A conventional RF power amplifier will convert the low powered radio frequency signals into high powered signals. Along with the expected ability to increase the communication distance, data transfer rates, RF power amplifiers also have many applications which include military radar system, whether forecasting, etc. The main objective of any power amplifier research is to increase the efficiency while maintaining linearity and broadening the frequency of operation. The main motivation for the renewed interest in PA technology comes from the technical challenges and the economics of modern digital communication systems. Modern communications require high linear power amplifiers and in order to reduce the complete system cost, it is necessary to have a single broadband power amplifier, which can amplify multiple carriers. The improvement in the efficiency of the power amplifier increases the battery life and also reduces the cooling requirements for the same output power. In this thesis, I aim to design and build a wideband class J power amplifier suitable for modern communications. For wideband operation of the GaN technology PA, a bandwidth extension design method is studied and implemented. The simulation results are proved to have a good argument with the theoretical calculations.

In wireless communication systems, multiple standards have been implemented to meet the past and present demands of different applications. This proliferation of wireless standards, operating over multiple frequency bands, has increased the demand for radio frequency (RF) components, and consequently power amplifiers (PA) to operate over multiple frequency bands. In this research work, a systematic approach for the synthesis of a novel dual-band matching network is proposed and applied for effective design of PA capable of maintaining high power efficiency at two arbitrary widely spaced frequencies. The proposed dual-band matching network incorporates two different stages. The first one aims at transforming the targeted two complex impedances, at the two operating frequencies, to a real one. The second stage is a dual-band filter that ensures the matching of the former real impedance to the termination impedance to 50 Ohm. Furthermore, an additional transmission line is incorporated between the two previously mentioned stages to adjust the impedances at the second and third harmonics without altering the impedances seen at the fundamental frequencies. Although simple, the harmonic termination control is very effective in enhancing the efficiency of RF transistors, especially when exploiting the Class J design space. The proposed dual-band matching network synthesis methodology was applied to design a dual-band power amplifier using a packaged 45 W gallium nitride (GaN) transistor. The power amplifier prototype maintained a peak power efficiency of about 68% at the two operating frequencies, namely 800 MHz and 1.9 GHz. In addition, a Volterra based digital predistortion technique has been successfully applied to linearize the PA response around the two operating frequencies. In fact, when driven with multi-carrier wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) and long term evolution (LTE) signals, the linearized amplifier maintained an adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) of about 50 dBc and 46 dBc, respectively.

In wireless communication systems, multiple standards have been implemented to meet the past and present demands of different applications. This proliferation of wireless standards, operating over multiple frequency bands, has increased the demand for radio frequency (RF) components, and consequently power amplifiers (PA) to operate over multiple frequency bands. In this research work, a systematic approach for the synthesis of a novel dual-band matching network is proposed and applied for effective design of PA capable of maintaining high power efficiency at two arbitrary widely spaced frequencies. The proposed dual-band matching network incorporates two different stages. The first one aims at transforming the targeted two complex impedances, at the two operating frequencies, to a real one. The second stage is a dual-band filter that ensures the matching of the former real impedance to the termination impedance to 50 Ohm. Furthermore, an additional transmission line is incorporated between the two previously mentioned stages to adjust the impedances at the second and third harmonics without altering the impedances seen at the fundamental frequencies. Although simple, the harmonic termination control is very effective in enhancing the efficiency of RF transistors, especially when exploiting the Class J design space. The proposed dual-band matching network synthesis methodology was applied to design a dual-band power amplifier using a packaged 45 W gallium nitride (GaN) transistor. The power amplifier prototype maintained a peak power efficiency of about 68% at the two operating frequencies, namely 800 MHz and 1.9 GHz. In addition, a Volterra based digital predistortion technique has been successfully applied to linearize the PA response around the two operating frequencies. In fact, when driven with multi-carrier wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) and long term evolution (LTE) signals, the linearized amplifier maintained an adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) of about 50 dBc and 46 dBc, respectively.

This research presents design techniques for a linear power amplifier with high efficiency in wireless handsets. The power amplifier operates with high efficiency at the saturated output power, maintains high linearity with enhanced efficiency at back-off power levels, and covers a broadband frequency response. The amplifier is thus able to operate in multiple modes (2G/2.5G/3G/4G). The design techniques provide contributions to current research in handset power amplifiers, especially to the converged power amplifier architecture, to reduce the number of power amplifiers within the handset while covering all standards and frequency bands around the globe. Three main areas of interest in power amplifier design are investigated: high power efficiency; high linearity; and broadband frequency response. Multiple techniques for improving the efficiency are investigated with the focus on maintaining linear operation. The research applies a new technique to the handset industry, class-J, to improve the power efficiency while avoiding the practical issues that hinder the typical techniques (class-AB and class-F). Class-J has been implemented using GaN FET in high power applications. To our knowledge, this work provides the first implementation of class-J using GaAs HBT in a handset power amplifier. The research investigates the linearity, and the nature and causes of nonlinearities. Multiple concepts for improving the linearity are presented, such as avoiding odd-degree harmonics, and linearizing the relationship between the output current and the input voltage of the amplifier at the fundamental frequency. The concept of bias depression in HBT transistors is introduced with a bias circuit that reduces the bias-offset effect to improve linearity at high output power. A design methodology is presented for broadband matching networks, including the component loss. The methodology offers a quick and accurate estimation of component values, giving more degrees of freedom to meet the design specifications. It enables a trade-off among high out-of-band attenuation, number/size of components, and power loss within the network. Although the main focus is handset power amplifiers, most of the developed techniques can be applied to a wide range of power amplifiers. / Ph. D.

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Let Ω be the Fraïssé limit of a class of relational structures. We seek to answer the following semigroup theoretic question about Ω. What are the group H-classes, i.e. the maximal subgroups, of End(Ω)? Fraïssé limits for which we answer this question include the random graph R, the random directed graph D, the random tournament T, the random bipartite graph B, Henson's graphs G[subscript n] (for n greater or equal to 3) and the total order Q. The maximal subgroups of End(Ω) are closely connected to the automorphism groups of the relational structures induced by the images of idempotents from End(Ω). It has been shown that the relational structure induced by the image of an idempotent from End(Ω) is algebraically closed. Accordingly, we investigate which groups can be realised as the automorphism group of an algebraically closed relational structure in order to determine the maximal subgroups of End(Ω) in each case. In particular, we show that if Γ is a countable graph and Ω = R,D,B, then there exist 2[superscript aleph-naught] maximal subgroups of End(Ω) which are isomorphic to Aut(Γ). Additionally, we provide a complete description of the subsets of Q which are the image of an idempotent from End(Q). We call these subsets retracts of Q and show that if Ω is a total order and f is an embedding of Ω into Q such that im f is a retract of Q, then there exist 2[superscript aleph-naught] maximal subgroups of End(Q) isomorphic to Aut(Ω). We also show that any countable maximal subgroup of End(Q) must be isomorphic to Zⁿ for some natural number n. As a consequence of the methods developed, we are also able to show that when Ω = R,D,B,Q there exist 2[superscript aleph-naught] regular D-classes of End(Ω) and when Ω = R,D,B there exist 2[superscript aleph-naught] J-classes of End(Ω). Additionally we show that if Ω = R,D then all regular D-classes contain 2[superscript aleph-naught] group H-classes. On the other hand, we show that when Ω = B,Q there exist regular D-classes which contain countably many group H-classes.