An intelligently controlled RF power amplifier with a reconfigurable MEMS-varactor tuner

Author

Qiao, Dongjiang ; Molfino, Robert ; Lardizabal, Steven M. ; Pillans, Brandon ; Asbeck, Peter M. ; Jerinic, George

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of California, La Jolla, CA, USA

Volume

53

Issue

3

fYear

2005

fDate

3/1/2005 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1089

Lastpage

1095

Abstract

This paper presents an intelligently controlled RF power amplifier with a reconfigurable output tuner using microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switches and a varactor. By switching on/off the MEMS switches and varying the bias voltage of the varactor, the performance of the amplifier is optimized for input signals with known or unknown frequencies in a range of 8-12 GHz. Fabrication-related unit-to-unit variations of the amplifier are overcome by the reconfigurable tuner. Directed algorithms based on a characterization table and on black-box genetic algorithms are developed for optimization and search.

Keywords

circuit optimisation; circuit tuning; genetic algorithms; intelligent control; microswitches; microwave power amplifiers; varactors; 8 to 12 GHz; MEMS switches; black box genetic algorithm; circuit optimization; intelligently controlled RF power amplifier; microelectromechanical system switches; reconfigurable MEMS varactor output tuner; Control systems; Microelectromechanical systems; Micromechanical devices; Microswitches; Power amplifiers; Radio frequency; Radiofrequency amplifiers; Switches; Tuners; Varactors; Genetic algorithm; RF microelectromechnical system (MEMS) switches; intelligent RF front-ends; power amplifier; reconfigurable tuner; tunable matching networks;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMTT.2005.843495

Filename

1406315