RF waveform metrology for characterization of non-linear amplifiers

Author

Humphreys, David A. ; Watkins, Gavin ; Morris, Kevin A. ; Miall, James

Author_Institution

Nat. Phys. Lab.

fYear

2008

fDate

9-12 Dec. 2008

Firstpage

69

Lastpage

72

Abstract

Radio Frequency Waveform metrology (RFWM), based on real-time digital oscilloscopes, was used to evaluate the performance of a non-linear E-class amplifier optimized for WCDMA at 840 MHz. A timing error in the modulation signal gave abnormally high EVM values when measured using commercial equipment. The EVM of the source and amplifier were estimated as 0.4% and 2% respectively using RFWM. Simple RFWM evaluation tools show amplifier distortion and may offer insights over parametric measures.

Keywords

UHF amplifiers; code division multiple access; nonlinear network analysis; radiocommunication; radiofrequency measurement; RF waveform metrology; WCDMA; amplifier distortion; class-E amplifier; frequency 840 MHz; nonlinear amplifier characterization; radio frequency waveform metrology; real-time digital oscilloscopes; Broadband amplifiers; Distortion measurement; Metrology; Multiaccess communication; Nonlinear distortion; Oscilloscopes; Radio frequency; Radiofrequency amplifiers; Sampling methods; Timing; RF Waveform metrology; adjacent channel interference; cellular radio; class-E power amplifier (PA); error vector magnitude (EVM); real-time digital oscilloscope; spectrum analyzer; wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA);

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Measurement Symposium, 2008 72nd ARFTG

Conference_Location

Portland, OR

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2300-2

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-2300-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ARFTG.2008.4804285

Filename

4804285