Novel linearizer using balanced circulators and its application to multilevel digital radio systems

A miniaturized RF predistortion linearizer for a GaAs field-effect transistor power amplifier applicable to 256 quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM) digital microwave systems is presented. This linearizer, which is based upon the cuber linearizer technique, utilizes circulators and a pair of diodes in the distortion generator to obtain high signal component isolation, and in the variable phase shifter to compensate for temperature variations. This allows miniaturization and easy adjustment of the circuit. Results show that a distortion reduction of more than 10 dB is obtained over a 300 MHz bandwidth. It was verified that distortion reduction can be achieved over a temperature range from 0 to 50°C. The fundamental characteristics of the linearizer and its effect on the 256-QAM signal are shown. The results show an improvement of more than 6 dB in the output back-off of the amplifier