Digitally Assisted Analog/RF Predistorter With a Small-Signal-Assisted Parameter Identification Algorithm

This paper proposes a digitally assisted analog/radio frequency predistorter (ARFPD) and a linear small-signal-assisted parameter identification algorithm suitable for the linearization of power amplifiers driven with wideband and carrier aggregated communication signals. It starts by describing the newly proposed finite-impulse-response assisted envelope memory polynomial (FIR-EMP) model which allows for reduction of hardware implementation complexity while maintaining good linearization capacity and low power overhead. Furthermore, a linear two-step small-signal-assisted parameter identification algorithm is devised to estimate the parameters of the two main blocks of the FIR-EMP model. Measurement results obtained by using the FIR-EMP predistorter demonstrate its excellent linearization capacity when used to compensate for distortion exhibited by gallium nitride Doherty power amplifiers driven by digitally modulated signals with a bandwidth up to 80 MHz. This confirms the potential of ARFPD as a very promising candidate for the linearization of small cell base stations power amplifiers while simultaneously reducing the power overhead compared to the popular digital predistortion technique.