Characterization of uniform microstrip line and its discontinuities using the time-domain method of lines

The general formulation and the procedure of the time-domain method of lines (TDML) for the analysis of wave scattering and propagation in a planar circuit are described. It is shown that the TDML can be extended to three-dimensional problems. From the time-domain results, the frequency-domain characteristics for a wide range of frequencies can be found by the Fourier transform. The time-domain results and the derived frequency-domain characteristics for the uniform microstrip line and its several discontinuities (step, open-end, and gap) are presented.>