JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND

TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION

ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT: ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

B.SC. ELECTRONIC AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

EEE2419: MICROWAVES

TITLE: VOLTAGE STANDING WAVE RATIO MEASUREMENT

GROUP MEMBERS

NAME REG_NO

SHAWN PHILIP OYUGA ENE212-0090/2020

PENINAH WAMWERU MURAGU ENE212-0070/2019

HILDA CHEPKIRUI BARAIYWO ENE212-0061/2020

ANTHONY NJERU NYAGA ENE212-0078/2020

BARBRA TAI GITONGA ENE212-0072/2020

Objectives
1. Be able to explain voltage standing wave ratios
2. Measure voltage standing wave ratios using two methods
3. Know when to use each of the two measuring methods.

Introduction
The electromagnetic field at any point of a transmission line such as a waveguide can be considered as
the sum of two travelling waves, one travelling in each direction.

In this lab, we set up equipment that generates microwaves and a receiving end, then investigated the
effect of using different terminators on the attenuation of the wave along the transmission line.

Theory
A transmission line is a connector that transmits energy from one point to another.
There are four types of transmission lines
- Two-wire parallel transmission lines
- Coaxial lines
- Strip-type substrate transmission lines
- Waveguides
While transmitting or receiving, the energy transfer has to be done effectively, without the wastage of
power. To achieve this, there are certain important parameters which have to be considered.

Main Parameters of a Transmission Line

The important parameters of a transmission line are resistance, inductance, capacitance, and
conductance.
Resistance and inductance together are called transmission line impedance.
Capacitance and conductance together are called admittance.

Resistance
The resistance offered by the material out of which the transmission lines are made will be of
considerable amount, especially for shorter lines. As the line current increases, the ohmic loss (Iloss)
also increases.
The resistance R of a conductor of length "l" and cross-section "a" is represented as
𝑎
R= 𝜌 ⋅ 𝑙
Temperature and the frequency of the current are the main factors that affect the resistance of a line.
The resistance of a conductor varies linearly with the temperature change. Whereas, if the frequency
of the current increases, the current density towards the surface of the conductor also increases.
Otherwise, the current density towards the center of the conductor increases.
This means that the more the current flows toward the surface of the conductor, it flows less towards
the center, which is known as the Skin Effect.
Inductance
In an AC transmission line, the current flows sinusoidally. This current induces a magnetic field
perpendicular to the electric field, which also varies sinusoidally. This is well known as Faraday's law.
The fields are depicted in the following figure.

This varying magnetic field induces some EMF into the conductor. This induced voltage or EMF
flows in the opposite direction to the current initially flowing. This EMF flowing in the opposite
direction is equivalently shown by a parameter known as Inductance, which is the property to oppose
the shift in the current.
It is denoted by "L". The unit of measurement is "HenryH".

Conductance
There will be a leakage current between the transmission line and the ground, and also between the
phase conductors. This small amount of leakage current generally flows through the surface of the
insulator. The inverse of this leakage current is termed Conductance. It is denoted by "G".

The flow of line current is associated with inductance and the voltage difference between the two
points is associated with capacitance. Inductance is associated with the magnetic field, while
capacitance is associated with the electric field.

Capacitance
The voltage difference between the Phase conductors gives rise to an electric field between the
conductors. The two conductors are just like parallel plates and the air in between them becomes
dielectric. This pattern gives rise to the capacitance effect between the conductors.

Characteristic Impedance
If a uniform lossless transmission line is considered, for a wave travelling in one direction, the ratio of
the amplitudes of voltage and current along that line, which has no reflections, is called Characteristic
impedance. It is denoted by Z
𝑅 + 𝑗𝜔𝐿
𝑍𝑂 = √𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒/𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 ⇒ 𝑍𝑂 = √
𝐺 + 𝑗𝜔𝐶
Impedance Matching
From Circuit and Network theory, to achieve maximum power transfer to the load, impedance
matching has to be done. To achieve this impedance matching, the following conditions are to be met.
- The resistance of the load should be equal to that of the source.
𝑅𝐿 = 𝑅𝑆
- The reactance of the load should be equal to that of the source but opposite in sign.
𝑋𝐿 = −𝑋𝑆
This means that if the source is inductive, the load should be capacitive and vice versa.

Reflection Coefficient
The parameter that expresses the amount of reflected energy due to impedance mismatch in a
transmission line is called the Reflection coefficient. It is indicated by ρ

It can be defined as "the ratio of reflected voltage to the incident voltage at the load terminals".
𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑉𝑟
𝜌= ⇒𝜌= 𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑠
𝐼𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑉𝑖
If the impedance between the device and the transmission line don't match with each other, then the
energy gets reflected. The higher the energy gets reflected, the greater will be the value of the ρ
reflection coefficient.

When all of the useful parameters of a transmission line have been defined we can now ask ourselves.

What is VSWR?
The standing wave is formed when the incident wave gets reflected. The standing wave which is
formed, contains some voltage. The magnitude of standing waves can be measured in terms of
standing wave ratios.

The VSWR is the ratio of the maximum voltage to the minimum voltage in a standing wave induced
by an impedance mismatch between the RF source and load. It is denoted by the letter “S”.
|𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 |
𝑆= 1≤𝑆≤∞
|𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛 |
VSWR describes the voltage standing wave pattern that is present in the transmission line due to
phase addition and subtraction of the incident and reflected waves.
Standing waves are undesired because the transmitted energy is reflected and returned to the source,
potentially harming the RF signal source.

In a radio frequency (RF) electrical transmission system, the standing wave ratio (SWR) quantifies the
efficiency with which RF power is transmitted from the power source to the load via the transmission
line. A typical example is a power amplifier connected to an antenna via a transmission line.
A high SWR indicates low transmission-line efficiency and reflected radiation, which can hurt and
degrade transmitter efficiency.

Reflections occur as a result of discontinuities, such as imperfections in uniform transmission lines, or

when a transmission line is terminated with other than its characteristic impedance.
The reflective property of a port is characterised by the reflection coefficient magnitude | Г |.
 √𝑃𝑟𝑒ƒ −
|Г| = = 𝑉+
𝑃𝑖𝑛 𝑉
Where
Pref : reflected power [W]
Pin : incident power [W]
V-: reflected wave [V]
V+: incident wave. [V]

1 + |𝛤|
VSWR=
1 – |𝛤|
The effective input VSWR of an Isolator varies with the load VSWR. As the output load mismatch
increases, more energy is reflected toward the termination port. The isolator attenuates the signal
before reflecting it back to the input. As a result, there is a rise in total VSWR at the input. Thus, a
low VSWR specification is always preferable.

Poor VSWR: A significant portion of the incident signal is reflected back toward the source of
transmission. This sort of VSWR occurs when there is an open or short circuit in a system and the
impedance match is the poorest.

Better VSWR: Only a fraction of the incident signal reflects back toward the source of transmission.
This type of VSWR happens in systems with a good impedance match. A considerably higher power
efficiency is obtained.

VSWR is represented in ratio form relative to one. An open circuit

produces a VSWR of ∞:1.
A VSWR of 1:1 is obtained when the load is exactly matched to the source impedance.

Apparatus
1. Short circuit terminator
2. Control console
3. Variable attenuator
4. X-band oscillator
5. Probe detector assembly

Procedure
I. We connected the apparatus as shown below.
 II. On the control console, we switched on the supply to the oscillator and set it’s left hand
switch for internal keying and made sure the meter was switched to read the detector output.
III. On the attenuator, we set the right hand (load end) to minimum attenuation (vane fully
outside the waveguide).
IV. We set the sensitivity control to maximum and started with the left-hand attenuator(source
end) at about 20° from 0, that is maximum attenuation.
V. We checked the movement of the meter by sliding the detector carriage alongside the
waveguide.
VI. We adjusted the source attenuator so that the maximum reading of the meter is about full
scale.
Standard Wave Pattern(large VSWR)
VII. We slid the detector along its slot while observing for very sharp drops(minima) in the meter
reading.
VIII. We recorded the maximum and minimum meter readings. Plot a graph of meter reading
against position.
Standing Wave Pattern(small VSWR)
IX. We set the attenuator for maximum attenuation (with the vane fully in).
X. We slid the detector along its slot while observing for very sharp drops(minima) in the meter
reading.
XI. We recorded the maximum and minimum meter readings. Plot a graph of meter reading
against position.
XII. We calculated the ratio between maximum and minimum values of field strength.
Double minimum method for large VSWR
XIII. We removed the short circuit terminator and set the attenuator for minimum attenuation (with
vane fully out).
XIV. We set the source attenuator to approximately 20° and moved the detector to find the
minimum position.
XV. We adjusted the detector position to find the true minimum meter reading and recorded the
value.
XVI. We then moved the detector carefully to the left until the meter reading was double the
minimum recording and recorded the position on the scale.
XVII. We moved the detector past the minimum position to the right and recorded the position
where the meter reading was double the minimum value.

Results
The data was collected in table form below

Direct method

Low VSWR
Meter Scale
Reading Reading
(mA) (mm)
0.2 68
5 65
0.2 50
5 48
0.2 32
5 30
0.2 15
5 12
Table 1

Low VSWR
Meter Scale
Reading Reading
(mA) (mm)
4.4 67
2.6 60
4.4 50
2.6 42
 4.4 33
2.6 24
4.4 15
Table 2

Double minimum

Double minimum
Left Minimum Right
Scale Reading (mm) 43 38 33
Meter Reading (mA) 4.4 2.2 4.4
Table 3

Discussion
Direct method:
VSWR is the ratio between maximum and minimum values of field strength. Since the
detector operates on a square law, the VSWR is calculated as follows:
𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔
𝑉𝑆𝑊𝑅 = √
𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔

5
𝐿𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑉𝑆𝑊𝑅 = √ = 5
0.2

4.4
𝐿𝑜𝑤 𝑉𝑆𝑊𝑅 = √ = 1.3
2.6

Double minimum:
To get the VSWR, wavelength, 𝜆𝑔 of the RF signal passing through the waveguide must be known.
This is found from the graphs as twice the distance between successive minima separated by a third.
𝑥 = 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑐𝑒 − 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠
18 + 18 + 17
𝜆𝑔 = × 2 = 35.33
3
𝑥 10
𝜃𝑟𝑎𝑑 = = = 0.2830 𝑟𝑎𝑑
𝜆𝑔 35.33

1
𝑉𝑆𝑊𝑅 = √1 + = 3.718
𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝜃
Large VSWR
Sharp drops (minima) are observed. This is because there is nothing to absorb the incident energy and
nearly all is reflected back. The reflected wave almost exactly cancels the incident wave at places
where their phases are opposite.

Low VSWR
The load absorbs much of the energy travelling towards the end of the transmission line and if the
remainder is reflected from the end, the attenuator will absorb most of it.
Precautions and recommendations
1. While doing the lab DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT ENERGISED WAVES
2. Do not stand in front of the output end.

Conclusion
This Lab was set up to demonstrate the effect of load-matching impedance on a Transmission line.
We varied the load impedance from a short circuit to an open circuit and made the following
observations.
● If the end of the waveguide does not absorb the incident energy, a standing wave is set up,
which is a stationary pattern of field intensity that repeats cyclically as a detector moves along
the transmission path.
● When VSWR is small, that is there is no reflection, it can be measured directly because
normal detectors produce an output proportional to the square of field intensity, the square
root of the ratio of detector output is taken.
● For larger values of VSWR, direct measurement of the ratio is impractical and the double-
minimum is then useful.