Patent ID: 8350580

Claim:
A non-invasive Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) transmission line system for measuring one or more parameters of an electromagnetic Radio Frequency (RF) pulse transmitted, and reflected, along a transmission line, said parameters including at least one of; amplitude, propagation velocity and/or propagation time between defined predetermined instances, said system including: a transmission line structure including three or more elongated transmission elements, each having two distal ends, wherein any of the three or more transmission elements may be selectively activated to transmit said RF pulse; a mounting assembly, mounting each said transmission element at a first said distal end to form a spatially-separated transmission element array with the other second distal end of each transmission element being spaced from said mounting assembly; an RF source that transmits an RF pulse along said transmission line to activate a selected pair of said transmission elements to generate an electric field between the transmission elements of said pair; characterized in that said transmission elements are capable of selective activation in at least two distinct pairs of elements forming different transmission lines, each pair having distinct geometric configurations relative to the at least one other pair, to generate at least two distinct electric field potentials without physical displacement of the transmission line structure.