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Standing Wave Ratio
In telecommunications, standing wave ratio (SWR) is the ratio of the amplitude of a partial standing wave at an antinode (maximum) to the amplitude at an adjacent node (minimum), in an electrical transmission line.
The SWR is usually defined as a voltage ratio called the VSWR, for voltage standing wave ratio. For example, the VSWR value 1.2:1 denotes a maximum standing wave amplitude that is 1.2 times greater than the minimum standing wave value. It is also possible to define the SWR in terms of current, resulting in the ISWR, which has the same numerical value. The power standing wave ratio (PSWR) is defined as the square of the VSWR.
When the line and load impedances are identical and the SWR is 1, all of the RF power that reaches a load from a transmission line is utilized by that load. When the load is an antenna, the utilization takes the form of EM-field radiation. If the load is a communications receiver or terminal, the signal power is converted into some other form, such as an audio-visual display. If the impedance of the load is not identical to the impedance of the transmission line, the load does not absorb all the RF power (called forward power) that reaches it. Instead, some of the RF power is sent back toward the signal source when the signal reaches the point where the line is connected to the load. This is known as reflected power or reverse power.
The presence of reflected power, along with the forward power, sets up a pattern of voltage maxima (loops) and minima (nodes) on the transmission line. The same thing happens with the distribution of current. The SWR is the ratio of the RF voltage at a loop to the RF voltage at a node, or the ratio of the RF current at a loop to the RF current at a node. In theory, there is no limit to how high this ratio can get. The worst cases (highest SWR values) occur when there is no load connected to the end of the line. This condition, known as an unterminated transmission line, is manifested when the end of the line is either short-circuited or left open. In theory, the SWR is infinite in either of these cases; in practice, it is limited by line losses, but can exceed 100. This can give rise to extreme voltages and currents at certain points on the line.
The SWR on a transmission line is mathematically related to (but not the same as) the ratio of reflected power to forward power. In general, the higher the ratio of reflected power to forward power, the greater is the SWR. The converse is also true. When the SWR on a transmission line is high, the power loss in the line is greater than the loss that occurs when the SWR is 1. This exaggerated loss, known as SWR loss, can be significant, especially when the SWR exceeds 2 and the transmission line has significant loss to begin with. For this reason, RF engineers strive to minimize the SWR on communications transmission lines. A high SWR can have other undesirable effects, too, such as transmission-line overheating or breakdown of the dielectric material separating the line conductors.
The most common case for measuring and examining SWR is when installing and tuning transmitting antennas. When a transmitter is connected to an antenna by a feed line, the impedance of the antenna and feed line must match exactly for maximum energy transfer from the feed line to the antenna to be possible. The impedance of the antenna varies based on many factors including: the antenna's natural resonance at the frequency being transmitted, the antenna's height above the ground, and the size of the conductors used to construct the antenna.
When an antenna and feedline do not have matching impedances, some of the electrical energy cannot be transferred from the feedline to the antenna. Energy not transferred to the antenna is reflected back towards the transmitter. It is the interaction of these reflected waves with forward waves which causes standing wave patterns. Reflected power has three main implications in radio transmitters: Radio Frequency (RF) energy losses increase, distortion on transmitter due to reflected power from load and damage to the transmitter can occur.
Matching the impedance of the antenna to the impedance of the feed line is typically done using an antenna tuner. The tuner can be installed between the transmitter and the feed line, or between the feed line and the antenna. Both installation methods will allow the transmitter to operate at a low SWR, however if the tuner is installed at the transmitter, the feed line between the tuner and the antenna will still operate with a high SWR, causing additional RF energy to be lost through the feedline.
Many amateur radio operators believe any impedance mismatch is a serious matter. However, this is not the case. Assuming the mismatch is within the operating limits of the transmitter, the radio operator needs only be concerned with the power loss in the transmission line. Power loss will increase as the SWR increases, however the increases are often less than many radio amateurs might assume. For example, a dipole antenna tuned to operate at 3.75MHz—the center of the 80 meter amateur radio band—will exhibit an SWR of about 6:1 at the edges of the band. However, if the antenna is fed with 250 feet of RG-8A coax, the loss due to standing waves is only 2.2dB. Feed line loss typically increases with frequency, so VHF and above antennas must be matched closely to the feedline. The same 6:1 mismatch to 250 feet of RG-8A coax would incur 10.8dB of loss at 146MHz.
More Information:
This article is compiled using information available on Wikipedia and Techtarget.com
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