Testing loaded transmission lines

Claim 1

Apparatus (FIGS. 1, 2, 5) for approximating the values of loading coils and the spacings therebetween along a loaded communications cable (10) from the input terminals (20a, 20b) thereof, having connected to such input terminals a swept-frequency source (51), an arrangement for synthesizing a ladder network (FIG. 3) of inductors and capacitors whose values are proportional to the magnitudes of the inductances of such coils and their spacing distances characterized in that means (FIG. 5) responsive to said swept-frequency signal source (51) measures the magnitude of the input immittance of said communications cable (10), and means (FIG. 6) for Hilbert transforming the differences between natural logarithms of a direct and delayed immittance magnitude from said measuring means yields the equivalent of said derivative with respect to frequency of the phase angle of said immittance.

Claim 5

A method for approximating a loaded communications cable including the step of determining the approximate pole and zero frequencies at which the differential phase with respect to frequency characteristic of the input immittance of said cable exhibits minima and maxima and synthesizing a ladder network comprised of series connected inductors and shunt connected capacitors related to said pole and zero frequencies such that inductance and capacitance values are proportional respectively to the inductances of said cable and their spacings in which said differential phase with respect to frequency characteristic is obtained in additional steps characterized in that in a first step the magnitude of the input immittance of the loaded cable under test is determined from an amplitude component of the signal measured at the input terminals thereof independently of any phase component resulting from the application of a swept-frequency signal to the input terminals, in a second step intermediate signals are obtained from the natural logarithms of direct and delayed replicas of the immittance measurement from said first step, and in a third step a further signal proportional to the derivative of the phase-angle component is obtained from a Hilbert transform operation on the intermediate signal from said second step.

Claim 6

A method for approximating a loaded communications cable including the step of determining the approximate pole and zero frequencies at which the differential phase with respect to frequency characteristic of the input immittance of said cable exhibits minima and maxima and synthesizing a ladder network comprised of series connected inductors and shunt connected capacitors related to said pole and zero frequencies such that inductance and capacitance values are proportional respectively to the inductances of said cable and their spacings in which said differential phase with respect to frequency characteristic is obtained in additional steps characterized in that in a first step the magnitude of the input immittance of the loaded cable under test is determined from an amplitude component of the signal measured at the input terminals thereof independently of any phase component resulting from the application of a swept-frequency signal to the input terminals, in a second step intermediate signals are obtained from the natural logarithms of direct and delayed replicas of the immittance measurement from said first step, and in a third step a further signal proportional to the derivative of the phase-angle component is obtained from a Hilbert transform operation on the intermediate signal from said second step.