Telegrapher's equations explained

The telegrapher's equations (or telegraph equations) are a set of two coupled, linear partial differential equations that model voltage and current along a linear electrical transmission line. The equations are important because they allow transmission lines to be analyzed using circuit theory. The equations and their solutions are applicable from 0 Hz (i.e. direct current) to frequencies at which the transmission line structure can support higher order non-TEM modes. The equations can be expressed in both the time domain and the frequency domain. In the time domain the independent variables are distance and time. In the frequency domain the independent variables are distance

and either frequency,, or complex frequency, . The frequency domain variables can be taken as the Laplace transform or Fourier transform of the time domain variables or they can be taken to be phasors in which case the frequency domain equations can be reduced to ordinary differential equations of distance. An advantage of the frequency domain approach is that differential operators in the time domain become algebraic operations in frequency domain.

The equations come from Oliver Heaviside who developed the transmission line model starting with an August 1876 paper, On the Extra Current.^[1] The model demonstrates that the electromagnetic waves can be reflected on the wire, and that wave patterns can form along the line. Originally developed to describe telegraph wires, the theory can also be applied to radio frequency conductors, audio frequency (such as telephone lines), low frequency (such as power lines), and pulses of direct current.

Distributed components

The telegrapher's equations result from circuit theory. In a more practical approach, one assumes that the conductors are composed of an infinite series of two-port elementary components, each representing an infinitesimally short segment of the transmission line:

of the conductors is represented by a series resistor (expressed in ohms per unit length). In practical conductors, at higher frequencies,

increases approximately proportional to the square root of frequency due to the skin effect.

(due to the magnetic field around the wires, self-inductance, etc.) is represented by a series inductor (henries per unit length).

between the two conductors is represented by a shunt capacitor

(farads per unit length).

of the dielectric material separating the two conductors is represented by a shunt resistor between the signal wire and the return wire (siemens per unit length). This resistor in the model has a resistance of .

accounts for both bulk conductivity of the dielectric and dielectric loss. If the dielectric is an ideal vacuum, then .

The model consists of an infinite series of the infinitesimal elements shown in the figure, and the values of the components are specified, so the picture of the component can be misleading. An alternative notation is to use,,, and to emphasize that the values are derivatives with respect to length, and that the units of measure combine correctly. These quantities can also be known as the primary line constants to distinguish from the secondary line constants derived from them, these being the characteristic impedance, the propagation constant, attenuation constant and phase constant. All these constants are constant with respect to time, voltage and current. They may be non-constant functions of frequency.

Role of different components

The role of the different components can be visualized based on the animation at right.

Inductance : The inductance couples current to energy stored in the magnetic field. It makes it look like the current has inertia i.e. with a large inductance, it is difficult to increase or decrease the current flow at any given point. Large inductance makes the wave move more slowly, just as waves travel more slowly down a heavy rope than a light string. Large inductance also the line's surge impedance (voltage needed to push the same AC current through the line).

All four parameters,,, and depend on the material used to build the cable or feedline. All four change with frequency: and tend to increase for higher frequencies; and tend to drop as the frequency goes up.The figure at right shows a lossless transmission line, where both and are zero, which is the simplest and by far most common form of the telegrapher's equations used, but slightly unrealistic (especially regarding).

Values of primary parameters for telephone cable

Representative parameter data for 24 gauge telephone polyethylene insulated cable (PIC) at ^[2]


172.24	52.50	612.9	186.8	0.000	0.000	51.57	15.72
172.28	52.51	612.5	186.7	0.072	0.022	51.57	15.72
172.70	52.64	609.9	185.9	0.531	0.162	51.57	15.72
191.63	58.41	580.7	177.0	3.327	1.197	51.57	15.72
463.59	141.30	506.2	154.3	29.111	8.873	51.57	15.72
643.14	196.03	486.2	148.2	53.205	16.217	51.57	15.72
999.41	304.62	467.5	142.5	118.074	35.989	51.57	15.72

The variation of and is mainly due to skin effect and proximity effect. The constancy of the capacitance is a consequence of intentional design.

The variation of can be inferred from a statement by Frederick Terman:^[3] "The power factor ... tends to be independent of frequency, since the fraction of energy lost during each cycle ... is substantially independent of the number of cycles per second over wide frequency ranges."

A function of the form $G(f) = G_1 \cdot \left(\frac \right)^$ with close to would fit Terman's statement. Walter Chen gives an equation of similar form.^[4] Where is conductivity as a function of frequency; and,, and are all real constants.

Usually the resistive losses grow proportionately to and dielectric losses grow proportionately to with, so at a high enough frequency, dielectric losses will exceed resistive losses. In practice, before that point is reached, a transmission line with a better dielectric is used. In long distance rigid coaxial cable, to get very low dielectric losses, the solid dielectric may be replaced by air with plastic spacers at intervals to keep the center conductor on axis.

The equation

Time domain

The telegrapher's equations in the time domain are:^[5] $\begin\frac V(x,t) &= -L \, \frac I(x,t) - R I(x,t) \\[1ex]\frac I(x,t) &= -C \, \frac V(x,t) - G V(x,t)\end$

They can be combined to get two partial differential equations, each with only one dependent variable, either or : $\begin\frac V(x,t) - LC \, \frac V(x,t) &= \left(RC + GL \right) \frac V(x,t) + GR \, V(x,t) \\[1ex]\frac I(x,t) - LC \, \frac I(x,t) &= \left(RC + GL \right) \frac I(x,t) + GR \, I(x,t)\end$

Except for the dependent variable (

) the formulas are identical.

Frequency domain

The telegrapher's equations in the frequency domain are developed in similar forms:^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9] ^[10] ^[11] ^[12] $\begin\frac \mathbf_\omega(x) &= -\left(j \omega L_\omega + R_\omega \right) \mathbf_\omega(x),\\[1ex]\frac \mathbf_\omega(x) &= -\left(j \omega C_\omega + G_\omega \right) \mathbf_\omega(x) .\end$ Here,

I_\omega(x)

and

V_\omega(x)

are phasors, with the subscript

\omega

indicating the possible frequency-dependence of the parameters.

The first equation means that, the propagating voltage at point, is decreased by the voltage loss produced by, the current at that point passing through the series impedance . The second equation means that, the propagating current at point, is decreased by the current loss produced by, the voltage at that point appearing across the shunt admittance .

These equations may be combined to produce two uncoupled second-order ordinary differential equations $\begin\frac \mathbf_\omega(x) &= \gamma^2 \mathbf_\omega(x), \\[1ex]\frac \mathbf_\omega(x) &= \gamma^2 \mathbf_\omega(x),\end$ with $\gamma \equiv \alpha + j \beta \equiv \sqrt,$ where

\alpha

is called the attenuation constant and

\beta

is called the phase constant.

Working in the frequency domain has the benefit of dealing with both steady state and transient problems in a similar fashion.^[13] In case of the latter the frequency

\omega

becomes a continuous variable; a solution can be obtained by first solving the above (homogeneous) second-order ODEs and then applying the Fourier inversion theorem.^[14]

Homogeneous solutions

Each of the preceding differential equations have two homogeneous solutions in an infinite transmission line.

For the voltage equation $\begin\mathbf_\omega^+(x) &= \mathbf_\omega^+(a) \, e^ && \text ; \\+ \mathbf_\omega^-(x) &= \mathbf_\omega^-(b) \, e^ && \text ; \\ \hline\mathbf_(x)_\hphantom &= \mathbf_\omega^+(x) + \mathbf_\omega^-(x) && \text.\end$

For the current equation $\begin\mathbf_\omega^+(x) &= \mathbf_\omega^+(a) \, e^ && \text ; \\- \mathbf_\omega^-(x) &= \mathbf_\omega^-(b) \, e^ && \text ; \\ \hline\mathbf_(x)_\hphantom &= \mathbf_\omega^+(x) - \mathbf_\omega^-(x) && \text .\end$

The negative sign in the previous equation indicates that the current in the reverse wave is traveling in the opposite direction.

Note: $\begin\mathbf_\omega^+(x) = \mathbf_0 \, \mathbf_\omega^+(x), \\[0.4ex]\mathbf_\omega^-(x) = \mathbf_0 \, \mathbf_\omega^-(x),\end$ $\mathbf_0 = \sqrt\,,$ where the following symbol definitions hold:

Symbol definitions

Symbol

Definition

point at which the values of the forward waves are known

point at which the values of the reverse waves are known

V_\omega(x)

value of the total voltage at point

	+(x)
V
	\omega

value of the forward voltage wave at point

	-(x)
V
	\omega

value of the reverse voltage wave at point

	+(a)
V
	\omega

value of the forward voltage wave at point displaced from

	-(b)
V
	\omega

value of the reverse voltage wave at point displaced from

I_\omega(x)

value of the total current at point

	+(x)
I
	\omega

value of the forward current wave at point

	-(x)
I
	\omega

value of the reverse current wave at point

	+(a)
I
	\omega

value of the forward current wave at point displaced from

	-(b)
I
	\omega

value of the reverse current wave at point displaced from

Z₀

characteristic impedance

\gamma

propagation constant

Finite length

Johnson gives the following solution,^[15] $\begin\frac&= \left[\left(\frac{ \mathbf{H}^{-1} +\mathbf{H} }{ 2 }\right) \left(1 + \frac{ \mathbf{Z}_\mathsf{S} }{\mathbf{Z}_\mathsf{L} }\right) + \left(\frac{\mathbf{H}^{-1} - \mathbf{H} }{ 2 }\right) \left(\frac{ \mathbf{Z}_\mathsf{S} }{ \mathbf{\mathbf{Z}}_0 } + \frac{ \mathbf{Z}_0 }{ \mathbf{Z}_\mathsf{L} }\right) \right]^\\[2ex]&= \frac\end$ where, and is the length of the transmission line.

In the special case where all the impedances are equal,, the solution reduces to .

Lossless transmission

When and, wire resistance and insulation conductance can be neglected, and the transmission line is considered as an ideal lossless structure. In this case, the model depends only on the and elements. The telegrapher's equations then describe the relationship between the voltage and the current along the transmission line, each of which is a function of position and time : $\beginV &= V(x,t) \\[.5ex]I &= I(x,t)\end$ The equations themselves consist of a pair of coupled, first-order, partial differential equations. The first equation shows that the induced voltage is related to the time rate-of-change of the current through the cable inductance, while the second shows, similarly, that the current drawn by the cable capacitance is related to the time rate-of-change of the voltage.^[5] $\frac = - L \frac$ $\frac = - C \frac$

These equations may be combined to form two wave equations, one for voltage, the other for current :^[5] $\begin\frac - ^2 \frac &= 0 \\[1ex]\frac - ^2 \frac &= 0\end$ where $\equiv \frac$ is the propagation speed of waves traveling through the transmission line. For transmission lines made of parallel perfect conductors with vacuum between them, this speed is equal to the speed of light.

Lossless sinusoidal steady-state

See also: Phasor. In the case of sinusoidal steady-state (i.e., when a pure sinusoidal voltage is applied and transients have ceased) the angular frequency is fixed and the voltage and current take the form of single-tone sine waves:^[16] $\beginV(x,t) &= \mathcal \left\, \\[1ex]I(x,t) &= \mathcal \left\.\end$ In this case, the telegrapher's equations reduce to^[5] $\begin\frac &= -j \omega L I = - L \frac, \\[1ex]\frac &= -j \omega C V = - C \frac.\end$

Likewise, the wave equations reduce to one-dimensional Helmholtz equations^[5] $\begin&\frac+ k^2 V = 0, \\[1ex]&\frac+ k^2 I = 0,\end$ where is the wave number: $k := \omega \sqrt = \frac .$ In the lossless case, it is possible to show that $V(x) = V_1 \, e^ + V_2 \, e^,$ and $I(x) = \frac \, e^ - \frac\, e^\,$ where in this special case, is a real quantity that may depend on frequency and is the characteristic impedance of the transmission line, which, for a lossless line is given by^[5] $Z_0 = \sqrt\,$ and and are arbitrary constants of integration, which are determined by the two boundary conditions (one for each end of the transmission line).

This impedance does not change along the length of the line since and are constant at any point on the line, provided that the cross-sectional geometry of the line remains constant.

Loss-free case, general solution

In the loss-free case), the general solution of the wave equation for the voltage is the sum of a forward traveling wave and a backward traveling wave: $V(x,t) = f_1(x - t) + f_2(x + t)$ where

and can be two analytic functions, and
is the waveform's propagation speed (also known as phase velocity).

Here, represents the amplitude profile of a wave traveling from left to right in a positive direction whilst represents the amplitude profile of a wave traveling from right to left. It can be seen that the instantaneous voltage at any point on the line is the sum of the voltages due to both waves.

Using the current and voltage relations given by the telegrapher's equations, we can write $I(x,t) = \frac \Bigl[f_1(x - {\tilde v} t) - f_2(x + {\tilde v} t) \Bigr] \,.$

Lossy transmission line

When the loss elements

and

are too substantial to ignore, the differential equations describing the elementary segment of line are

\begin\frac V(x,t) &= -L \frac I(x,t) - R \, I(x,t) \,, \\[6pt]\frac I(x,t) &= -C \frac V(x,t) - G \, V(x,t) \, .\end

By differentiating both equations with respect to, and some algebra, we obtain a pair of damped, dispersive hyperbolic partial differential equations each involving only one unknown:^[17] $\begin\frac V &= L C \frac V + \left(R C + G L \right) \frac V + G R V, \\[6pt]\frac I &= L C \frac I + \left(R C + G L \right) \frac I + G R I .\end$

These equations resemble the homogeneous wave equation with extra terms in and and their first derivatives. These extra terms cause the signal to decay and spread out with time and distance. If the transmission line is only slightly lossy and), signal strength will decay over distance as where .^[18]

Solutions of the telegrapher's equations as circuit components

The solutions of the telegrapher's equations can be inserted directly into a circuit as components. The circuit in the figure implements the solutions of the telegrapher's equations.^[19]

The solution of the telegrapher's equations can be expressed as an ABCD two-port network with the following defining equations^[11] $\begin V_1 &= V_2 \cosh(\gamma x) + I_2 Z_0 \sinh(\gamma x) \,, \\[1ex] I_1 &= \frac \sinh (\gamma x) + I_2 \cosh(\gamma x) \, .\end$ where $Z_0 \equiv \sqrt,$ and $\gamma \equiv \sqrt,$ just as in the preceding sections. The line parameters,,, and are subscripted by to emphasize that they could be functions of frequency.

The ABCD type two-port gives

V₁

and

I₁

as functions of

V₂

and . The voltage and current relations are symmetrical: Both of the equations shown above, when solved for

V₁

and

I₁

as functions of

V₂

and

I₂

yield exactly the same relations, merely with subscripts "1" and "2" reversed, and the

\sinh

terms' signs made negative ("1"→"2" direction is reversed "1"←"2", hence the sign change).

Every two-wire or balanced transmission line has an implicit (or in some cases explicit) third wire which is called the shield, sheath, common, earth, or ground. So every two-wire balanced transmission line has two modes which are nominally called the differential mode and common mode. The circuit shown in the bottom diagram only can model the differential mode.

In the top circuit, the voltage doublers, the difference amplifiers, and impedances account for the interaction of the transmission line with the external circuit. This circuit is a useful equivalent for an unbalanced transmission line like a coaxial cable.

These are not unique: Other equivalent circuits are possible.

Notes and References

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Book: Sadiku, Matthew N. O. . 1989 . Elements of Electromagnetics . 1st . Saunders College Publishing . 0-03-013484-6 .
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Book: Miano, Giovanni . Maffucci . Antonio . Transmission Lines and Lumped Circuits . Academic Press . San Diego . 2001 . 0-12-189710-9 . 23-26,132.
Book: Noble, Ben . Methods Based on the Wiener-Hopf Technique for the Solution of Partial Differential Equations . Taylor & Francis US . New York, N.Y . 1958 . 978-0-8284-0332-0 . 27-28,97.
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Book: Nahin . Paul . Hot Molecules, Cold Electrons: From the Mathematics of Heat to the Development of the Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Cable . 2020 . Princeton University Press . 9780691191720 . 152.
Book: Miano . Giovanni . Maffucci . Antonio . 2001 . Transmission Lines and Lumped Circuits . 130 . . 0-12-189710-9 . The book uses the symbol instead of .
Web site: McCammon . Roy . SPICE Simulation of Transmission Lines by the Telegrapher's Method . June 2010 . cmpnet.com . RF Design Line . 22 Oct 2010 . . also Book: Part 1 of 3 . SPICE simulation of transmission lines by the telegrapher's method . https://www.eetimes.com/spice-simulation-of-transmission-lines-by-the-telegraphers-method-part-1-of-3/ . . Microwave & RF design.