Student-led tutorials 5EPB0 ‘EM II’

SLT-A

May 2th 2023

Philosophy
1. (a) Air is considered a lossless medium. Still, air has a characteristic impedance when
electromagnetic waves are considered. How is this possible? Describe in your own
words what the characteristic impedance represents and whether energy is dissi-
pated when an EM wave travels through air.

(b) There are media with a complex characteristic impedance. Again, describe in your
own words what both parts of the complex impedance represent.

Layered media
Consider the setup shown in the figure below. It shows a plane wave propagating through
Medium 1 in the +z-direction and impinging at z = 0 under normal incidence on a
layered dielectric stack consisting of Medium 2-4. The properties of the media are given
by:

ϵr,1 = 9 µr,1 = 1
ϵr,2 = 16 µr,2 = 9
ϵr,3 = 4 µr,3 = 9
ϵr,4 = 1 µr,4 = 4
l1 = l1 l2 = l1

2. (a) Calculate the phase velocity and wave impedance of the four media and explain
what phase velocity and wave impedance is.

(b) Give a description what will happen with the waves (reflections, transmission). For
a description of transmission, please read Chapter 2 of the reader. Here only a
description is needed. In Chapter 2 also values will be introduced.

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 Figure 1: Setup for second question

(c) What happens to the wavelength in the different media?

Bounces
2

0
V

−1

−2
0L 2L 4L 6L 8L 10L 12L 14L 16L 18L 20L
z

Figure 2: A pulse travelling in a transmission line in the positive z-direction.

3. Figure 2 shows a pulse at t0 = 0T travelling with speed c = L/T along a transmission line
with characteristic impedance Z0 =50 Ω. At z = 20L the transmission line is terminated.
(a) Sketch the voltage distribution at t1 = 10T if the line is terminated in a short circuit.

(b) Sketch the voltage distribution at t1 = 10T if the line is left open at z = 20L.

(c) Sketch the voltage distribution at t1 = 10T if the line is terminated in a 50Ω load.

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 (d) Sketch the voltage distribution at t1 = 10T if the line is terminated in a 100Ω load.

0
V

−1

−2
0L 2L 4L 6L 8L 10L 12L
z

Figure 3: Two pulses travelling in a transmission line. The red pulse travels in the positive
z-direction, the blue pulse in the negative z-direction.

4. Figure 3 shows two pulses at t0 = 0T travelling with speed c = L/T along a transmission
line with characteristic impedance Z0 =50 Ω. At z = 0 the transmission line is terminated
in a short. At z = 12L the transmission line is open.
(a) Sketch the voltage distribution at t1 = 3T .
(b) Sketch the voltage distribution at t1 = 8T .
(c) Sketch the voltage distribution at t1 = 12T .
(d) Sketch the voltage distribution at t1 = 14T .

Time Domain Reflectometry

5. There has been an overall increase in usage of wiring and cables. An average modern car
has 4 km of wires, while a commercial plane can consist of more than 500 km of wires
(Airbus A380). When there is a defect, it is very expensive to keep an airplane on the
ground as it can cost airlines over 150000$ an hour.
Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) is a useful method to diagnose a transmission line
and its impedances, particularly if you can’t directly measure the power line. Visually
inspecting miles of cable is really difficult, and that’s of course if the damage is visual.
You’ve been called in to diagnose the power line. You pick a point in the middle of the
line and measure the voltage when a constant 1V signal is turned on at one end at t = 0
(heaviside step function). For the following scenario, determine the measured voltage
at the injection point at t = 3T , where T represents the time it takes for the wave to

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 propagate one-way through the wire. Furthermore, mention if it is stable, alternating
(between which values?), increasing or decreasing?
(a) Short circuits on both ends.
(b) Open circuits on both ends.
(c) Short circuit where signal was injected, open circuit on other end.
(d) Open circuit where signal was injected, short circuit on other end.
(e) How will (a)-(d) look like if you include losses in the line?
(f) How can you determine where the fault in the line is?

Transmission Line

c0 = 3 · 108 m/s, Z = 150Ω

I0 Iℓ
t=0
+ +
50Ω

V0 Vℓ 50Ω
32V
− −

ℓ = 0.9 m
z=0 z=ℓ

Figure 4: Transmission Line Problem 6.

A 32 V battery with internal impedance 50 Ω is connected to a 0.9 m long transmission

line via a switch that is switch on at t = 0. As a consequence a TEM wave starts to
propagate along the transmission line towards the 50 Ω load located at z = ℓ = 0.9 m.
The characteristic impedance of the transmission line is 150 Ω.

6. (a) Determine the voltage V (0, t) = Vinj (t) (which stands for inj(ection)), at an arbi-
trary moment in time just after the switch has been activated, but before possible
reflections from the end of the line have returned. HINT: Reader p.29

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(b) Because the line has not been terminated properly at either end, the waves that
arrive at the terminations will be partially reflected. Determine the reflection coef-
ficients at z = 0 and z = ℓ, which we shall call Γ0 and Γℓ , respectively.

(c) What is the voltage of the wave when it reflects two times? How long does it take
the wave to cover a distance of 0.9 m?

(d) If we keep calculating the voltage amplitude of the wave over time, we can draw a
so-called ”bounce diagram”, which has the location of the wave on the transmission
line on the x-axis and propagation time on the y-axis as can be seen in Chapter 2
(page 30) of the reader. For every bounce, write down the voltage amplitude of the
wave. Sketch the bounce diagram for 0 < t < 15 ns.
(e) What is the voltage amplitude V (z, t) at z = 0.6 m for 0 < t < 15 ns. Plot the
cumulative voltage at z = 0.6 m as function of time (x-axis)

(f) For t → ∞ a steady-state is reached. Give the steady-state voltage and current.

In principle, this process of successive reflections will go on forever. Thanks to the finite
travel time and the fact that the moduli of the reflection coefficients do not exceed unity,
convergence will occur.
(a) BONUS: Determine the voltage and current amplitudes of the forward propagating
waves that have reflected 2n times, with n integer (starting at n = 0). For simplic-
ity, you may omit the step functions that describe the time delay due to the finite
travel time.

(b) BONUS: Determine the voltage and current amplitudes of the backward propagat-
ing waves that have reflected 2n + 1 times, with n integer (starting at n = 0). For
simplicity, you may again omit the step functions that describe the time delay due
to the finite travel time.

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