Measurement Technique to Emulate Signal Coupling Between Power Amplifiers
Journal article, 2018

A measurement technique to emulate coupling between power amplifiers (PAs) such as that in an antenna array is presented. The case that the technique aims to emulate is referred to as the target array. The technique provides emulation of the distorted output signal for each PA under the coupling effect without the requirement for constructing the target physical coupling network or antenna array. Furthermore, given that the target array contains identical elements or PAs, transmitting either identical or different signals, the technique merely requires one PA as the device-under-test (DUT) to produce all output signals. The technique has direct connection to active load-pull, and aims to present the output of the DUT with corresponding time-varying impedances of each transmission path in the target array. The emulated output signals can then be analyzed, for example, in terms of adjacent channel power ratio, error vector magnitude, and normalized mean square error. Such measurement technique provides insight into the distortion and the impairment generated in the target array without the requirement to realize an actual array, and can be used, as an example, during the design stage of an array. The technique is theoretically motivated. The procedure is thoroughly described. The technique is experimentally demonstrated and verified under various usage cases and scenarios. Subsequent comparison to conventional active load-pull is provided.

Distortion

measurement technique

Active load-pull

antenna array

distortion

Scattering parameters

Measurement techniques

Antenna measurements

Antenna arrays

Emulation

Couplings

emulation

power amplifier (PA).

coupling effect

Author

Dhecha Nopchinda

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Microwave Electronics

Koen Buisman

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Microwave Electronics

IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques

0018-9480 (ISSN) 15579670 (eISSN)

Vol. 66 4 2034-2046

Areas of Advance

Information and Communication Technology

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Building Futures (2010-2018)

Life Science Engineering (2010-2018)

Infrastructure

Kollberg Laboratory

Subject Categories

Telecommunications

Communication Systems

Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering

Signal Processing

DOI

10.1109/TMTT.2017.2786274

More information

Latest update

9/24/2018