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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 41, NO. 4, NOVEMBER 1998 349 Low-Cost Transmission Line Demonstrator for a Novel Intermediate-Level Communication Engineering Laboratory Francesc Torres, Ignasi Corbella, Angel Cardama, Jordi Romeu, Oscar Galindez Index Terms—Education, impedance, laboratory, microwaves, propagation, transmission lines. I. SUMMARY This paper describes a transmission line laboratory for intermediate-level communication engineering students, within a course on Radiation and Guided Waves. The measurement setup uses low-cost standard instrumentation, available in any basic electronic laboratory. Both time domain reflectometry and sinusoidal steady-state measurements are used to characterize a coaxial line. However, discussions are mainly focused on sinusoidal measurements. The experimental work undertaken by the students gives them insight into main transmission line parameters and features: characteristic impedance, propagation speed, behavior as an impedance transformer, the complex nature of the measured magnitudes, the standing wave behavior of voltage, and attenuation. Francesc Torres was born in Ibiza, Spain, in 1962. He received the Ingeniero and Doctor Ingeniero degrees in Telecommunication Engineering, both from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain, in 1988 and 1992, respectively. From 1988 to 1989 he was Research Assistant in the RF System Division at the European Space Agency, Holland, devoted to microwave device testing and characterization. In 1989 he joined the Antenna-Microwave-Radar group of the UPC, where he currently holds a post as Professor. His main research interests include the design and test of microwave systems and subsystems. He is currently engaged in research on interferometric radiometers devoted to Earth observation. Ignasi Corbella was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1955. He received the Ingeniero and Doctor Ingeniero degrees in Telecommunication Engineering, both from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, in 1977 and 1983, respectively. In 1976 he joined the School of Telecommunication Engineering in Barcelona as a Research Assistant in the Microwave Laboratory where he worked on passive microwave integrated circuit design and characterization. He became Assistant Professor in 1982, Associate Professor in 1986, and Professor in 1993. He is currently teaching a microwave course and is engaged in research in microwave interferometer radiometry and microwave system design in the Department of Signal Theory and Communications of UPC. Angel Cardama was born in Santiago, Spain, on May 13, 1944. He received the Ingeniero de Telecomunicacion degree from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain, in 1968, and the Sc.M. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Brown University, Providence, RI, in 1970 and 1973, respectively. In 1972 he joined the faculty of the E.T.S.I. de telecomunicacion at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain, where he holds the position of Professor. His research interests include propagation in optical fibers, high-frequency aperture and array antennas, and near-field antenna scanning systems to the design of microwave imaging systems and radar antennas. Jordi Romeu was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1962. He received the Ingeniero and Doctor Ingeniero degrees in Telecommunication Engineering, both from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain in 1986 and 1991, respectively. In 1985 he joined the Electromagetic and Photonic Engineering Group of the Signal Theory and Communications Department there. Currently he is Associate Professor at UPC, where he is engaged in research in antenna near field measurements, antenna diagnostics, and antenna design. Oscar Galindez was born in Barcelona, Spain, in March 1973. He is presently working toward the Communication Engineering degree at the School of Telecommunication Engineering of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Manuscript received May 12, 1997; revised July 30, 1998. CD-ROM folder 09. The authors are with the Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya, 08034 Barcelona, Spain. Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9359(98)09459-X. 0162–8828/98$10.00 1998 IEEE