Co-Located Envelope Tracking Amplifiers for Wideband mmWave Linearity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile communication devices face increased power consumption and thermal dissipation due to higher output power requirements for RF signals, compromising performance and user experience, especially with the advent of advanced wireless communication technologies like LTE and 5G-NR.
Innovation Solution
A multi-amplifier envelope tracking (ET) circuit that concurrently amplifies RF signals using ET voltages and low-frequency currents, with co-located driver circuits to improve efficiency and linearity, particularly at higher modulation bandwidths, ensuring efficient power management and reduced thermal dissipation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If sophisticated power amplifiers are employed to increase output power of RF signals, then data rates and communication performance are improved, but power consumption and thermal dissipation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic voltage adjustment through envelope tracking, where the supply voltage to power amplifiers is continuously varied to match the instantaneous signal envelope. This dynamic operation allows amplifiers to operate at optimal efficiency points across varying power levels, reducing overall power consumption while maintaining required output power for high data rate communications
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operating parameters of power amplifiers by implementing envelope tracking voltage that dynamically adjusts the supply voltage level. This parameter change enables amplifiers to operate more efficiently at lower average power levels while still delivering high peak power when needed, thereby reducing total power consumption without compromising communication performance
2Power
If sophisticated power amplifiers are employed to increase output power of RF signals, then data rates and communication performance are improved, but thermal dissipation increases
Solution Approach 1:
Through dynamic envelope tracking voltage adjustment, the system enables power amplifiers to operate efficiently across varying power levels, reducing excess heat generation. The continuous adaptation of supply voltage to signal envelope ensures amplifiers operate at optimal efficiency points, minimizing thermal dissipation even when high output power is required for improved communication performance
3Use of energy by moving object
If driver circuits are co-located with amplifier circuits to improve efficiency and linearity, then power amplifier efficiency is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges driver circuits with amplifier circuits into integrated units, co-locating the voltage generation and amplification functions. This consolidation improves efficiency and linearity by minimizing signal path losses and improving synchronization, while the modular integrated design manages the complexity through standardized building blocks that can be replicated across multiple amplifier channels
4Productivity
If multiple amplifier circuits amplify RF signals concurrently, then data transmission capacity is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the high-capacity data transmission task across multiple amplifier circuits operating in parallel, with each amplifier handling a portion of the total signal load. By applying envelope tracking to each amplifier individually, the system ensures each operates at optimal efficiency, reducing the total power consumption compared to a single high-power amplifier while maintaining the required data transmission capacity
Solution Approach 2:
The envelope tracking voltage generation system serves multiple amplifier circuits simultaneously through a shared control architecture. The universal voltage regulation mechanism can dynamically adjust supply voltage to multiple amplifiers based on their individual signal envelopes, enabling efficient concurrent operation that achieves high data transmission capacity without proportionally increasing total power consumption
Data Source
AI summary
A multi-amplifier envelope tracking (ET) circuit and related apparatus are provided. The multi-amplifier ET circuit includes a number of amplifier circuits configured to amplify concurrently a radio frequency (RF) signal to generate a number of amplified RF signals for concurrent transmission, for example, in a millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum. The amplifier circuits are configured to amplify the RF signal based on a number of ET voltages and a number of low-frequency currents, respectively. A number of driver circuits is provided in the multi-amplifier ET circuit to generate the ET voltages and the low-frequency currents for the amplifier circuits, respectively. In examples discussed herein, the driver circuits are co-located with the amplifier circuits to help improve efficiency and maintain linearity in the amplifier circuits, particularly when the RF signal is modulated at a higher modulation bandwidth (e.g., >80 MHz).