Data predistortion techniques using intersymbol interpolation

Two data predistortion techniques are presented that compensate for high-power amplifier (HPA) nonlinearities in digital microwave radio systems by employing quadrature amplitude-modulation (QAM) signal formats. The first one is a T/2-spaced predistortion technique that ensures distortion-free HPA output at two points per symbol interval T. The second is a T/3-spaced predistortion technique which cancels nonlinear distortion at the HPA output at three points per symbol interval. As opposed to conventional data predistortion, which can only compensate for warping of the signal constellation, the new techniques are effective against intersymbol interference. Using the 64- and 256-QAM signal constellations, it is shown that the proposed techniques lead to a very efficient utilization of the available HPA power. It is shown that, of the two techniques, the T/3-spaced data predistortion employs narrower transmit-pulse shaping and achieves higher protection against adjacent-channel interference at the expense of some additional complexity