Power backoff reduction for generalized multicarrier waveforms

Amplification of generalized multicarrier (GMC) signals by high power amplifiers (HPA) before transmission can result in undesirable out of band spectral components, necessitating power backoff and low HPA efficiency. We describe and evaluate several peak to average power ratio (PAPR) reduction techniques which apply to GMC signals, including OFDM and serial modulation. Required power backoff is shown to depend on the type of signal transmitted, the specific HPA nonlinearity characteristic, and the spectrum mask which is imposed to limit adjacent channel interference. PAPR reduction and HPA linearization techniques are shown to be very effective when combined.