Masking - Agilent Technologies 8753ET User Manual

Making Time Domain Measurements

Masking

Masking
Masking occurs when a discontinuity (fault) closest to the reference plane affects the
response of each subsequent discontinuity. This happens because the energy reflected from
the first discontinuity never reaches subsequent discontinuities. For example, if a
transmission line has two discontinuities that each reflect 50% of the incident voltage, the
time domain response (real format) shows the correct reflection coefficient for the first
discontinuity ρ=0.50). However, the second discontinuity appears as a 25% reflection
ρ=0.25) because only half the incident voltage reached the second discontinuity.
NOTE This example assumes a lossless transmission line. Real transmission lines,
with non-zero loss, attenuate signals as a function of the distance from the
reference plane.
As an example of masking due to line loss, consider the time domain response of a 3 dB
attenuator and a short circuit. The impulse response (log magnitude format) of the short
circuit alone is a return loss of 0 dB, as shown in
placed at the end of the 3 dB attenuator, the return loss is −6 dB, as shown in
This value actually represents the forward and return path loss through the attenuator,
and illustrates how a lossy network can affect the responses that follow it.
Figure 3-21 Masking Example
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Figure 3-21a. When the short circuit is
Figure 3-21b.