Efficiency vs. linearity trade-offs in outphasing power amplifiers

Author

El-Asmar, M. ; Hamdane, W. ; Birafane, A. ; Kouki, A.B.

Author_Institution

LACIME, Ecole de Technol. Super., Montreal, QC

fYear

2008

fDate

4-7 May 2008

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation of the trade-offs between efficiency improvement and linearity of the outphasing power amplifier. Simulations and experimental measurements are carried out to validate the theoretical analysis. Two types of digital modulation signals are used, namely 16-QAM and 64-QAM. The impact of the stub length on the efficiency and linearity is studied for both signals. Different Chireix combiners having stubs of varying electrical lengths combiners are fabricated for experimental validation of the theoretical results. The work shows that a trade-off can be made between efficiency and linearity, as measured by the error vector magnitude (EVM), for a given signal by proper choice of the outphasing combinerpsilas reactances. The resulting combiner ensures signal transmission with the maximum efficiency that meets the established linearity requirement.

Keywords

power amplifiers; power combiners; quadrature amplitude modulation; 16-QAM; 64-QAM; Chireix combiners; digital modulation signals; efficiency-linearity trade-offs; error vector magnitude; outphasing power amplifiers; signal transmission; stub length impact; Decision support systems; Linearity; Power amplifiers; 16QAM; 64QAM; Chireix combiner; EVM; LINC; efficiency; linearity; stubs;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2008. CCECE 2008. Canadian Conference on

Conference_Location

Niagara Falls, ON

ISSN

0840-7789

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1642-4

Electronic_ISBN

0840-7789

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CCECE.2008.4564721

Filename

4564721