A high-efficiency switch-mode amplitude modulator for class E power amplifiers in nano-satellites

This thesis describes the design, simulation and implementation of a supply modulator to be used in a VHF power amplifier on the Delfi-n3Xt nano-satellite. First, a set of specifications is defined that describe the required functionality. These are derived from earlier work on related systems and confirmed through discussions within the project...

Design Study on the Switched and Linear Operation of Broadband CMOS Class-E Power Amplifiers

This research work aims to gain understanding of the power amplifier (PA) operating as a linear PA under low power drive conditions and as a switch-mode PA in high power drive conditions both with the same Class-E load. Two approaches were taken here. Firstly, an analytical approach was developed to investigate the switching operation of...

A 60W Compact Highly Efficient Wideband Class-E Power Amplifier

With the rapid growth of wireless communication systems, there is more and more demand for radio frequency power amplifiers (RFPAs) in base stations to be power-efficient so as to reduce the cooling and electrical power cost. Besides the efficient requirement, wide-band working frequency and compact PCB size are also attractive for cutting more...

A Wideband 2x13-bit All-Digital I/Q RF-DAC

This paper presents a wideband 2 13-bit in-phase/quadrature-phase (I/Q) RF digital-to-analog converter-based all-digital modulator realized in 65-nm CMOS. The isolation between I and Q paths is guaranteed employing 25% duty-cycle differential quadrature clocks. With a 1.3-V supply and an on-chip power combiner, the digital I/Q transmitter...

Energy Efficient and Compact RF High-Power Amplifiers

The main objectives of this thesis are to improve the energy efficiency and physical form-factor of high-power amplifiers in base station applications. As such, the focus of this dissertation is placed on the outphasing amplifier concept, which can offer high-efficiency, good linearity and excellent opportunities for system integration. With...

A Fully Integrated Bluetooth Low-Energy Transmitter in 28 nm CMOS With 36% System Efficiency at 3 dBm

We propose a new transmitter architecture for ultra-low power radios in which the most energy-hungry RF circuits operate at a supply just above a threshold voltage of CMOS transistors. An all-digital PLL employs a digitally controlled oscillator with switching current sources to reduce supply voltage and power without sacrificing its startup...

Power Efficient RF/mm-wave Oscillators and Power Amplifiers for Wireless Applications

Wideband high-efficiency Doherty Power Amplifiers

High Efficiency and Wide Bandwidth Quasi-Load Insensitive Class-E Operation Utilizing Package Integration

Packaged integrated low-pass quasi-load insensitive (QLI) class-E matching is proposed for the realization of energy-efficient wideband Doherty and outphasing transmitters. In view of this, a dedicated QLI class-E harmonic matching technique, suitable for in-package integration has been developed, optimized, and evaluated. As proof of concept...

An FM Chirp Waveform Generator and Detector for Radar: Baseband, intermediate frequency, low noise and RF power amplifiers

This report describes the design of different amplifiers that are part of an FM transceiver. This is part of a larger project, which has the objective to design a complete FM transceiver from discrete components only, meaning that IC technology is not considered. <br/>The circuits designed are two baseband amplifiers, an intermediate frequency...

High-Power Digital Transmitters for Wireless Infrastructure Applications (A Feasibility Study)

Fully digital transmitters (DTXs) have the potential of replacing analog-intensive transmitter (TX) line-ups in future massive multiple-input and multiple-output (mMIMO) systems since they hold the promise of higher system integration level and energy efficiency. DTX operation so far has been limited to low RF output powers. This article...

A Wideband Two-Way Digital Doherty Transmitter in 40nm CMOS

A 40nm CMOS wideband digital Cartesian push-pull inverted Doherty operating in class-E is presented. Wideband Doherty operation is achieved over a 1.9-to-3GHz frequency band, using an off-chip power combining network. The fully digital transmitter (DTX) provides 25.3dBm peak power with a drain/DTX line-up efficiency (DE/SE) of 58.7%/44.9%,...

A Wideband Energy-Efficient Multi-Mode CMOS Digital Transmitter

This article presents a wideband, energy-efficient digital transmitter (DTX) suitable for multi-mode/multi-band wireless communication applications. It features various operation modes comprising Cartesian (Modes-1/-2) and multi-phase (Modes-3/-4) configurations utilizing LO clocks with different duty cycle in the interleaving/non...