Power estimation method for electronic jamming pod power amplifier components based on power control box

Abstract

This invention discloses a power estimation method for power amplifier components in electronic jamming pods based on a power control box, relating to the field of real-time power evaluation technology for power amplifier components. The invention acquires the voltage and current at the input of the power control box, subtracts the static current before the transmission command arrives to obtain the power amplifier excitation current; constructs an equivalent sensor network including the equivalent inductance, capacitance, diodes, and filtering components of the secondary power supply, and establishes a transfer function model for voltage and current; uses the discrete sampled values ​​of input voltage and current to perform convolution operations with the impulse response to estimate the voltage and current at the load end in real time, and then calculates the real-time output power of the power amplifier component. This invention does not require the insertion of additional hardware into the main RF path, can suppress high-frequency noise, adapt to various operating modes such as continuous wave, pulse, and broadband modulation, and can compensate for device aging and individual differences. It has the advantages of strong real-time performance, low cost, and high accuracy, and is particularly suitable for embedded RF systems such as electronic jamming pods.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of real-time power assessment technology for power amplifier components, and in particular to a power estimation method for power amplifier components in an electronic jamming pod based on a power control box. Background Technology

[0002] Power assessment of power amplifiers (PAs) is a core technology in RF / microwave engineering, audio engineering, and power electronics.

[0003] With the evolution of wireless communication technology towards 5G / 6G and the widespread adoption of high-fidelity audio systems, power amplifiers, as core functional components of RF front-ends and audio systems, directly impact communication quality, energy efficiency, and user experience. Power evaluation, a crucial step in power amplifier device R&D, production testing, and system integration, is not only a necessary means of verifying design specifications but also the foundation for optimizing thermal management schemes and ensuring long-term reliability. However, existing power evaluation technologies for power amplifier components still have many limitations when facing the demands of modern applications such as wide bandwidth, high dynamic range, and complex modulation signals.

[0004] Currently, the scattering parameter (S-parameter) testing method based on vector network analyzers is the mainstream power amplifier power evaluation method in the industry. It can simultaneously obtain linear characteristics such as gain and reflection coefficient over a wide frequency band. Combined with source-pull and load-pull techniques, it can evaluate the power output capability under different impedance conditions and is the most commonly used characterization method in laboratory environments. However, this method requires extensive impedance point traversal testing to find the optimal load impedance for power and efficiency optimization. Traditional mechanical tuners have slow tuning speed and limited tuning range, resulting in long test cycles. Although active load pulling can expand the impedance coverage, it suffers from limited power capacity and poor system stability, making it difficult to balance high power and high precision testing.

[0005] Furthermore, this method focuses primarily on single-frequency optimization and cannot effectively evaluate the continuity of the impedance trajectory of the power amplifier under broadband signals or its ability to evaluate dynamically modulated signals.

[0006] In summary, existing power amplifier component power evaluation technologies are no longer sufficient to meet the stringent requirements of modern communication and power electronic systems for high-performance power amplifier devices in terms of testing efficiency, evaluation dimensions, and environmental adaptability. There is an urgent need to develop a new method that can quickly, accurately, and comprehensively evaluate the power characteristics of power amplifier components under various operating conditions in order to break through the existing technological bottlenecks and improve the engineering level of power amplifier design and application. Summary of the Invention

[0007] Therefore, it is necessary to provide a power estimation method for the power amplifier components of an electronic jamming pod based on a power control box to address the aforementioned technical problems.

[0008] The following technical solution is adopted in this specification: This specification provides a power estimation method for the power amplifier components of an electronic jamming pod based on a power control box, including: Obtain the effective excitation current of the power amplifier components of the electronic jamming pod; An equivalent sensing network is constructed from the power control box input terminal of the electronic jamming pod to the load terminal of the power amplifier component. The equivalent sensing network includes: a first equivalent inductor, one end of the first equivalent inductor is connected to a first equivalent resistor, the other end of the first equivalent resistor is connected to one end of a first equivalent capacitor and one end of an equivalent diode, the other end of the first equivalent capacitor is grounded, the other end of the equivalent diode is connected to one end of a second equivalent inductor, the other end of the second equivalent inductor is connected to one end of a second equivalent capacitor, the other end of the second equivalent capacitor is grounded, and an equivalent load resistor is connected in parallel across the second equivalent capacitor. Using the voltage across the first equivalent capacitor and the current in the branch where the first equivalent capacitor is located as intermediate variables, the voltage transfer function from the input terminal of the power control box to the load terminal of the power amplifier component is obtained; and the current transfer function of the equivalent sensing network is established. By performing an inverse Laplace transform on the voltage transfer function and the current transfer function, the voltage impulse response and the current impulse response are obtained. The real-time input voltage value of the power control box is convolved with the voltage pulse response to obtain the estimated voltage value across the attack and defense components; the effective excitation current of the power amplifier component of the electronic jamming pod is convolved with the current pulse response to obtain the estimated current value across the attack and defense components; the estimated voltage value is multiplied by the estimated current value to obtain the real-time power estimate of the power amplifier component.

[0009] Furthermore, obtaining the effective excitation current includes: The sequence of sampled values ​​of the input current of the power control box before the start radio frequency transmission command sent by the main control system of the electronic jamming pod reaches the power amplifier assembly is obtained, and the average value of the sampled value sequence is used as the static current value of the power amplifier excitation control circuit. The effective excitation current of the power amplifier component is obtained by subtracting the static current value from the real-time input current of the power control box.

[0010] Furthermore, the voltage transfer function and current transfer function are obtained by applying Mason's formula based on the equivalent structure diagram of the equivalent sensor network.

[0011] Furthermore, the estimated voltage values ​​at both ends of the power amplifier component are obtained by performing discrete convolution between the discrete sampled values ​​of the real-time input voltage of the power control box and the voltage pulse response; The discrete convolution is calculated using the following formula: ; in, Here, t represents the impulse response function; t represents the system launch time from the start of the launch command. Indicates the independent variable used in convolution calculation; This represents the real-time voltage change function at the input terminal of the power control box.

[0012] Furthermore, the estimated current values ​​at both ends of the power amplifier component are obtained by performing discrete convolution between the discrete sampled values ​​of the real-time input current of the power control box and the voltage pulse response; The discrete convolution is calculated using the following formula: ; in, Let be the impulse response function of the current control network; t represents the system transmission time from the start of the transmission command. Indicates the independent variable used in convolution calculation; This represents the real-time variation function of the equivalent radiated input current after deducting the excitation current at the input terminal of the power control box.

[0013] The power estimation method for an electronic interference pod power amplifier component based on a power control box as described in claim 1 is characterized in that the second equivalent capacitor is used to filter out high-frequency noise in the input signal of the power amplifier component, thereby reducing the sensitivity of the output voltage to high-frequency fluctuations in the input voltage. This specification provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the above-described power estimation method for the power amplifier component of an electronic jamming pod based on a power control box.

[0014] This specification provides a computer device including a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor. When the processor executes the program, it implements a power estimation method for an electronic jamming pod power amplifier component based on a power control box.

[0015] The above-mentioned technical solutions adopted in this specification can achieve the following beneficial effects: In the power estimation method for the power amplifier component of an electronic jamming pod based on a power control box provided in this specification, the present invention utilizes the existing voltage and current sampling data of the power control box, and estimates the voltage and current at the load end of the power amplifier component in real time through equivalent sensor network modeling and impulse response convolution, thereby calculating the output power. The present invention effectively solves the problem of mapping the voltage and current of the power control box to the power amplifier by using a sensor network model with inductance and capacitance. The equivalent filter capacitor in the sensor network model effectively solves the problem of power amplifier power fluctuation caused by high-frequency noise, ensuring the real-time performance and effectiveness of the power amplifier power evaluation. The present invention eliminates the need to insert a coupler into the main RF path during the entire real-time power evaluation process of the power amplifier component, and features low latency, low cost, noise immunity, and adaptability. Attached Figure Description

[0016] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of this application and form part of this application, illustrate exemplary embodiments and are used to explain this application, but do not constitute an undue limitation of this application. In the drawings:

[0017] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the power estimation method for the electronic jamming pod power amplifier component based on the power control box provided in this manual. Figure 2 The equivalent diagram of the control box input voltage and current and the power amplifier sensor network provided in this manual; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the equivalent structure of the voltage sensing network provided in this specification. Detailed Implementation

[0018] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this specification clearer, the technical solutions of this application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with specific embodiments and corresponding drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of this application, and not all of them. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments in this specification without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0019] The mainstream power amplifier power evaluation methods in the industry also include calorimetry and electrical parameter measurement. Calorimetry calculates power by measuring the temperature rise after radio frequency energy is converted into heat energy. Although it has high measurement accuracy (usually up to ±0.5%) and is used as a national power reference standard, this type of method has a slow response speed and complex testing equipment, making it difficult to meet the needs of rapid testing on the production line. The electrical parameter measurement method calculates the dissipated power by directly acquiring the voltage and current signals of the power amplifier pins. It is simple to implement and has a low cost. However, in the high-frequency band (especially the millimeter wave and above), the measurement accuracy is significantly reduced due to the limitations of probe parasitic parameters and impedance matching errors. Furthermore, it cannot effectively separate the fundamental power and harmonic components.

[0020] While existing methods have their advantages in specific scenarios, they still reveal a series of technical shortcomings in practical engineering applications. First, the disconnect between thermal effect and electrical characteristic testing is prominent: power amplifier components exhibit significant self-heating effects during operation, and rising junction temperatures lead to shifts in the gain compression point and saturation output power. Traditional pulse testing (to avoid thermal effects) can only reflect "cold-state" characteristics, while continuous wave testing struggles to distinguish the coupling effects of electrical nonlinearity and thermal impedance, lacking a comprehensive evaluation method that can simultaneously characterize electrothermal characteristics. Second, power assessment accuracy under broadband modulation signals is insufficient: modern communication systems employ high-order modulation methods such as OFDM and QAM, resulting in signals with high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) and wide bandwidth. Traditional power assessments based on continuous wave (CW) or two-tone signals cannot accurately reflect the average power, peak envelope power (PEP), and nonlinear distortion caused by memory effects under actual modulation conditions, leading to significant discrepancies between laboratory evaluation results and actual system performance. Secondly, there is a trade-off between efficiency and accuracy in load-pull testing: to find the optimal load impedance for power and efficiency optimization, extensive impedance point traversal testing is required. Traditional mechanical tuners are slow and have limited tuning range, while active load-pull systems, although able to extend impedance coverage, suffer from limited power capacity and poor system stability. Furthermore, existing methods mostly focus on single-frequency optimization and lack the ability to evaluate the continuity of impedance trajectories over a wide bandwidth. In addition, there is a lack of synergistic characterization of multi-physics parameters: existing evaluation systems often test electrical performance parameters (power, efficiency, gain) and thermal performance parameters (junction temperature, thermal resistance) separately, making it difficult to establish a correlation model between power consumption, temperature rise, and reliability, and thus failing to provide data support for long-term reliability prediction of power amplifier components.

[0021] This addresses a key technical challenge in achieving real-time and accurate power assessment of power amplifier components based on voltage and current sampling data obtained from the power control box. Current power amplifier systems primarily rely on directional couplers or dedicated power meters at the RF port for power monitoring. These solutions require additional RF hardware inserted into the main signal path, increasing system cost and size, and introducing insertion loss and mismatch risks, making it difficult to meet the miniaturization and integration demands of modern communication equipment. In contrast, the power control box, as an essential unit in the power amplifier component's power supply chain, already possesses the capability to acquire supply voltage and current in real time. However, how to use these power-side electrical parameters to infer the RF output power remains an unsolved problem in existing technologies, primarily due to the following aspects.

[0022] First, establishing a mapping relationship between power supply electrical parameters and RF output power is difficult. The DC power consumption of power amplifier components and RF output power are not a simple linear relationship, but are affected by multiple factors such as operating category, bias conditions, load impedance, input power level, and temperature. Traditional power assessment models are mostly based on idealized assumptions or static empirical formulas, failing to fully consider the nonlinear characteristics of power amplifier transistors under actual large-signal operating conditions. This leads to significant errors in estimating RF power from power supply voltage and current data, especially in the deep back-off region and overdrive region, where power prediction deviations can reach over 20%, failing to meet the accuracy requirements of engineering applications.

[0023] Secondly, there is the challenge of extracting effective information and suppressing noise from power supply sampling data. The voltage and current signals collected by the power control box are mixed with various interference components, such as power frequency ripple, switching power supply noise, load transient response, and RF signal envelope coupling. These noises overlap with the power-related characteristics under test in both the time and frequency domains. Conventional filtering or averaging methods will lose key information reflecting the dynamic characteristics of the power amplifier, while directly using the raw sampling data for power calculation will introduce significant jitter, making it difficult to achieve stable and reliable real-time evaluation. How to accurately extract characteristic parameters that are strongly correlated with RF output power under strong interference is the core bottleneck restricting the evaluation accuracy.

[0024] Third, the impact of power amplifier component aging and individual variability on evaluation consistency. In actual engineering, as power amplifier components are used over time, key indicators such as power gain and drain efficiency drift. Furthermore, the process variations between different batches of devices also lead to individual differences in electrical characteristics. Existing power evaluation methods based on fixed-parameter models cannot adaptively track these changes. This results in systematic biases in evaluation results when the same evaluation model is applied to power amplifier components with different aging levels or individual components, severely impacting the method's universality and long-term effectiveness.

[0025] Fourth, there is a lack of low-latency power assessment mechanisms for real-time control. Modern communication systems' digital predistortion (DPD) and automatic level control (ALC) functions have strict requirements for power information feedback latency (typically below microseconds). Power assessment schemes based on traditional instruments or complex algorithms have high computational overhead and slow response speeds, making it difficult to meet the real-time requirements of closed-loop control. Running simplified algorithms directly on the embedded processor of the power control box faces a contradiction between limited computing resources and insufficient assessment accuracy. Therefore, a lightweight real-time assessment architecture that balances computational efficiency and assessment accuracy is urgently needed.

[0026] Fifth, the problem of a single dimension in power evaluation across multiple operating modes. In practical applications, power amplifier components often need to switch between multiple operating modes such as continuous wave (CW), pulse, and broadband modulation. The transient characteristics of the power supply current differ significantly between different modes. Existing evaluation methods are mostly designed for a single mode and lack the ability to adaptively identify modes and switch corresponding evaluation strategies. They cannot provide consistent power evaluation performance under all operating conditions, which limits their practicality in complex communication scenarios.

[0027] In summary, how to fully utilize the voltage and current sampling resources already available in the power control box to construct a high-precision, real-time, and adaptive mapping model from power supply side electrical parameters to RF output power, and solve key technical challenges such as signal processing, individual difference compensation, and multi-mode compatibility under strong interference environments, is a technical bottleneck that urgently needs to be overcome in the current field of power amplifier component power evaluation, and it is also the core technical problem that this invention aims to solve.

[0028] To achieve the above objectives, the following detailed description, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, describes in detail the power evaluation technology solutions provided by the embodiments of this application based on power amplifier components equipped with power control box input voltage and current monitoring.

[0029] Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating the power estimation method for the electronic jamming pod power amplifier component based on the power control box in this specification, which specifically includes the following steps: S1: Based on the power control box input current Based on the current value before the transmission command arrives after power-on, the average monitored current is calculated, and the current value of the power amplifier excitation control circuit is subtracted. To obtain the excitation current of the power amplifier components , in, ; Delay time after power-on of the power amplifier After that, k is the kth sample of the selected time window content with a fixed sampling interval before the arrival of the launch command, N is the maximum number of samples corresponding to the selected time window before the arrival of the launch command, and N is the sequence of input current values ​​of the power control box before the arrival of the launch command.

[0030] This is the effective excitation current of the power amplifier component after deducting the current value of the power amplifier excitation control circuit. This value is mainly used to solve for the effective current reference value acting on the power amplifier component.

[0031] S2: To overcome the impact of random errors in the monitoring voltage and current input values ​​of the power control box on the power amplifier power estimation, an equivalent network based on the control box input voltage and current and the input signals at both ends of the power amplifier is constructed, based on modular components such as secondary power supply, reverse surge protection, and high-frequency signal filtering. Figure 2 As shown.

[0032] In the equivalent network, the equivalent inductance The equivalent inductance and equivalent resistance in the secondary switching power supply are designed to adapt to the power amplifier voltage. The equivalent internal resistance and equivalent capacitance of the secondary switching power supply. Equivalent capacitance for energy storage in a secondary power supply; equivalent diode A choke diode is an equivalent current-blocking diode in terms of isolation circuit effectiveness between the secondary power supply and the load; the choke diode is only functionally equivalent to the isolation circuit. Equivalent inductance. It is the equivalent of the overcurrent limiting module, and also the equivalent of the reverse surge protection module; equivalent capacitance This is the equivalent capacitance of the high-frequency filtering module in the power amplifier front-end, whose function is to filter out high-frequency noise in the input signal of the power amplifier components; equivalent resistance This is the equivalent load resistance of the power amplifier components after the transmit command is issued, mainly used to assess the load capacity of the power amplifier components.

[0033] The estimated parameters of the inductance, resistance, and capacitance of the power network to be estimated, as well as other equivalent parameters, can all be obtained through the step-by-step equivalence of the transmission network. That is, by dividing the actual signal transmission network into equivalent steps of signal transmission according to the physical structure and schematic diagram, and then by step-by-step modeling, the equivalent acquisition of the relevant outputs can be completed, thereby obtaining all parameter values ​​of the equivalent network.

[0034] S3: Based on the input voltage of the power control box Construct the block diagram and transfer function model, and obtain the real-time voltage input value across the load. .

[0035] Based on the equivalent sensor network, the equivalent capacitance is selected. Using the voltage at both ends and the branch current as intermediate variables, the equivalent structure diagram of the voltage sensing network is as follows: Figure 3 As shown.

[0036] Based on Mason's formula, the transfer function is obtained through the structure diagram as follows: The impulse response is obtained based on the inverse Laplace transform: Where h(t) is the impulse response function, Here, is the inverse Laplace transform operator, and s is the Laplace independent variable. This is the Laplace transfer function between the output voltages.

[0037] Considering that the input voltage of the control box is a discrete sampled value, the discrete power value should be evaluated in the output power. Therefore, the output voltage value is the convolution of the impulse response and the input. The output voltage value is as follows: Based on the obtained impulse response function and the sampled input voltage value, the real-time voltage input estimate across the load can be obtained. The voltage output value obtained through the sensor network can effectively suppress the influence of high-frequency noise on the output value, reducing the sensitivity of the output voltage to high-frequency fluctuations in the input voltage.

[0038] S4: Current equivalent value based on the power control box The estimated value of the real-time current at the output terminal is obtained through the current transfer function. .

[0039] Based on the equivalent sensor network, the transfer function of the current input value sensing network of the equivalent load is as follows: Based on the inverse Laplace transform, the impulse response of the output current is obtained: Considering that the input current of the control box is a discrete sampled value, the discrete power value should be evaluated in the output power. Therefore, the output current value is the convolution of the impulse response and the input. The output current value is as follows: Based on the obtained impulse response function and the sampled value of the input current, the real-time current input estimate at both ends of the load can be obtained in real time.

[0040] S5: Based on real-time voltage and current estimate To obtain real-time power estimates as follows: Compared to existing technologies, this invention addresses the impact of device aging on power amplifiers by introducing a pre-processing mechanism for transmitted commands, incorporates a sensor network model with inductors and capacitors to handle the mapping relationship between the voltage and current of the power control box and the power amplifier, introduces an equivalent filter capacitor before the equivalent load to solve the power amplifier power fluctuation problem caused by high-frequency noise, and employs a physics modeling method to ensure the real-time performance and effectiveness of power amplifier power evaluation. This invention provides an effective power evaluation method for real-time power evaluation of power amplifier components with a secondary power input power amplifier network and a power control box.

[0041] The technical features of the above embodiments can be combined in any way. For the sake of brevity, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

Claims

1. A method for estimating the power of an electronic jamming pod power amplifier component based on a power control box, characterized in that, include: Obtain the effective excitation current of the power amplifier components of the electronic jamming pod; An equivalent sensing network is constructed from the power control box input terminal of the electronic jamming pod to the load terminal of the power amplifier component. The equivalent sensing network includes: a first equivalent inductor, one end of the first equivalent inductor is connected to a first equivalent resistor, the other end of the first equivalent resistor is connected to one end of a first equivalent capacitor and one end of an equivalent diode, the other end of the first equivalent capacitor is grounded, the other end of the equivalent diode is connected to one end of a second equivalent inductor, the other end of the second equivalent inductor is connected to one end of a second equivalent capacitor, the other end of the second equivalent capacitor is grounded, and an equivalent load resistor is connected in parallel across the second equivalent capacitor. Using the voltage across the first equivalent capacitor and the current in the branch where the first equivalent capacitor is located as intermediate variables, the voltage transfer function from the input terminal of the power control box to the load terminal of the power amplifier component is obtained; and the current transfer function of the equivalent sensing network is established. By performing an inverse Laplace transform on the voltage transfer function and the current transfer function, the voltage impulse response and the current impulse response are obtained. The real-time input voltage value of the power control box is convolved with the voltage pulse response to obtain the estimated voltage value across the attack and defense components; the effective excitation current of the power amplifier component of the electronic jamming pod is convolved with the current pulse response to obtain the estimated current value across the attack and defense components; the estimated voltage value is multiplied by the estimated current value to obtain the real-time power estimate of the power amplifier component.

2. The power estimation method for the power amplifier component of the electronic jamming pod based on the power control box as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The acquisition of the effective excitation current includes: The sequence of sampled values ​​of the input current of the power control box before the start radio frequency transmission command sent by the main control system of the electronic jamming pod reaches the power amplifier assembly is obtained, and the average value of the sampled value sequence is used as the static current value of the power amplifier excitation control circuit. The effective excitation current of the power amplifier component is obtained by subtracting the static current value from the real-time input current of the power control box.

3. The power estimation method for the electronic jamming pod power amplifier component based on a power control box as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The voltage transfer function and current transfer function are obtained by applying Mason's formula based on the equivalent structure diagram of the equivalent sensor network.

4. The power estimation method for the power amplifier component of the electronic jamming pod based on the power control box as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The estimated voltage values ​​at both ends of the power amplifier component are obtained by performing discrete convolution between the discrete sampled values ​​of the real-time input voltage of the power control box and the voltage pulse response. The discrete convolution is calculated using the following formula: ； in, Here, t represents the impulse response function; t represents the system launch time from the start of the launch command. Indicates the independent variable used in convolution; This represents the real-time voltage change function at the input terminal of the power control box.

5. The power estimation method for the power amplifier component of the electronic jamming pod based on the power control box as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The estimated current values ​​at both ends of the power amplifier component are obtained by performing discrete convolution between the discrete sampled values ​​of the real-time input current of the power control box and the voltage pulse response. The discrete convolution is calculated using the following formula: ； in, Let be the impulse response function of the current control network; t represents the system transmission time from the start of the transmission command. Indicates the independent variable used in convolution; This represents the real-time variation function of the equivalent radiated input current after deducting the excitation current at the input terminal of the power control box.

6. The power estimation method for the power amplifier component of the electronic jamming pod based on the power control box as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The second equivalent capacitor is used to filter out high-frequency noise in the input signal of the power amplifier component, thereby reducing the sensitivity of the output voltage to high-frequency fluctuations in the input voltage.

7. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The storage medium stores a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implements the method described in any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. A computer device, characterized in that, It includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor executes the program to implement the method described in any one of claims 1 to 6.

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