Analog devices

Transmission line

Description

The transmission line device is a bidirectional delay line with two ports, A and B. The (+) and
(-) nodes define the polarity of a positive voltage at a port.

Comments

During transient (.TRAN (transient analysis)) analysis, the internal time step is limited to
be no more than one-half the smallest transmission delay, so short transmission lines cause
long run times.
The simulation status window displays the properties of the three shortest transmission lines
in a circuit if a transient runs time step ceiling is set more frequently by one of the
transmission lines. This is helpful when you have a large number of transmission lines. The
properties displayed are:
% loss: percent attenuation at the characteristic
delay (i.e., the degree to which the line is lossy)
time step ceiling: induced by the line
% of line delay: time step size at percentage of characteristic delay
These transmission line properties are displayed only if they are slowing down the simulation.
For a line that uses a model, the electrical length is given after the model name. Example T5
of Examples uses TMOD to specify the line parameters and has an electrical length of one
unit.
All of the transmission line parameters from either the ideal or lossy parameter set can be
expressions. In addition, R and G can be general Laplace expressions. This allows the user to
model frequency dependent effects, such as skin effect and dielectric loss. However, this adds
to the computation time for transient analysis, since the impulse responses must be obtained
by an inverse FFT instead of analytically.

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Analog devices

Ideal line
General form

T<name> <A port (+) node> <A port (-) node>

+ <B port (+) node> <B port (-) node>
+ [model name]
+ Z0=<value> [TD=<value>] [F=<value> [NL=<value>]]
+ IC= <near voltage> <near current> <far voltage> <far current>

Description

As shown below, port As (+) and (-) nodes are 1 and 2, and port Bs (+) and (-) nodes are 3
and 4, respectively.
-I3

I1
Z0

delayed 13
delayed V3V4

Comments

Z0

delayed I1
delayed V1V2
4

For the ideal line, IC sets the initial guess for the voltage or current across the ports. The
<near voltage> value is the voltage across A(+) and A(-) and the <far voltage> is the voltage
across B(+) and B(-). The <near current> is the current through A(+) and A(-) and the
<far current> is the current through B(+) and B(-).
For the ideal case, Z0 is the characteristic impedance. The transmission lines length can be
specified either by TD, a delay in seconds, or by F and NL, a frequency and a relative
wavelength at F. NL has a default value of 0.25 (F is the quarter-wave frequency). Although
TD and F are both shown as optional, one of the two must be specified.

Both Z0 (Z-zero) and ZO (Z-O) are accepted by the simulator.

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Analog devices

Lossy line
General form

T<name> <A port (+) node> <A port (-) node>

+ <B port (+) node> <B port (-) node>
+ [ <model name> [electrical length value] ]
+ LEN=<value> R=<value> L=<value>
+ G=<value> C=<value>

Examples

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5

Model form

.MODEL <model name> TRN [model parameters]

Description

The simulator uses a distributed model to represent the properties of a lossy transmission line.
That is, the line resistance, inductance, conductance, and capacitance are all continuously
apportioned along the lines length. A common approach to simulating lossy lines is to model
these characteristics using discrete passive elements to represent small sections of the line.

1
1
1
1
1

2
2
2
2
2

3
3
3
3
3

4
4
4
4
4

Z0=220 TD=115ns
Z0=220 F=2.25MEG
Z0=220 F=4.5MEG NL=0.5
LEN=1 R=.311 L=.378u G=6.27u C=67.3p
TMOD 1

This is the lumped model approach, and it involves connecting a set of many small subcircuits
in series as shown below:
R

L
G

Lumped line segment

This method requires that there is enough lumps to adequately represent the distributed
character of the line, and this often results in the need for a large netlist and correspondingly
long simulation times. The method also produces spurious oscillations near the natural
frequencies of the lumped elements.
An additional extension allows systems of coupled transmission lines to be simulated.
Transmission line coupling is specified using the K device. This is done in much the same way
that coupling is specified for inductors. See the description of Transmission line coupling for
further details.
The distributed model allows freedom from having to determine how many lumps are
sufficient, and eliminates the spurious oscillations. It also allows lossy lines to be simulated
in a fraction of the time necessary when using the lumped approach, for the same accuracy.

Comments

For a lossy line, LEN is the electrical length. R, L, G, and C are the per unit length values of
resistance, inductance, conductance, and capacitance, respectively.
Example T4 specifies a lossy line one meter long. The lossy line model is similar to that of the
ideal case, except that the delayed voltage and current values include terms which vary with
frequency. These terms are computed in transient analysis using an impulse response
convolution method, and the internal time step is limited by the time resolution required to
accurately model the frequency characteristics of the line. As with ideal lines, short lossy lines
cause long run times.

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Analog devices

Capture parts
Ideal and lossy transmission lines
Listed below are the properties that you can set per instance of an ideal (T) or lossy (TLOSSY)
transmission line. The parts contained in the TLINE.SLB part library contain a variety of
transmission line types. Their part properties vary.

Part name

Model type

Property Property description

transmission line

Z0

characteristic impedance

TD

transmission delay

frequency for NL

NL

number of wavelengths or wave number

LEN

electrical length

per unit length resistance

per unit length inductance

per unit length conductance

per unit length capacitance

TLOSSY*

transmission line

*Not available for Basics+ users.

PSpice A/D uses a distributed model to represent the properties of a lossy transmission line.
That is, the line resistance, inductance, conductance, and capacitance are all continuously
apportioned along the lines length.
A common approach to simulating lossy lines is to model these characteristics using discreet
passive elements to represent small sections of the line. This is the lumped model approach,
and it involves connecting a set of many small subcircuits in series. This method requires that
enough lumps exist to adequately represent the distributed characteristic of the line. This often
results in the need for a large netlist and correspondingly long simulation time. The method
also produces spurious oscillations near the natural frequencies of the lumped elements.
The distributed model used in PSpice A/D frees you from having to determine how many
lumps are sufficient, and eliminates the spurious oscillations. It also allows lossy lines to be
simulated with the same accuracy in a fraction of the time required by the lumped approach.
In addition, you can make R and G general Laplace expressions. This allows frequency
dependent effects to be modeled, such as skin effect and dielectric loss.

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Analog devices

Coupled transmission lines

Listed below are the properties that you can set per instance of a coupled transmission line
part. The part library provides parts that can accommodate up to five coupled transmission
lines. You can also create new parts that have up to ten coupled lines.

Part name

Model type

Property Property description

T2COUPLED
T3COUPLED
T4COUPLED
T5COUPLED

coupled transmission line LEN

symmetric
R

transmission line coupling

matrix

KCOUPLE3
KCOUPLE4
KCOUPLE5

per unit length resistance

per unit length inductance

per unit length conductance

T2COUPLEDX* coupled transmission line LEN

T3COUPLEDX asymmetric
T4COUPLEDX
R
T5COUPLEDX
L

KCOUPLE2

electrical length

electrical length
per unit length resistance
per unit length inductance

per unit length conductance

per unit length capacitance

LM

per unit length mutual

inductance

CM

per unit length mutual

capacitance

T1

name of first coupled line

T2

name of second coupled

line

LM

per unit length mutual

inductance

CM

per unit length mutual

capacitance

T1

name of first coupled line

T2

name of second coupled

line

T3

name of third coupled line

LMij

per unit length mutual

inductance between line Ti
and line Tj

CMij

per unit length mutual

capacitance between line Ti
and line Tj

*T2COUPLEDX is functionally identical to T2COUPLED. However, the T2COUPLEDX implementation uses

the expansion of the subcircuit referenced by T2COUPLED.

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Analog devices

Simulating coupled lines

Use the K device to simulate coupling between transmission lines. Each of the coupled
transmission line parts provided in the standard part library translate to K device and T device
declarations in the netlist. PSpice A/D compiles a system of coupled lines by assembling
capacitive and inductive coupling matrices from all of the K devices involving transmission
lines. Though the maximum order for any one system is ten lines, there is no explicit
limitation on the number of separate systems that may appear in one simulation.
The simulation model is accurate for:

ideal lines

low-loss lossy lines

systems of homogeneous, equally spaced high-loss lines

For more information, see Transmission line coupling.

Simulation considerations
When simulating, transmission lines with short delays can create performance bottlenecks by
setting the time step ceiling to a very small value.
If one transmission line sets the time step ceiling frequently, PSpice A/D reports the three
lines with the shortest time step. The status window displays the percentage attenuation, step
ceiling, and step ceiling as percentage of transmission line delay.
If your simulation is running reasonably fast, you can ignore this information and let the
simulation proceed. If the simulation is slowed significantly, you may want to cancel the
simulation and modify your design. If the line is lossy and shows negligible attenuation,
model the line as ideal instead.

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Analog devices

Transmission line model parameters

Model
parameters*

Description

Units**

Default

for all transmission lines

IC

Sets the initial condition and all four values must

be entered.
Four values are expected when IC is specified: the
near-end voltage, the near-end current, the far-end
voltage, and the far-end current, given in that order.

for ideal transmission lines

ZO

characteristic impedance

ohms

none

TD

transmission delay

seconds

none

frequency for NL

Hz

none

NL

relative wavelength

none

0.25

for lossy transmission lines

R

per unit length resistance

ohms/unit length

none

per unit length inductance

henries/unit length

none

per unit length conductance

mhos/unit length

none

per unit length capacitance

farads/unit length

none

LEN***

physical length

agrees with RLGC

none

* See.MODEL

(model definition). The order is from the most commonly used to the least commonly used parameter.

** Any length units can be used, but they must be consistent. For instance, if LEN is in feet, then the units of R must be in ohms/foot.
L
*** A lossy line with R=G=0 and LEN=1 is equivalent to an ideal line with ZO = --- and TD = LEN L C .
C

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Analog devices

References
For more information on how the lossy transmission line is implemented, refer to:
[1] Roychowdhury and Pederson, Efficient Transient Simulation of Lossy Interconnect,
Design Automation Conference,
1991.

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