A time-domain reflectometer (TDR) is an electronic instrument used to determine the characteristics of electrical lines by observing reflected pulses. It can be used to characterize and locate faults in metallic cables (for example, twisted pair wire or coaxial cable), and to locate discontinuities in a connector, printed circuit board, or any other electrical path.
Description A TDR measures reflections along a conductor. In order to measure those reflections, the TDR will transmit an incident signal onto the conductor and listen for its reflections. If the conductor is of a uniform impedance and is properly terminated, then there will be no reflections and the remaining incident signal will be absorbed at the far-end by the termination. Instead, if there are impedance variations, then some of the incident signal will be reflected back to the source. A TDR is similar in principle to radar.
The impedance of the discontinuity can be determined from the amplitude of the reflected signal. The distance to the reflecting impedance can also be determined from the time that a pulse takes to return. The limitation of this method is the minimum system rise time. The total rise time consists of the combined rise time of the driving pulse and that of the oscilloscope or sampler that monitors the reflections.
Method The TDR analysis begins with the propagation of a step or impulse of energy into a system and the subsequent observation of the energy reflected by the 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. If a pure resistive load is placed on the output of the reflectometer and a step signal is applied, a step signal is observed on the display, and its height is a function of the resistance. The magnitude of the step produced by the resistive load may be expressed as a fraction of the input signal as given by:
ρ = R L − Z 0 R L + Z 0 {\displaystyle \rho ={\frac {R_{L}-Z_{0}}{R_{L}+Z_{0}}}}
where Z 0 {\displaystyle Z_{0}} is the characteristic impedance of the transmission line.
Reflection Generally, the reflections will have the same shape as the incident signal, but their sign and magnitude depend on the change in impedance level. If there is a step increase in the impedance, then the reflection will have the same sign as the incident signal; if there is a step decrease in impedance, the reflection will have the opposite sign. The magnitude of the reflection depends not only on the amount of the impedance change, but also upon the loss in the conductor. The reflections are measured at the output/input to the TDR and displayed or plotted as a function of time. Alternatively, the display can be read as a function of cable length because the speed of signal propagation is almost constant for a given transmission medium. Because of its sensitivity to impedance variations, a TDR may be used to verify cable impedance characteristics, splice and connector locations and associated losses, and estimate cable lengths.
Incident signal TDRs use different incident signals. Some TDRs transmit a pulse along the conductor; the resolution of such instruments is often the width of the pulse. Narrow pulses can offer good resolution, but they have high frequency signal components that are attenuated in long cables. The shape of the pulse is often a half cycle sinusoid. For longer cables, wider pulse widths are used. Fast rise time steps are also used. Instead of looking for the reflection of a complete pulse, the instrument is concerned with the rising edge, which can be very fast. A 1970s technology TDR used steps with a rise time of 25 ps. Still other TDRs transmit complex signals and detect reflections with correlation techniques. See spread-spectrum time-domain reflectometry.
Variations and extensions The equivalent device for optical fiber is an optical time-domain reflectometer. Time-domain transmissometry (TDT) is an analogous technique that measures the transmitted (rather than reflected) impulse. Together, they provide a powerful means of analysing electrical or optical transmission media such as coaxial cable and optical fiber. Variations of TDR exist. For example, spread-spectrum time-domain reflectometry (SSTDR) is used to detect intermittent faults in complex and high-noise systems such as aircraft wiring. Coherent optical time domain reflectometry (COTDR) is another variant, used in optical systems, in which the returned signal is mixed with a local oscillator and then filtered to reduce noise.
Example traces These traces were produced by a time-domain reflectometer made from common lab equipment connected to approximately 100 feet (30 m) of coaxial cable having a characteristic impedance of 50 ohms. The propagation velocity of this cable is approximately 66% of the speed of light in vacuum.
These traces were produced by a commercial TDR using a step waveform with a 25 ps risetime, a sampling head with a 35 ps risetime, and an 18-inch (0.46 m) SMA cable. The far end of the SMA cable was left open or connected to different adapters. It takes about 3 ns for the pulse to travel down the cable, reflect, and reach the sampling head. A second reflection (at about 6 ns) can be seen in some traces; it is due to the reflection seeing a small mismatch at the sampling head and causing another "incident" wave to travel down the cable.
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