text: referring now to the drawings , wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views , fig1 illustrates the basic electric equivalent circuit diagram of a classical transmission line , according to the kirchhoff distributed - element concept . in this diagram , jlω represent the distributed inductance of the line ; r ( ω ) the resistive loss term , which is frequency dependent ( f = 2πω ), because of the skin effect of the conductors ( and can include the artificial skin effect , according to my u . s . pat . no . 3 , 573 , 676 ), c represents the distributed capacitance to ground , where electric losses are neglected . fig2 represents the equivalent electric circuit diagram of an electric absorptive line , according to my u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 191 , 132 and 3 , 309 , 633 and application ser . no . 855 , 593 , continued as ser . no . 202 , 654 . in this diagram , the additional inductive term jμ &# 39 ; lω is due to the presence around the conductor of a magnetic composite , which real part of permeability μ &# 39 ; enhances the internal inductance of the conductor . [ complex magnetic permeability μ *= μ &# 39 ;- jμ &# 34 ;, where ( μ &# 34 ;/ μ &# 39 ;) represents the magnetic loss angle .] an additional inductive term jμ &# 34 ; lω appears , due to the magnetic losses . finally dielectric losses of the absorptive composite , introduce a shunt loss term g ( ω ), directly related to the electric loss tangent of the composite , and its frequency variance . fig3 represents the diagram of the simplest version , starting from circuit fig1 of the conductor or line according to the invention : a resistor r is connected in parallel to the addition of the different line inductive ( and lossy ) distributed elements l in such a way , that with increasing inductive impedance ( i . e ., when frequency increases ), a larger and larger part of the current switches over to the resistor r . neglecting the conductive loss term r ( ω ) of the conductor and any inductance related to the physical implementation of r ( external inductance , with the ground electrode ), the attenuation α ( db per meter ) of such a line can easily be calculated as : ## equ1 ## this equation is conveniently presented graphically , as attenuation per m , per hertz of frequency , i . e . α / f . fig4 shows the representation of α / f , in which a maximum of attenuation α max / f equals 19 . 3 √ lc , and is only related to the reactive components of the line . this maximum is located at a frequency f max equal to 0 . 28 ( r / l ), and which is controlled by resistor r . in the lower frequency range , α / f increases proportionally with frequency ; i . e . attentuation increases with f 2 ; after the maximum , α / f decreases proportionally to √ f . taking in account the external inductance mentioned , for some higher frequency , α approaches a constant asymptotic value ## equ2 ## where r (√ l / c )= r ( z c ) represents the real part of the characteristics impedance z c ). so finally , α asymp . for a given line , is determined by r , and in that case at higher frequencies , the total current essentially flows inside resistor r . practically , equations 1 and 2 are approximations of reality because the mathematical model is simplified . inspection of equation ( 2 ) shows that the switching of the current from the conductor to the resistive layer for a given frequency needs a resistor having a value which is higher , the higher is the inductive impedance ( for a given r ); in other words , so as to increase lower frequency attenuation , in the aim of the invention , the inductive reactance l , has to be increased . for that purpose , according to the invention , the conductor will be covered by a magnetic composite , preferable with high losses ( so as to use the additional advantages of the absorptive line concept ). in such a case , the equivalent diagram of fig5 applies . inductance l of the equation , is to be considered the sum of the different inductances of fig5 where the inductance increase is due to the magnetic composite . now the implementation of such an absorptive line , here referred to as a &# 34 ; simulated skin - effect line ,&# 34 ; becomes evident . fig6 a - 6g show several embodiments . fig6 a illustrates a cable having a circular cross section wire , where 21 represents the plain or stranded main conductor ; 22 represents the insulating magnetic composite , preferable , using one of the lossy composites described in my above - noted earlier patents ; 23 represents the resistive layer , which can be implemented by any conductive composite ( like carbon loaded or metallic particles loaded composite ), by a wound thin metallic tape , by a resistive alloy braid , using for example metallized fibers , according to my u . s . pat . no . 4 , 301 , 428 , with eventually magnetic permeability if additional skin effect is desired , i . e ., a resistor which is frequency dependent r ( ω ), with an increasing attenuation , with increasing higher frequencies ; and 24 represents the ground - plane , more or less distant from the wire , defining capacitance c , to which attenuation α is square root proportional ( the definition of an attenuation α , needs a four - pole structure with capacitance c to ground as shown in fig1 ). fig6 a shows a typical &# 34 ; open line &# 34 ; structure . such a wire , placed close to ground , or other ground referenced conductors ( like a conductor bundle ) is a typical &# 34 ; hook up &# 34 ; wire implementation of the invention . fig6 b shows the simplest coaxial structure implementation , where 24 represents this time the ground shield ( braid or tape ) of a coaxial cable , and 25 a nonmagnetic insulating medium , conferring dielectric insulation to the cable . fig6 c and 6d represent three conductor implementations . in the typical implementation of a line described by fig6 b , the inner conductor 21 is made of plain copper , of a diameter of 1 mm . this conductor is covered with an extruded layer 22 of 1 mm thickness of magnetic composite musorb , which detailed specifications are described in specification no . 1 , published by lead maisons - alfort , paris , france . this magnetic layer is covered by a braid 23 , made with nickel or silver metallized glass or nylon fibers , produced by sauquoit , 302 fig street , p . o . box 2001 , scranton , pa 18501 , which are layed out as a woven braid , representing a longitudinal dc - resistance of about 100 ω / m . a next layer 25 is made of a 0 . 1 mm thick metallized mylar double wound tape , covered finally by a normal copper braid ( representing the ground electrode ). a final protective cover , of 0 . 5 mm thick pvc is applied . the resistor sheath may be connected to the center conductor at the ends of an installed cable length , or by galvanic contact spots at intervals all along the cable , made during manufacturing . in fig6 c , each conductor 21 is provided with composite 22 and resistive layer 23 to exhibit the simulated skin effect ; whereas in fig6 d , the three conductors have a common simulated skin effect layer . in the fig6 c implementation the effect applies to differential mode transmission , as well as to common mode transmission ; whereas in the fig6 d implementation , the simulated skin effect is only applied to the common mode . fig6 e and 6f show semi - open structures . fig6 f is typical for a multiconductor flat - line implementation . in fig6 e and 6f , the layer 25 , discussed above in connection with the fig6 b cable , can be a semi - conductive or conductive composite , if between the layer 25 and the layer 23 an insulating layer is interposed . the cable shown in fig6 b exhibits the attenuation characteristic of fig7 curve 1 . for comparison , curve 2 shows the attenuation characteristic for the same cable , without the resistive layer , i . e . a normal low pass cable , based upon magnetic absorption due to μ &# 34 ;, as described above . for comparison purposes , curve 3 shows the attenuation characteristic for a magnetic composite with little or no absorption , i . e . essentially characterized by μ &# 39 ;. compared to curve 2 , curve 1 shows an about ten - fold increase of attenuation at 10 mhz ; with about a double attenuation at 100 mhz . above about 200 mhz the attenuation of the simulated skin effect cable is lower than that of the absorptive cable . indeed the absorption for even higher frequencies approaches a limit of about 80 db / m ( when r is constant , because of the absence of skin effect in metallized fibers and when the external inductance is kept small ( compared to l ) by the use of the mentioned very thin insulating layer ), whereas the attenuation due to absorption alone increases up to 10 ghz . for that reason , a practical upper limit for the transition frequency , f max , is about 200 mhz . for this cable , it can be shown , when the optimizing frequency f max is 10 mhz , the resistor layer r has to represent 100 ω / m ; for different values , as expected , the attenuation profile changes . for example , fig8 shows for the same geometrical implementation , how f max changes with different values of r , allowing to increase attenuation toward lower frequencies , but decreasing at the same time asymptotic values at high frequencies . for r = constant , i . e ., in the absence of skin effect in the resistive layer , the asymptotic value of attenuation is given by the equation ( 2 ) mentioned above , attenuation which is directly proportional to r , when the switching effect has occurred . comparison of curve 2 of fig7 and fig8 for r = 1000 ω confirms that with the lossy magnetic composite , there is no advantage of using a resistor r of over a few thousand ohms because the switching effect is then minimal . this is not the case , evidently with the nonlossy magnetic composite curve 3 of fig7 . in the described cable , the basic distributed inductance of the conductor of about 0 . 10 μh / m , has been increased to approximately 2 . 5 by μh / m , by the magnetic composite , and has values which are frequency variable , because of the basic properties of the composite . in all the different implementations , the increase in inductance l can also be achieved alone or in combination with an artificial skin effect layer around the conductor , as described in my u . s . pat . no . 3 , 573 , 676 . fig9 shows a typical implementation of a super - screened low - pass line , according to the invention . this line includes the elements of the fig6 b cable plus a special outer metallic screen . the outer screen is made with a double braid 24 , 24 &# 39 ; ( of optimized coverage and braid angle ) with an additional absorptive magnetic composite 26 placed in between , according to my u . s . pat . no . 4 , 383 , 225 . beta and gamma radiation induced parasitic voltages are reduced at the conductor - magnetic composite interface , because of the magnetic composite metallic oxide content of the composite 22 , 26 , a distinctive feature of my invention . they can be further reduced , by the use of a conductive magnetic composite material , which nevertheless must not degrade the field penetration of the magnetic composite layer 22 , 26 with its skin effect . fig1 shows a typical implementation of a radiation hardened low - pass line , according to the invention where 22 represents a layer of a composite magnetic material , which has been made conductive on the inner and outer surfaces thereof ( in a 0 . 05 to 0 . 5 mm depth ) by an addition of magnetite ( ferric ferrite ) and / or black carbon to the magnetic composite , as described in my earlier u . s . pat . no . 4 , 104 , 600 . in a preferred implementation , layers 27 provided on these inner and outer surfaces are formed 0 . 5 mm thick . layers 27 are extruded from a composite made of very fine grain conductive manganese - zinc ferrite particles , combined with magnetite powder , conferring resistivity values on the order of 1 ωom to the interface , such a composite improving conductor to dielectric contact , ( avoiding tiny air spaces ) and reducing the effective time constant for the suppression of x - ray or gamma - ray induced parasitic currents . the materials forming the layers 27 can be added throughout the entire thickness of layer 22 and need not be spacially limited to the inner and outer surface layers 27 . stated differently , the entire interface is filled with layer 27 material , i . e . layer 22 disappears . a similar implementation within thin layers of fine carbon particles loaded dielectric , in the insulating interface 25 , is well known in the art . fig1 shows a typical implementation , with an additional outside layer 28 , of the absorptive magnetic composite . such a structure protects against common mode currents , due to outside parasitic fields , and in addition to the fig1 implementation , realizes a high density shield , reducing incoming radiations , and in consequece the radiation induced scattering effect . the low frequency common mode suppression of the fig1 line can be improved by adding another external resistive layer 23 &# 39 ; around layer 28 as shown in fig1 . absorptive layer 28 and resistive layer 23 &# 39 ; can be implemented within the cable manufacturing process , or as a tape , for typical retrofit use of existing and installed cables . recapitulating , the present invention is directed to a transmission line provided , inter alia , with a resistive layer designed to assume current conduction above a predetermined frequency , such that at frequencies below the cutoff frequency current is essentially located in a conductor surrounded by the resistive layer , while at frequencies above the cutoff frequency current conduction switches to the outer resistive layer within a predetermined frequency transition interval . the net effect is a transmission line having increased attenuation of frequencies as low as 1 mhz . advantageously , the transmission line of the invention can be implemented with cables of varying lengths , with resistive layers exhibiting differing resistive ( r ) characteristics , including the case of r being infinite ( i . e . only lossy low pass cable lengths ), with the resistive layer surrounding the magnetic composite layer at only predetermined discrete locations , such as at a termination end of the conductor , and / or with the resistive layer capactively coupled to the conductor at predetermined discrete locations , such as at a termination end of the conductor , whereby it is possible to obtain an ideal attenuation vs . frequency shaping to meet the demands of a particular requirement , and yet with quite considerable high frequency attenuation . further , the principle of the invention is applicable to lines provided with plural of inductance increasing and resistive layers , thereby achieving by the principle of superposition increasing r by means of several &# 34 ; simulated skin effect &# 34 ; layers . stil further , the transmission line of the invention can be implemented of extruded , flexible wires and lines , injected or molded nonflexible pieces of line to serve as filters and / or rf components . obviously , numerous additional modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings . it is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims , the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein .