ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with transmission lines whose characteristics are constant along the direction of propagation. In any transmission line, energy can be stored along its length under electric and under magnetic form. Some energy can also be dissipated along the line, under the form of ohmic losses in non-ideal conductors and in non-ideal dielectrics. The chapter is devoted mainly to how the boundary conditions affect voltage and current along the entire transmission line. All the relationships that were defined or derived become much simpler in the ideal case of a transmission line whose conductors and dielectrics are lossless. An elegant and useful application of the theory comes from a problem that is frequently encountered in actual telecommunication systems. The chapter shows how the equations which govern voltage and current waves along transmission lines can be derived from Maxwell’s equations, provided some suitable assumptions are satisfied.
