(1) What is Transmission Lines?

Generally it consists of two conductors.. It is used to connect a source to a load. The

source may be a transmitter or an electric generator and the load may be an antenna.
Transmission lines are used for operational frequencies equal to or less than about 3
GHz. For frequency above 3 GHz they will be replaced by waveguides.

Transmission lines are commonly used in power systems for power transmission also.
These lines can be used as circuit elements like capacitors, inductors at ultra-high
frequencies (300-3000MHz)

(2) Types of Transmission Lines

Types of transmission on the basis of hardware are given below:

1. Open-Wire
2. Twin-Wire
3. Co-axial Cable
4. Optical Fiber
5. Twisted Wire
6. Strip Line
7. Wave guide

1. Open-Wire:

An open wire transmission line is made up of two parallel wires. Non-conductive spacers
are used between the wires to separate and support them. The distance between the
conducting wires is anywhere between 2 to 6 inches.

Advantages:
i. The open wire transmission line pair is typically used to transmit acoustic waves
for telephone applications.
ii. The advantage of the open wire line is its simplicity construction.
Disadvantage:
i. The major disadvantage of the open wire line pair is its high energy loss.
ii. Additionally, the wire pair is capable of picking up random signals, resulting in
interference (crosstalk).

2. Parallel Twin-Wire:
Parallel Twin Wire often called flat-twin wire made up two conductors separate by a
dielectric plastic such as polyethylene. The distance between the conducting wires is
5/16 inch or 0.30 inch. Flat-twin lead is most common used because it is economically
low, it has low losses, and it is flexible for ease of handling. It is available with 300 ohms
impedance and matches with the receiver input impedance. It is used where balanced
properties are required.

Advantages:
i. It is used in TV-Receivers (having 300 ohms impedance) or a rhombic-antenna to
an HF transmitter.
ii. Parallel transmission line has the advantage that its losses are an order of
magnitude smaller than coaxial cable.
Disadvantages:
i. It is most vulnerable to interference.
ii. It must keep away from metal objects which can cause power losses.
iii. It is unsuitable for use with frequencies exceeding one or two hundreds MHz

3. Co-axial Line or Cable:

This line consists of center (inner) conductor in a dielectric that is enclosed by a metallic
shield which is a flexible braided conductor of copper. A plastic jacket is molded over the
entire line as protective coating. The outer conductor acts as grounded shield with only
one inner conductor means that it is used in unbalanced transmission configuration due
to different parameters of both conductors.

Advantages:
i. Co-axial lines are best suited for high frequencies.
ii. This type of line does not radiate energy due to complete shielding.
iii. Co-axial lines are used in noisy locations.
iv. It is work up to 18 GHz.
Disadvantages:
 i. Common mode current occurs when stray currents in the shield flow in the same
direction as the current in the center conductor, causing the coax to radiate.
ii. A continuous current, even if small, along the imperfect shield of a coaxial cable
can cause visible or audible interference.
iii. The gaps or holes in braided shield allow some of the electromagnetic field to
penetrate to the other side

4. Optical Fiber:

Optical Fibers are usually thin glass wire which are used to transmission optical signals.
Their diameter is nearly equal to diameter of human hair. The central part of diameter is
called the core. It is made of silica gel of greater refractive index. Around the core an
optical fiber has a cladding of small refractive index. The optical signal is passed through
optical fiber by Total Internal Reflection. Optical Fiber is commonly used for
telecommunication.

Types Of Optical Fiber : It has following two kinds.

(i) Single Mode:

If only one signal passed through the fiber then it is called Monomode. They are
used over long distance. But they are very costly. Therefore they are not used for short
distance. Here the diameter of the core is 5um.
(ii) Multimode Fiber:
If several signals pass through the fiber then it is called multimode fiber. Its core
has the diameter of 50um.

Advantages:
i. In a metal wire, an electrical signal is used whereas in an optical fiber the light
signal is used. Hence energy loss in optical fiber is less.
ii. Optical Fiber can transmit wide range of frequencies.
iii. The communication through optical fiber is not affected by electric and magnetic
field.
iv. In metal wire the cross talk is possible where as it is not possible in optical fiber.
v. Optical fiber is light in weight.
vi. It is comparatively less affected with temperature.
vii. Raw material of optical fiber is easily available.
Disadvantages:
i. Manufacturing cost of optical fiber is very high.
ii. Optical fiber is very delicate and it breaks easily.
5. Twisted Pair wire:

A twisted pair transmission line is formed when two individual insulated wire
conductors are twisted around one other. Twisted pair lines are shielded to prevent
energy loss and external interference. The shielding offered is typically metallic. The
twisting cancels out all electromagnetic interference from neighboring sources. It is used
as both configuration i.e. (balanced & unbalanced) but it is recommended for balanced
configuration. In balanced pair operation, the two wires carry equal and opposite signals
and the destination detects the difference between the two. This is known as differential
mode transmission which is used in twisted pair.

Types Of Twisted Pair: (i) UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair), (ii) STP (Shielded Twisted
Pair), (iii) FTP (Foiled Twisted Pair):

Advantages:
i. A pair of twisted transmission lines is less expensive than other types of cables.
ii. Due to differential signals, the noise produce is cancel at the receiver end.
iii. Due to unique twisted rate, the induced noise will remain common mode.
iv. Differential signaling also reduces electromagnetic radiation from the cable.
v. An unshielded twisted pair (UTP) transmission line is used for telephonic
applications and to connect computer networks.
vi. UTP major advantage is its flexibility and installation ease.
vii. More lines can be run through the same wiring ducts.
Disadvantages:
i. In video application, the twisted pair cabling can introduce signaling delays.
ii. Twisted pair’s susceptibility to electromagnetic interference greatly depends on
the pair twisting schemes.
iii. Its major disadvantages include increased external interference and energy loss.

6. Strip Line:
A type of transmission system which makes possible relatively inexpensive microwave
circuit components is strip-line type system. A strip line consists of flat metallic ground
planes, separated by a thickness of dielectric in the middle of which a thin metallic strip
has been buried.

Advantages:
i. It is used for circuit interconnection with solid-state devices.
ii. It is also used for passive components

7. Wave Guide:

Wave guides conduct microwave energy at lower loss than coaxial cables. Waveguides
are practical only for signals of extremely high frequency, where the wavelength
approaches the cross-sectional dimensions of the waveguide. Below such frequencies,
waveguides are useless as electrical transmission lines.

(3) Equivalent circuit of Transmission Lines

We know that the conductors are present in a two wire line. Dielectrics are also present
between them. It is also clear that conductors can be of any length. Conductors also have
some diameter. If both the length and diameter are associated with the conductor then
resistance and inductance must be present there. If wires are separated from each other
by placing the dielectric between them then the leakage of charge will take place,
because the dielectric that we are using is an insulating material which can’t be a perfect
insulator. This can be explained well by introducing the concept of shunt conductance. It
is denoted by G.
 Lumped elements of an arbitrary section of Transmission line
(Simplified equivalent of transmission line section)

Figure shows the general equivalent circuit of transmission line.

- Each conductor has certain length and diameter, so it will have inductance and
resistance.
- The wires are separated by a medium called dielectric which is not a perfect
insulator; some current will flow through it from one conductor to the other.
This will give rise to conductance G.
- There is small capacitance present between the two conductors.

Primary line constants:

The four constants are: distributed series inductance, a distributed shunt Capacitance,
distributed series resistance and a distributed shunt conductance.
- R is series resistance in ohms/unit length
- L is series inductance in henries/ unit length
- C is shunt capacitance in farads/unit length
- G is shunt conductance in susceptance/unit length.
These are known as primary line constants or primary parameters of line.

Secondary Line Constant:

The secondary line constants or line parameters are:

- Characteristic impedance
- Propagation constant

Characteristic impedance:
The characteristic impedance is defined as:

Where ⍵ = 2 f

Propagation constant:
The propagation constant of a transmission line is defined as follows:

Where α is called attenuation constant and β is the phase constant.

Advantages:
- Simple construction
- Flexibility
- High mechanical strength
- Not very expensive

Disadvantages:
- It can be used only for point to point communication.
- Power loss increase with increase in frequency.
- It cannot handle high voltage.