Modeling parallel amplifiers

Power amplifiers extensively utilize parallel component topologies. The signal is divided into multiple paths, amplified and recombined. This configuration increases the available amplifier power, improves the device matching (VSWR) and provides some harmonic cancellation depending on the type of power dividers and combiners employed. The use of parallel amplifiers require a different analysis than that of passive parallel circuits because the signals in the parallel paths are coherent but the noise produced is not coherent and therefore recombines differently than signals. This paper explains the anomalies of handling coherent and non-coherent signals in parallel circuits and derives a procedure that may be used to model parallel circuits so they can be analyzed correctly in a system chain analysis.