An Outphasing Power Amplifier for a Software-Defined Radio Transmitter

Author

Moloudi, Shervin ; Takinami, Koji ; Youssef, Michael ; Mikhemar, Mohyee ; Abidi, Asad

Author_Institution

California Univ., Los Angeles, CA

fYear

2008

fDate

3-7 Feb. 2008

Firstpage

568

Lastpage

636

Abstract

A software-defined radio (SDR) transmitter needs a universal modulator and power amplifier to support any modulation in any band. There is a simple solution, namely, a Cartesian I-Q upconverter followed by a linear power amplifier, but for complex modulations its power conversion efficiency is often under 10%. Therefore, the search continues for a more efficient solution. One possibility is to harness the high efficiency of a saturated power amplifier but somehow make it deliver amplitude-modulated waveforms. Polar modulation has found use in enabling EDGE on GSM handsets, but we believe outphasing, or linear amplification using nonlinear components (LINC), offers a more enduring solution for a broader class of modulations.

Keywords

amplitude modulation; power amplifiers; radio transmitters; software radio; Cartesian I-Q upconverter; EDGE; GSM handsets; amplitude-modulated waveforms; linear amplification; linear power amplifier; nonlinear components; outphasing power amplifier; polar modulation; power conversion efficiency; saturated power amplifier; software-defined radio transmitter; universal modulator; Capacitors; Degradation; GSM; Multiaccess communication; Power amplifiers; Power generation; Radio frequency; Radio transmitters; Radiofrequency amplifiers; Switches;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Solid-State Circuits Conference, 2008. ISSCC 2008. Digest of Technical Papers. IEEE International

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2010-0

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-2011-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISSCC.2008.4523310

Filename

4523310