Inferring nonlinear distortion performance of power amplifiers subject to telecommunications signals from two-tone measurements

This work discusses the use of standard two-tone tests for assessing the nonlinear distortion performance of microwave power amplifiers under real telecommunications stimuli. Although it is shown that critical points of intermodulation distortion behavior found in the two-tone responses may not be exactly identified under real stimuli, the deduced similarity of behavior proved the utility of these traditional two-tone tests as a first and simple performance check.