Experimental Characterization of Multiconductor Transmission Lines in the Frequency Domain

Although a number of papers have been published on the experimental characterization of multiconductor transmission lines, they are limited to the time domain for lossless multiconductor lines in homogeneous media. This paper presents a method for the characterization of multiconductor transmission lines in inhomogeneous media. The experimental technique for the measurement of multiconductor line parameters is presented and the appropriate multiconductor line equations are solved to obtain these parameters. The experimental method involves only the short-and open-circuit impedance measurements for different configurations. The experimental results for a four-conductor line are found to be in good agreement with computed results and a low-frequency lumped model.