An assessment on the accuracy of time-domain reflectometry for measuring the characteristic impedance of transmission lines

Author

Paulter, N.G.

Author_Institution

Electron. & Electr. Eng. Lab., Nat. Inst. of Stand. & Technol., Gaithersburg, MD, USA

Volume

50

Issue

5

fYear

2001

fDate

10/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1381

Lastpage

1388

Abstract

An assessment of time-domain reflectometry (TDR) for measuring the characteristic impedance Z_TL of transmission lines is performed. The assessment includes the accuracy of measuring ZTL as a function of TDR electrical impedance Z_o, the ability to measure impedance perturbations as a function Of ZTL and Z_o, and the ability to differentiate between transmission lines of similar ZTL. The information presented will be especially useful for those using 50 Ω TDR systems to characterize transmission lines having characteristic impedances less than about 30 Ω

Keywords

electric impedance measurement; measurement uncertainty; time-domain reflectometry; transmission lines; 50 ohm; accuracy assessment; accuracy limitations; amplitude discretization; characteristic impedance measurement; impedance discontinuity; impedance perturbations; paired conducting lines; sampling oscilloscope; time-domain reflectometry; transmission lines; Distributed parameter circuits; Electric variables measurement; Impedance measurement; Performance evaluation; Power transmission lines; Pulse measurements; Reflectometry; Time domain analysis; Transmission line measurements; Velocity measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/19.963214

Filename

963214