A limiting factor in the widespread deployment of LMDS systems is the limited distance of current systems. Rain attenuation and limited transmitter power are the primary causes of the limited distance. Adaptive digital predistortion is presented as a method of increasing effective transmitter power. A background on LMDS link design, non-linear amplification, and predistortion is presented to assist the reader. A developed simulation uses AM-AM and AM-PM characteristics obtained from laboratory measurements of a 28 GHz amplifier to determine the effect of several predistortion implementation options and to confirm the feasibility of the proposed architecture. The potential impact of this predistortion architecture on LMDS system design is considered. The presented multi-stage predistortion architecture is found to be capable of implementation at Msymbol/second rates utilizing a FPGA or custom IC and a moderate speed digital signal processor. / Master of Science

The existing UHF Satellite Communications (SATCOM) transponders used for military applications use efficient, saturated power amplifiers, which provide one earth-coverage antenna beam. The amplifier is dedicated to small frequency band and only handles a few carriers simultaneously. The communications capacity needed to support future military forces on the move will require satellite payload power amplifiers to support hundreds of channels simultaneously, with the channels spread over the entire military UHF SATCOM band. To meet the capacity requirements and simultaneously meet the out-of-band emission, power amplifiers will have to be highly linear. The high-efficiency, ultra-linear power amplifier architecture proposed to support the requirements can only be met by use of linearity improvement techniques. The literature search revealed many power amplifier linearity improvement techniques. Each technique was reviewed to determine its suitability for the proposed power amplifier architecture. The adaptive digital predistortion technique was found to be the most suitable in terms of bandwidth, correction achievable, and complication. A discussion on common linearization techniques is presented, followed by analysis of the adaptive digital predistortion technique. A SIMULINK simulation model of an adaptive digital predistorter was developed. The simulation results show that adaptive digital predistortion was able to significantly reduce the Inter-Modulation Distortion (IMD) terms generated by a memory-less power amplifier operating in the 240 MHz to 270 MHz range. An actual hardware implementation of adaptive digital predistorter was constructed and the test results show that there was a large reduction in IMD terms generated by a memory-less power amplifier. In the contrary, the results show there is only moderate improvement in IMD performance if the power amplifier has memory. The electrical memory in the power amplifier with memory was minimized, but this resulted only a modest improvement in the IMD performance. Therefore, it was concluded the majority of the memory effect was due to thermal memory.

The recent trend in modern information technology has been towards the increased use of portable and handheld devices such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and wireless networks. This trend presents the need for compact and power efficient radio systems. Typically, the most power inefficient device in a radio system is the power amplifier (PA). PA inefficiency requires increased battery reserves to supply the necessary DC bias current, resulting in larger devices. Alternatively, the length of time between battery charges is reduced for a given battery size, reducing mobility. In addition, communications channels are becoming increasingly crowded, which presents the need for improved bandwidth efficiency. In order to make more efficient use of the frequency spectrum allocated for a particular system, there is a push towards complex higher order digital modulation schemes in modern radio systems, resulting in stricter linearity requirements on the system. Since power efficient amplifiers are typically nonlinear, this poses a major problem in realizing a bandwidth and power efficient radio system. However, by employing various linearization techniques, the linearity of a high efficiency PA may be improved. The work presented in this thesis focuses on diode predistortion linearization, particularly for PA RFICs in digital radios. Background discussion on common linearization techniques available to the PA designer is presented. In addition, a discussion of traditional and modern methods of nonlinearity characterization is presented, illustrating the nonlinear PA effects on a modulated signal. This includes the use of two-tone analysis and the more modern envelope analysis. The operation of diode predistortion linearizers is discussed in detail, along with diode optimization procedures for PA linearization with minimum impact on return loss and gain. This diode optimization is effective in improving the ability to integrate the predistorter into a single, linearized PA RFIC chip. MESFET and HBT based diode linearizers are studied for use with corresponding MESFET and HBT based PAs in the 2.68 GHz and 1.95 GHz frequency bands, respectively. Results show an improvement in adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) due to the linearizer in both MESFET and HBT cases. A fully integrated 1.95 GHz linearizer and PA RFIC in HBT technology is also presented. Design considerations, simulations, and layouts for this design are presented. Finally, several recommendations are made for continued research in this area. / Master of Science

<div>Radio Frequency Power Amplifiers (PA) are essential components of wireless systems and nonlinear in a permanent way. So, high efficiency and linearity at a time are imperative for power amplifiers. However, it is hard to obtain because high efficiency Power Amplifiers are nonlinear and linear Power Amplifiers have poor efficiency. To meet both linearity and efficiency, the linearization techniques such as Digital Predistortion (DPD) has arrested the most attention in industrial and academic sectors due to provide a compromising data between efficiency and linearity. This thesis proposed on digital predistortion techniques to control nonlinear distortion in radio frequency transmitters. </div><div>By using predistortion technique, both linearity and efficiency can obtain. In this thesis a new generic Saleh model for use in memoryless nonlinear power amplifier (PA) behavioral modelling is used. The results are obtained by simulations through MATLAB and experiments. We explore the baseband 13.56 MHz Power Amplifier input and output relationships and reveal that they apparent differently when the Power Amplifier shows long-term, short-term or memory less effects. We derive a SIMULINK based static DPD design depend on a memory polynomial. A polynomial improves both the non-linearity and memory effects in the Power Amplifier. As PA characteristics differs from time to time and operating conditions, we developed a model to calculate the effectiveness of DPD. We extended our static DPD design model into an adaptive DPD test bench using Indirect Learning Architecture (ILA) to implement adaptive DPD which composed of DPD subsystem and DPD coefficient calculation. By this technique, the output of PA achieves linear, amplitude and phase distortions are eliminated, and spectral regrowth is prevented. </div><div>The advanced linearity performance executed through the strategies and methods evolved on this thesis can allow a higher usage of the capability overall performance of existing and emerging exceptionally performance PAs, and therefore an anticipated to have an effect in future wireless communication systems. </div>