Created in COMSOL Multiphysics 5.

2a

Transmission Line Calculator

This Application is licensed under the COMSOL Application License 5.2a.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. See www.comsol.com/trademarks.
About the Transmission Line Calculator
Transmission lines are used to guide waves of alternating current and voltage at radio
frequencies and have been used for more than 150 years, starting with the first telegraph
cables in the 1850s. Today, transmission lines exist in a variety of forms, many of which are
adapted for easy fabrication and employment in printed circuit board designs.
Transmission lines are key elements in most modern electronic devices. They are used to
carry information, at minimal loss and distortion, from one place to another within a
device and between devices. The theoretical foundation for designing and analyzing
transmission lines was laid by James Clerk Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, and Oliver Heaviside.
Transmission line theory is a cornerstone in the teaching of RF and microwave
engineering.

Electromagnetic fields propagate along transmission lines, to a fair approximation, as

transverse electromagnetic (TEM) waves. The 1D, frequency domain wave equation for
the electric potential on a transmission line is written in the form:

1 - V
--------------------
( G + iC )V = 0
x R + iL x

where R, L, G, and C are the distributed resistance, inductance, conductance, and

capacitance, respectively. A similar wave equation can be deduced for the current flowing
along the transmission line. Below is an equivalent circuit model of a transmission line
terminated by a load impedance.

Figure 1: Schematic of a transmission line with a load impedance.

The solution to the wave equation represents a forward- and a backward-propagating

wave:

x x
V ( x ) = V+ e + V- e

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where , the complex propagation constant is given by:

= ( R + jL ) ( G + jC )

If only a forward-propagating wave is present in the transmission line (no reflections),

dividing the voltage V by the current I gives the characteristic impedance Z0, or wave
impedance of the transmission line:

V R + jL-
Z 0 = ---- = ---------------------
I G + jC

The design of a transmission line is to a large extent about achieving a value of the
characteristic impedance that matches the impedance of the load or whatever device the
transmission line is connected to. By matching the impedance, reflections are kept to a
minimum and the transferred RF power is maximized.

The Transmission Line Calculator provides a user interface for computing the transmission
line parameters R, L, G, and C, as well as and Z0 for parametrized cross sections of some
common transmission line types:

Coaxial line
Twin lead
Microstrip line
Coplanar waveguide (CPW)

Plots of the geometry, mesh, electric potential, electric field line, and magnetic flux lines
are also provided. The default input parameters are selected to meet typical design
impedance values for each transmission line type300 for the twin lead and 50 for
the others.

To use the application:

1 Choose the desired type of transmission line using the Type list box.
2 Enter the frequency and other design parameters in the Input Parameters section. Some
restrictions on the allowed values apply and are shown as tooltips. A visual explanations
of the different design parameters is shown in the Notations section, which is collapsed
by default.
3 Click the Update Geometry and the Mesh button in the Ribbon to rebuild respectively
the geometry and the mesh. Click the Compute button to compute the solution and
display fields and computed parameters. The solution time is about 5 s on a modern
desktop computer.

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4 The numerical results are displayed in the Computed Parameters section. The field plot
can be visualized in the Results graphics tab.
5 Click the Write Report button to create and open a locally stored report with all tunable
input data together with the computed values for R, L, G, and C, as well as and Z0.
Solution plots and mesh plots are included too.
6 Click the Open Manual button to show this documentation file.

Optionally, one may use the Preview Geometry and Show Mesh buttons in the Ribbon to
inspect the geometry and mesh before solving. When a solution has been computed, use
the Plot Solution button to display it. A Reset Input button is provided to restore the default
parameter values for the currently selected tab. The Compute All button runs the simulation
for all the transmission line types.

Click the Help button to show an information window on the app. Click the Application
Documentation button to show this document.

Note: The TEM waves assumption underlying the Transmission Line Calculator is only
valid if the distance between forward and return conductors is substantially smaller than
the wavelength in the medium (<10%). In that case, an error will be issued when clicking
any of the buttons. An error message will also be issued for the microstrip and CPW
geometries if an extreme geometrical aspect ratio is likely to cause problems when
creating the finite element mesh.

The Embedded Model

The analysis performed by the Transmission Line Calculator is based on the assumption of
quasi-TEM modes, meaning that longitudinal components of electric and magnetic fields
are nonzero but small. Then, the main properties of the propagating mode can be deduced
from separate magnetic and electric analyses, the former yielding the R and L parameters
and the latter yielding the G and C parameters. The equations solved for are firstly a
magnetic formulation for out-of-plane currents where the out-of-plane magnetic vector
potential Az is calculated from the Magnetic Fields interface in 2D. The equation solved is:

( j r 0 )A z + --- A z = V 0 ----
2 1
L

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where is the conductivity, 0r the permittivity, the permeability, and is the angular
frequency. V0 represents the applied voltage drop over a length unit L and is applied only
to the conductors. An important parameter is the skin depth:

2
= -----------

The skin depth is a measure of the exponential drop in current density with the distance
to the surface inside conductors. It can be very small and needs to be resolved by the finite
element mesh. This is obtained by using a special meshing method known as boundary
layer meshing. After solving, the net current I flowing in the out-of-plane direction is
measured by integration of the current density J:

2
J = V 0 ---- ( j r 0 )A z
L

over the forward conductor. The resulting out-of-plane impedance Z is computed as:

V0
Z = ------- = R + jL
I

yielding the R and L parameters.

Secondly, a current balance for the in-plane conduction and displacement currents with
the electric potential V as the unknown is solved:

( ( + j r 0 )V ) = 0

A potential difference V1 is applied between the forward and return conductors and the
net in-plane current I1 flowing between the conductors is measured by integration of the
normal component of the in-plane current density J1:

J 1 = ( + j r 0 )V

over the surface (boundary) of the electrode with the applied potential. The resulting
in-plane admittance Y1 is then computed as:

I1
Y 1 = ------- = G + jC
V1

yielding the G and C parameters.

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References
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_line

2. Microwave Engineering by David M. Pozar, Wiley Education

3. Foundations for Microwave Engineering by Robert E. Collin, Wiley-IEEE Press

Application Library path: COMSOL_Multiphysics/Applications/

transmission_line_calculator

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