Lecture No.

Smith Chart and Impedance Calculations

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Spring 2009

Department of Electrical Engineering Air University

What is a Smith Chart?

It is a graphical tool for analyzing and designing transmission line circuits, matching circuits and impedance calculations. It is widely used in antenna design & RF/Microwave engineering It is a special type of 2-D graph to represent the complex reflection coefficient Transformation from the complex input impedance plane into the complex reflection coefficient plane
RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009 Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

The Definition
The Smith Chart is a transformation plot of normalized complex transmission line impedance (resistance and reactance) in its complex plane into a suitable complex reflection coefficient plane

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

The Basics
A complex reflection coefficient can be written as:

which is a point in the polar plane with a radius r = ||, measured from the origin of polar plane and an angle , measured from the positive real axis in counter-clockwise direction. Transformation of reflection coefficient at load 0 to reflection coefficient away from the load (l ) makes the smith chart useful.
RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009 Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Complex

Representation

The load reflection coefficient 0 in phasor form in complex plane

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009 Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

The Algebra Behind Smith Chart

Multiply the numerator and denominator in the above equation with the complex conjugate of denominator in above equation. Then rearranging the equation to illustrate the real and imaginary parts.

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Equation of Circle Resemblance

By manipulating the REAL PART of the last equation, we can get meaningful graphical representation and resemblance with the equation of a circle.

It resembles with the equation of a circle in xy plane with radius r and centered at x=a and y=b
RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009 Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Constant Resistance Circles

Further modifying the equation by adding on both sides, and rearrange the resulting equation in the form of circle with : Center at:

Radius of: We get:

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Constant Resistance Circles

Points of constant resistance form circles on the complex reflectioncoefficient plane . Shown here are the circles for various values of normalized load resistance.
RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009 Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Transformation

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Equation of Circle Resemblance

Similarly, By manipulating the IMAGINARY PART of the last equation, we can get resemblance with the equation of a circle

By modifying the above equation and adding a constant to make the i terms a factorable polynomial:

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Constant Reactance Circles

The resulting equation is in the form of circle with : Center at:

Radius of: Values of constant imaginary load impedances xL make up circles centered at points along the blue vertical line.
RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009 Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Constant Reactance Circles

The segments lying in the top half represent INDUCTIVE Reactances; those lying in the bottom half represent CAPACITIVE reactances. All circle centers lie on the blue vertical line. Only the circles segments that lie within the green r = 1 circle are relevant for the Smith chart. Note that xL = 0 along the horizontal axis, which represents a circle of infinite radius centered at [1, +y] or [1, y] in the complex plane.
RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009 Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Transformation

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

The Complete Z Smith Chart

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

The Complete Smith Chart

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Special Points on Z-Smith Chart

Point of Short Cct. Point of Open Cct. Matched Cct. -1 +1

Special Points

+1

For purely real impedance i.e., x=0

For purely imaginary impedance i.e., r=0
RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

-1
Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Observations
Circles of constant normalized resistance having a range of 0 r < Circles of constant normalized reactance (arcs) can represent either positive (i.e. inductive) or negative (i.e. capacitive) in a range of - x < Each full circle describe a transformation over a transmission line length of /2 giving an electrical length of 180o Rotation on smith chart in clockwise direction is the movement towards generator (or away from load). Reflection coefficient does not necessarily satisfy the criteria of || 1. For r 0, we have passive circuits, and for r 0, leads to the case || 1.
RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009 Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Basic Smith Chart Techniques

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Given Z(d)

Find (d )

(d )

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Given Z(d)

Find ( d )

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Given (d )

Find Z(d)

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Given R & ZR

Find (d ) & Z(d)

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Graphical Procedure

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

On Smith Chart

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Given & ZR
R

Find d(max) & d(min)

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

On Smith Chart

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

On Smith Chart

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Given R & ZR

Find VSWR

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

SWR and Smith Chart

For an arbitrary distance l along the transmission line, the SWR is written as:

where This form of reflection coefficient permits the representation of SWR as circles in the Smith Chart with matched condition being the origin (SWR =1) or

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Find VSWR

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

On Smith Chart

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Impedance & Admittance

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Admittance (Y) Smith Chart

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Admittances on Smith Chart

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Given Z(d)

Find Y(d)

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Admittances on Smith Chart

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Procedure

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

On Smith Chart

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Example-1
Input Impedance of a terminated transmission line Question:

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Example-1

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Example-1
Comment:
We note that the reflection coefficient phasor form at the load is multiplied by a rotator that incorporates twice the electric line length d. This mathematical statement thus conveys the idea that voltage/current waves have to travel to the load and return back to the source to define the input impedance.

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Example-2
Calculate the Input Impedance of a transmission line using Smith Chart

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Solution

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Example-3
Question:

Comments:
As a graphical design tool, Smith Chart allows immediate observation of the degree of mismatch between the line and the load impedances by plotting the radius of SWR circle.
RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009 Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

SWR circles of Example-3

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU

Study
Article 2.9 on Smith chart from text book Next topic of discussion

Microstrip Lines

RF & Microwave Engineering BETE-Fall 2009

Basit Ali Zeb Department of Electrical Engineering, AU