Chapter 7. The Physical Basis of Transmission Lines

We hear the words transmission line all the time and we probably use them ever day, yet what really is a transmission line? A coax cable is a transmission line. A PCB trace in a multilayer board is a transmission line.

Tip

Fundamentally, a transmission line is composed of any two conductors that have length. This is all it takes to make a transmission line.

As we will see, a transmission line is used to transport a signal from one point to another. Figure 7-1 illustrates the general features of all transmission lines. To distinguish the two conductors, we refer to one as the signal path and the other as the return path.

Figure 7-1 A transmission line is any two conductors with length. We ...

Get Signal and Power Integrity - Simplified now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.