, the correct
itly intrude on this relation. formula is found in c). For a useful supplement, we can
We now superpose waves a and b to find the oscillo- subsequently derive
scope-visible voltage and current,
Pb Re 6v b i b@
* 2
v = v a + v b, (5) Z 2 - Z *1
Pa Re 6v a i a@
CP = = * = (11)
Z2 + Z1
i = i a - i b, (6)

at the port. One might wonder about the polarity dif- from (3), (4), and (9). This is called the power reflection
ference between v and i. See Figure 3 for an explana- coefficient. The three kinds of coefficients are illustrated
tion. Generally speaking, voltages are positively added in Table 1 for comprehensive comparison.
because we put a voltmeter in shunt to the circuit. How-
ever, current flowing in the opposite direction will be Supplement to Solution
subtracted because we insert an ammeter in series. The three reflection coefficients relate to SWR t as
After this superposition, we take a look at Fig- *
t-1
ure 2(b) once again. The total v and i sense the load’s Ci = Cv = Cp = Z2 - Z1 = . (12)
Z2 + Z1 t+1
imped ance Z 2, which must keep to the traditional
law as For example, t = 3 translates into C o = 50%, of which
the square makes C p = 25%, as inscribed on the scale
v = Z 2 i. (7) shown in Figure 4.

February 2020 109