Experiment 3

Experimental Study of Measuring the Characteristics Impedance of a

Transmission Line.

Objectives

The main objectives of this experiment are:

• To learn about different types of transmission line.
• To learn about the characteristic impedence of transmission line.
• To learn how to how to measure characteristic impedence of transmission line.

3.1 Theory

Transmission line is the communication link between a transmitter and receiver. In microwave
systems, a transmission line refers to a structure or medium that carries high-frequency
electromagnetic signals from one point to another. It is an essential component for the efficient
transmission and distribution of microwave energy in various applications, including
telecommunications, radar systems, microwave ovens, sattelite communication.

3.1.1 Types of Transmission Line

Depending on the frequency of the transmitted signal, a transmission line maybe classified as:

(i) Two wire transmission line: This is open wire line,i.e., two parallel insulation less
conductor used for low frequency transmission of signal in telegraphy, telephony and
power lines.

(ii) Co-axial line: Here the main conductor is inside a hollow conductor. Both the
conductors are co-axial.Because of its shielded nature,the co-axial line is preferred for
use at microwave frequencies. It is most popular to used in RF communication.
However, due to shielding, coaxial lines have extremely low radiation loss.

(iii) Wave guide: Wave guides are single hollow conductor,rectangular or circular in shape
and filled with air or any other dielectric,capable of guiding high frequency
electromagnetic waves through them.Metal waveguides have less loss and can handle
greater power than co-axial lines but they are much larger in size than co-axial lines at
microwave frequencies.
 (a) Two wire transmission line (b) Co-axial cable (c) Rectangular waveguide

Figure 3.1: Different types of transmission line.

If a long line consisting of two parallel or co-axial as shown in Fig. 3.1 is carrying current,
there is a magnetic field around the conductors and a voltage drop along them.The magnetic
field which is proportional to current ,indicates the line has series inductance,and the voltage
drop indicates there is a presence of series resistance.Voltage applied across the conductors
produces an electric field between them and this indicates there is shunt capacitance and shunt
conductance.Actually, R, G, C, L are not lumped parameters but they are distributed along the
whole length of this line.The equivalent circuit is as shown as Fig. 3.2.

L R L R L R L R

C G C G C G

Figure 3.2: Equivalent circuit of transmission line.

3.1.2 Characteristics Impedence (Z0) of Transmission Line

Any circuit which consists of series and shunt impedences must have an input impedence for
the transmission line. It will depend on the type of the line, its length and the termination at the
far end. This input impedence is termed as the characteristics impedence (Z0) when it is
measured at the input of a transmission line of infinite length. It can be proved with simple
mathematics that the characteristic impedance of this line is given by:
 𝑉 𝑍 𝑅+𝑗𝜔𝐿
Z0 = 𝐼 = √𝑌 = √𝐺+𝑗𝜔𝐶 ……………………………(3.1)

In a loss less transmission line R=0, G=0, Therefore, The equation 3.1 canbe written as-

𝐿
Z0 = √𝐶 ………………………………….(3.2)

3.2 Required Apparatus

• 20 MHz Dual Trace Oscilloscope ST201 .

• 3½ Digits Digital Multimeter .
• L C R Q Meter or Universal L C R bridge .
• Transmission line trainer kit .
• Connecting wires .

3.2.1 Basic Properties of Co-axial Cable ( Used in the Trainer )

• Type: RG 174
• Length: 100 meters
• Series Inductance: 28mH (Frequency 1 KHz, 100 m) approximately
• Parallel Capacitance: 11mF (Frequency 1 KHz, 100 m) approximately
• Conductance: 0.4 m mhos
• Impedance: 50 W approximately

3.3 Experimental Setup

Figure 3.3: Experimental setup for Measuring the Characteristics Impedance of a

Transmission Line .
3.4 Experimental Analysis

3.4.1 Data Table

Table 3.1: Data table for measuring characteristic impedance of transmission line.

Transmission Resistance, Conductance, Inductance, Capacitance, 𝐿 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒−𝐼𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒

𝑍0 =√𝐶 Error=| |×
Line length R G L C 𝐼𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
100%
(m) (mH) (nF)
25 0 0 0.01 2.46 63.76 27.52%
50 0 0 0.02 4.62 65.79 31.58%
75 0 0 0.03 6.95 65.70 31.4%
100 0 0 0.05 9.39 72.97 45.94%

3.4.2 Calculation

(i) For 25m length of transmission line,

L=0.01mH
C=2.46nF
0.01×10−3
𝑍0 = √2.46×10−9 = 63.76 Ω
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒−𝐼𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
Error =| | × 100% = 27.52%
𝐼𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒

(ii) For 50m length of transmission line,

L=0.03mH
C=4.62nF
0.03×10−3
𝑍0 = √4.62×10−9 = 65.79 Ω
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒−𝐼𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
Error =| | × 100% = 31.58%
𝐼𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒

(iii) For 75m of transmission line,

L=0.03mH
C=6.95nF
0.03×10−3
Z0 = √6.95×10−9 = 65.79 Ω
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒−𝐼𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
Error= | | × 100%= 31.4%
𝐼𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
 (iv) For 100m length of transmission line,
L=0.05mH
C=9.39nF
0.05×10−3
Z0 = √9.39×10−9 = 65.79 Ω
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒−𝐼𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
Error =| | × 100% = 45.94 %
𝐼𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒

3.4.3 Result

The characteristics impedances are 63.76 Ω, 65.79 Ω, 65.70 Ω and 72.97 Ω for 25m, 50m, 75m
and 100m length transmission lines respectively.

3.5 Observation and Discussion

In this experiment, the main goal is to measure the characteristic impedence of a transmission
line. For this purpose, we use transmission line trainer kit.Here, the length of the transmission
line is 100 m. The coaxial line used in the trainer is placed in the coiled form of 25 meters each.
This is done for space saving. At first, we connected the circuit according to the Fig. 3.3. For
measuring the inductance and resistance we short circuited the end of the line and by the help
of LCR meter we measure inductance. Then for measuring conductance and capacitance we
open circuited the end and using LCR meter we measure the capacitance. Digital multimeter is
used for measuring resistance and conductance. The ideal value of characteristic impedence is
50 Ω. From the data table it is shown that there is a huge difference between the measured
value and the ideal value.This is due to the losses in transmission line like copper loss, di-
electric loss. During the experiment we must check the wires,if they are in proper condition or
not. Otherwise, we However, all the objectives are achieved.So, the experiment is done
successfully.