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Voltage Standing Wave Ratio
 
(VSWR)

The ratio of the sum of the magnitudes of the incident and reflected power to the difference of the magnitudes of the incident and reflected power at a point on a transmission line, expressed as a ration of n : 1:
VSWR = {|Vinc| + |Vrefl|} / {|Vinc| - |Vrefl|} : 1

VSWR is an indicator of impedance match. A VSWR of 1:1 represents a perfect match; infinite:1 a perfect mismatch or reflection. For good cascadability, the VSWR of a component should typically be better than 2:1.

VSWR can be translated into return loss using the equation
RL = 20 log10(VSWR)

It can be calculated from the reflection coefficient using the equation
VSWR = (1 + ||) / (1 - ||)

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this page last updated: 1 October 1999