EE699 - HomeWork#2

Due Tuesday, September 21

P 2.1 Write a computer program using Matlab, FORTRAN, C or C++ to perform a FDTD
solution of the first-order transmission-line equations. Your program should assume a
lossless transmission line of length d, excited by a Thevenin voltage source with internal
resistance R g and terminated by a load resistance R L . The code should be set up to allow
the user to specify the capacitance and inductance per unit length, the line length, the
source and load resistances, the number of space cells, and the CFL number (with CFLN
= 1.0 being the magic time step). The voltage source can be assumed to be a trapezoidal
pulse which is specified by a rise-time, duration, fall-time, and amplitude. The user should
also be able to write out the line voltage or current at discrete points as a function of time.
Prior to writing the code, develop a top-down design for the software. At the top-level of
the design, provide a block diagram that lays out the essential components of the code.
Below the top-level, provide a block diagram for each top-level block. Your code
structure should follow this top-down design. That is, each block should be a separate
function. Provide a copy of the code with your design. This code will be validated via the
remaining problems.

P 2.2 For this problem, you will assume a transmission line of length d = 0.1 m with capacitance
and inductance per unit length C = 100 pf/m and L = 0.25 H/m, respectively. Assume a
voltage source v(t) that is a unit amplitude trapezoidal pulse with a rise time of 40 ps, a
duration of 150 ps (pico-seconds), and a fall time of 40 ps. Finally, choose x= .002 m
(i.e., 50 segments).
a. What is the characteristic impedance of the transmission line? What is the wave-speed of
the line. What is the time it will take the leading edge of the pulse to traverse the 1 m line?
What is the spatial width of the full pulse on the transmission line?
b. Initially, assume source and load resistances Rg = 0 , RL = 0. Let t be the magic time
step tm = x/c. Using your FDTD code, simulate the pulse through one round trip on
the transmission line, and show that the pulse is not dispersed with time and the solution is
exact. You can do this with animation in Matlab, or with time-snapshots of the pulse.
b. Repeat part a. with t chosen to be < tm. (e.g., t = tm/10.). Simulate the pulse
propagating through one round trip on the transmission line. What is observed?
c. Repeat part a. with t chosen to be > tm. What is observed?
P 2.3 Assume the same transmission line and discretization of Problem 2.2. However, non-zero
source and load resistances will be assumed. These are to be modeled in the discrete
FDTD solution using the second-order accurate approximation given to you in the notes.
For each load condition below, you are to simulate the trapezoidal pulse signal as it
propagates on the line. Predict the expected line voltage of i) the initial voltage wave
traveling on the line, ii) the line voltage after the signal is reflected by the load, iii) the line
voltage after the signal is reflected off the source, and iv) the steady state value of the line
voltage if:
a. Rg = 50 , RL = 50
b. Rg = 50 , RL = 100
c. Rg = 100 , RL = 25
Use the predicted values to validate your FDTD implementation of the resistive
terminations. To this end, plot the line voltage at the center point of the transmission line
as a function of time. Choose the time window to be sufficiently long for the line voltage
to reach a steady state value. Also, assume a CFLN = 1.0.