Telecommunications – Transmitter – Amplitude modulation
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-09
2002-04-23
Banks-Harold, Marsha D. (Department: 2682)
Telecommunications
Transmitter
Amplitude modulation
C455S127500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06377784
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to RF amplifiers and signal modulation.
2. State of the Art
Battery life is a significant concern in wireless communications devices such as cellular telephones, pagers, wireless modems, etc. Radio-frequency transmission, especially, consumes considerable power. A contributing factor to such power consumption is inefficient power amplifier operation. A typical RF power amplifier for wireless communications operates with only about 10% efficiency. Clearly, a low-cost technique for significantly boosting amplifier efficiency would satisfy an acute need.
Furthermore, most modern digital wireless communications devices operate on a packet basis. That is, the transmitted information is sent in a series of one or more short bursts, where the transmitter is active only during the burst times and inactive at all other times. It is therefore also desirable that control of burst activation and deactivation be controlled in an energy-efficient manner, further contributing to extended battery life.
Power amplifiers are classified into different groups: Class A, Class B, Class AB, etc. The different classes of power amplifiers usually signify different biasing conditions. In designing an RF power amplifier, there is usually a trade-off between linearity and efficiency. The different classes of amplifier operation offer designers ways to balance these two parameters.
Generally speaking, power amplifiers are divided into two different categories, linear and non-linear. Linear amplifiers (e.g. Class A amplifiers and Class B push-pull amplifiers), maintain high linearity, resulting in faithful reproduction of the input signal at their output since the output signal is linearly proportional to the input signal. In non-linear amplifiers (e.g. single-ended Class B and Class C amplifiers), the output signal is not directly proportional to the input signal. The resulting amplitude distortion on the output signal makes these amplifiers most applicable to signals without any amplitude modulation, which are also known as constant-envelope signals.
Amplifier output efficiency is defined as the ratio between the RF output power and the input (DC) power. A major source of power amplifier inefficiency is power dissipated in the transistor. A Class A amplifier is inefficient since current flows continuously through the device. Conventionally, efficiency is improved by trading-off linearity for increased efficiency. In Class B amplifiers, for example, biasing conditions are chosen such that the output signal is cut off during half of the cycle unless the opposing half is provided by a second transistor (push-pull). As a result, the waveform will be less linear. The output waveform may still be made sinusoidal using a tank circuit or other filter to filter out higher and lower frequency components.
Class C amplifiers conduct during less than 50% of the cycle, in order to further increase efficiency; i.e., if the output current conduction angle is less than 180 degrees, the amplifier is referred to as Class C. This mode of operation can have a greater efficiency than Class A or Class B, but it typically creates more distortion than Class A or Class B amplifiers. In the case of a Class C amplifier, there is still some change in output amplitude when the input amplitude is varied. This is because the Class C amplifier operates as a constant current source—albeit one that is only on briefly—and not a switch.
The remaining classes of amplifiers vigorously attack the problem of power dissipation within the transistor, using the transistor merely as a switch. The underlying principle of such amplifiers is that a switch ideally dissipates no power, for there is either zero voltage across it or zero current through it. Since the switch's V-I product is therefore always zero, there is no dissipation in this device. A Class E power amplifier uses a single transistor, in contrast with a Class D power amplifier, which uses two transistors
In real life, however, switches are not ideal. (Switches have turn on/off time and on-resistance.) The associated dissipation degrades efficiency. The prior art has therefore sought for ways to modify so-called “switch-mode” amplifiers (in which the transistor is driven to act as a switch at the operating frequency to minimize the power dissipated while the transistor is conducting current) so that the switch voltage is zero for a non-zero interval of time about the instant of switching, thereby decreasing power dissipation. The Class E amplifier uses a reactive output network that provides enough degrees of freedom to shape the switch voltage to have both zero value and zero slope at switch turn-on, thus reducing switching losses. Class F amplifiers are still a further class of switch-mode amplifiers. Class F amplifiers generate a more square output waveform as compared to the usual sinewave. This “squaring-up” of the output waveform is achieved by encouraging the generation of odd-order harmonics (i.e., x3, x5, x7, etc.) and suppressing the even-order harmonics (i.e., x2, x4, etc.) in the output network.
An example of a known power amplifier for use in a cellular telephone is shown in FIG.
1
. GSM cellular telephones, for example, must be capable of programming output power over a 30 dBm range. In addition, the transmitter turn-on and turn-off profiles must be accurately controlled to prevent spurious emissions. Power is controlled directly by the DSP (digital signal processor) of the cellular telephone, via a DAC (digital to analog converter). In the circuit of
FIG. 1
, a signal GCTL drives the gate of an external AGC amplifier that controls the RF level to the power amplifier. A portion of the output is fed back, via a directional coupler, for closed-loop operation. The amplifier in
FIG. 1
is not a switch-mode amplifier. Rather, the amplifier is at best a Class AB amplifier driven into saturation, and hence demonstrates relatively poor efficiency.
Survey of Prior Patents
Control of the output power from an amplifier is consistently shown as requiring a feedback structure, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,392,245; 4,992,753; 5,095,542; 5,193,223; 5,369,789; 5,410,272; 5,697,072 and 5,697,074. Other references, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,912, teach the control of amplifier output power by changing the amplifier load circuit.
A related problem is the generation of modulated signals, e.g., amplitude modulated (AM) signals, quadrature amplitude modulated signals (QAM), etc. A known IQ modulation structure is shown in
FIG. 2. A
data signal is applied to a quadrature modulation encoder that produces I and Q signals. The I and Q signals are applied to a quadrature modulator along with a carrier signal. The carrier signal is generated by a carrier generation block to which a tuning signal is applied.
Typically, an output signal of the quadrature modulator is then applied to a variable attenuator controlled in accordance with a power control signal. In other instances, power control is implemented by vaying the gain of the amplifier. This is achieved by adjusting the bias on transistors within the inear amplifier, taking advantage of the effect where transistor transconductance varies with the aplied bias conditions. Since amplifier gain is strongly related to the transistor transconductance, varying the transconductance effectively varies the amplifier gain. A resulting signal is then amplified by a linear power amplifier and applied to an antenna.
A method for producing accurate amplitude modulated signals using non-linear Class C amplifiers, called “plate modulation,” has been known for over 70 years as described in texts such as Terman's
Radio Engineers Handbook
(McGraw-Hill, 1943). In the typical plate-modulation technique, output current from the modulator amplifier is linearly added to the power supply current to the amplifying element (vacuum tube or transistor), such that the power supply current is increased and decreased from its average value in accordance with the amplitude m
Banks-Harold Marsha D.
Tropian Inc.
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