From Transmission Lines to Wave Propagation

Carrying around electric signals is not as trivial as one might imagine. In this chapter we address the issue of signal propagation through transmission lines. Although they most look like just as cables, transmission lines make up a key component of physical experimental setups and telecommunication systems. Starting from the fundamental laws of electrodynamics, we consider coaxial cables and mention two-wire lines. Thereupon, by drawing a very general parallelism, we finally discuss wave propagation in different media like, for example, elastic waves in a string and sounds in air.