The Heaviside condition, stated by Oliver Heaviside, is used in the construction of telegraph cables etc to balance the effects of the cable’s capacitance and inductance. It is a requirement for distortionless transmission of pulses through an electrical transmission line.

The condition is satisfied when the ratio of conductance G (in siemens) to capacitance C (in farads) equals the ratio of resistance R (in ohms) to inductance L (in henries)

G/C = R/L

This is achieved by adding capacitors, inductors, and resistors to the circuit as appropriate. In the past, in order to satisfy the Heaviside condition in long distance telephone lines, Pupin coils were added.

See also

• Transmission line
• Telegrapher's equations
• Maxwell's equations