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National Aerospace

Laboratories
A Project Report on

REFLECTOMETRY AND ITS APPLICATION IN


DETECTION OF FAULTS IN CABLE WIRE
submitted by

Aditya Yadav (12EC05)


in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the award of the degree of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION


ENGINEERING
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KARNATAKA
SURATHKAL, MANGALORE - 575025

30 May, 2014 - 16 July, 2014

About NAL
National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), is India's second
largest aerospace firm after Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL). It was
established by the Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR) at Delhi in 1959 and its headquarters was later
moved to Bangalore in 1960. The firm closely operates with
HAL, DRDO and ISRO and has the prime responsibility of
developing civilian aircraft in India.CSIR-NAL mandate is to develop
aerospace technologies with strong science content, design and build
small and medium-sized civil aircraft, and support all national
aerospace programmes.
NAL is a high technology oriented institution concentrating on
advanced topics in the aerospace and related disciplines. Originally
started as National Aeronautical Laboratory, it was renamed National
Aerospace Laboratories to reflect its major involvement in the Indian
space programme, its multidisciplinary activities and global
positioning. It is Indias only civilian aerospace laboratory with a high
level of competence and the expertise of its scientists is globally
acknowledged

Motivation
The motivation behind doing this research intern is applying the
theory learnt in classroom to practical use. During the 4 year course of
electronics we learnt many transformation techniques of signals to
simplify the process. So to find how it really simplifies the complex
processes was fascinating and amazing.
During lectures in classroom I was only able to see limited scope of
signal processing applications. I just knew about those applications
which were taught but I wanted to experience firsthand the practical
applications of signal processing in industrial area. Thats why I
applied in NAL, Bangalore to do a research intern in application of
signal processing and gain better insights of the topic.

Training Experience
I worked in the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), a
constituent of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR).
I worked in a project on reflectometry which is a noninvasive
technique that allows the analysis of properties of a medium.
This technique is based on the reflection of waves at the
interface of interest. Waves propagate into a medium (according to
the laws of propagation into the medium) and when it encounters a
discontinuity (impedance break), part of its energy is reflected back to
injection point. The analysis of the reflected signal can infer
information about the system or the medium under consideration.
Many techniques are based on the principle of reflectometry and are
distinguished by the type of waves used and the analysis of the
reflected signal. Among all these techniques, we can classify the main
but not limited to:
1. Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR)
2. Frequency Domain Reflectometry (FDR)
3. Neutron Reflectometry
4. X-ray Reflectometry
5. Ultrasonic Reflectometry

Time Domain Reflectometry or TDR is a measurement technique used


to determine the characteristics of electrical lines by observing reflected
waveforms.
The TDR works on the same principle as radar. A pulse of energy is
transmitted down a cable. When that pulse reaches the end of the
cable, or a fault along the cable, part or all of the pulse energy is
reflected back to the instrument.
The TDR measures the time it takes for the signal to travel down
the cable, see the problem, and reflect back. The TDR then converts
this time to distance and displays the information as a waveform
and/or distance reading.

Generally, a train of fast pulses is appropriately generated and applied


to a transmission line. The waveform in the line is observed at some
point (by a sampling oscilloscope or other Data Acquisition System).
By analyzing the magnitude, duration and shape of the reflected
waveform, the nature of the impedance variation in the transmission
system can be determined.
Frequency Domain Reflectometry or FDR technique is based on the
transmission of a set of stepped-frequency sine waves from the
sample.
A Frequency domain reflectometer is a tuned reflectometer used for
measuring reflection coefficients and impedance of waveguides over
a wide frequency range, by sweeping a band of frequencies and
analyzing reflected returns.
Several types of FDR exist and are commonly used in radar
applications or characterization of cables/wires. The signal analysis is
focused rather on the changes in frequency between the incident
signal and the reflected signal.
In this technique RF signal (3Khz-300Ghz) is used instead of a DC
pulse.
Some of its advantages over Time Domain reflectometry (TDR) are:
Much higher signal power is used and thereby longer cables can
be measured.
No blind spot or dead zone problem exists in FDR.
TDR is likely to miss RF characteristics such as corrosion, slight
pin gaps and damaged RF components.
The RF sweep used by FDR is sensitive to RF problems and
accurately identifies the return loss of the antenna. A TDR's
pulsed dc stimulus reflects little energy at RF faults.

Suggestions for Improvement


JTFDR (Joint Time Frequency Domain Reflectometry) can be
used to obtain a most effective wiring diagnostic solution and the
distance to the fault.
To further explore the merit of JTFDR, the next step is to
perform the time to breakdown accelerated aging test to predict the
remaining lifetime of the cables, however, this will require significant
upgrades to experimental equipment. Time to breakdown tests are
used to predict the remaining life of a cable by testing the
performance of sample equipment in accelerated aging conditions
until breakdown.

Conclusion and Future Work


This project was carried out successfully. In this report the theory and
limitations of classical cable diagnostic techniques Time Domain
Reflectometry (TDR) and Frequency Domain Reflectometry (FDR)
were discussed. In addition to that, LabVIEW simulation was
performed to achieve the overall waveform from a short circuit or
open circuit faults.
Yes, I would like to continue my work in reflectometry. The demand
in this field is very high as new and more advanced techniques keep
coming up. So its a constant challenge to keep yourself updated with
the latest techniques.

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