Experimental Validation of a Four-Way Outphasing Combiner for Microwave Power Amplification

This letter presents a 2.14 GHz, four-way power combining and outphasing system for high-power amplifiers such as those in radio basestations (RBS). The combiner is ideally lossless, and enables power control through load modulation of the power amplifiers (PAs). A discrete-component power combiner...

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Main Authors: Barton, Taylor W., Dawson, Joel L., Perreault, David J.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/86975
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0746-6191
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author Barton, Taylor W.
Dawson, Joel L.
Perreault, David J.
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Barton, Taylor W.
Dawson, Joel L.
Perreault, David J.
author_sort Barton, Taylor W.
collection MIT
description This letter presents a 2.14 GHz, four-way power combining and outphasing system for high-power amplifiers such as those in radio basestations (RBS). The combiner is ideally lossless, and enables power control through load modulation of the power amplifiers (PAs). A discrete-component power combiner is designed and characterized, and combined with inverse Class-F PAs using GaN HEMT devices to develop a complete PA system. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the system over a range of outphasing control angles. This first-ever microwave implementation of the outphasing system has a peak CW drain efficiency of 68.9%, with efficiency greater than 55% over a 5.5 dB power range. It provides an average modulated efficiency of 57% for a W-CDMA signal with 3.47 dB peak to average power ratio (PAPR) at 42 dBm output power.
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spelling mit-1721.1/869752022-10-03T10:29:06Z Experimental Validation of a Four-Way Outphasing Combiner for Microwave Power Amplification Barton, Taylor W. Dawson, Joel L. Perreault, David J. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Microsystems Technology Laboratories Perreault, David J. Barton, Taylor W. Dawson, Joel L. Perreault, David J. This letter presents a 2.14 GHz, four-way power combining and outphasing system for high-power amplifiers such as those in radio basestations (RBS). The combiner is ideally lossless, and enables power control through load modulation of the power amplifiers (PAs). A discrete-component power combiner is designed and characterized, and combined with inverse Class-F PAs using GaN HEMT devices to develop a complete PA system. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the system over a range of outphasing control angles. This first-ever microwave implementation of the outphasing system has a peak CW drain efficiency of 68.9%, with efficiency greater than 55% over a 5.5 dB power range. It provides an average modulated efficiency of 57% for a W-CDMA signal with 3.47 dB peak to average power ratio (PAPR) at 42 dBm output power. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Integrated Circuits and Systems 2014-05-15T14:14:29Z 2014-05-15T14:14:29Z 2013-01 2012-10 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1531-1309 1558-1764 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/86975 Barton, Taylor W., Joel L. Dawson, and David J. Perreault. “Experimental Validation of a Four-Way Outphasing Combiner for Microwave Power Amplification.” IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett. 23, no. 1 (n.d.): 28–30. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0746-6191 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/LMWC.2012.2236084 IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Vabulas
spellingShingle Barton, Taylor W.
Dawson, Joel L.
Perreault, David J.
Experimental Validation of a Four-Way Outphasing Combiner for Microwave Power Amplification
title Experimental Validation of a Four-Way Outphasing Combiner for Microwave Power Amplification
title_full Experimental Validation of a Four-Way Outphasing Combiner for Microwave Power Amplification
title_fullStr Experimental Validation of a Four-Way Outphasing Combiner for Microwave Power Amplification
title_full_unstemmed Experimental Validation of a Four-Way Outphasing Combiner for Microwave Power Amplification
title_short Experimental Validation of a Four-Way Outphasing Combiner for Microwave Power Amplification
title_sort experimental validation of a four way outphasing combiner for microwave power amplification
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/86975
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0746-6191
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