Polyphase Digital Predistortion for Wideband PA Linearization

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Solution Overview

Problem

Radio transmitters face signal distortion due to power amplifiers, particularly in wideband signals like WCDMA, leading to amplitude and phase nonlinearity, which can hinder information decoding if not corrected.

Innovation Solution

A predistortion method using polyphase decomposition and parallel predistorters with FIR filters to divide the transmission signal into components, allowing for increased processing sampling rate while maintaining low complexity, thereby compensating for power amplifier nonlinearity.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Manufacturing precision

If a predistorter is used to compensate for power amplifier distortion, then signal linearity is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesignal linearityVSAvoidpredistorter complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The predistorter divides the wideband signal into multiple polyphase components (e.g., even and odd phases) that can be processed in parallel at lower sampling rates. Each polyphase component is handled by a separate processing path, reducing the complexity of individual processing stages while maintaining overall signal linearity through coordinated recombination of the processed components.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Manufacturing precision

If high processing sampling rate is used in predistorter, then signal distortion compensation is improved, but power consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedistortion compensation accuracyVSAvoidpredistorter power consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The signal processing is segmented into multiple polyphase components that are processed in parallel at reduced sampling rates. Instead of processing the entire wideband signal at a high sampling rate, each polyphase component is processed at a lower rate, reducing the total computational load and power consumption while maintaining the same overall processing quality through the coordinated processing of all phases.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

3Manufacturing precision

If high processing sampling rate is used in predistorter, then signal distortion compensation is improved, but memory requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedistortion compensation accuracyVSAvoidmemory requirements
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The memory requirements are segmented across multiple polyphase processing paths, each operating at lower sampling rates. The buffer memory needed for each polyphase component is smaller than what would be required for processing the entire signal at high sampling rate. The total memory usage is distributed and optimized across the parallel processing paths, reducing peak memory requirements while maintaining processing accuracy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

4Productivity

If polyphase decomposition is used, then processing sampling rate is increased, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprocessing sampling rateVSAvoidpolyphase processing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The polyphase decomposition segments the signal processing into parallel paths that can operate at effectively higher sampling rates for their respective phases. The segmentation allows each processing path to handle a subset of the total sampling burden, achieving high effective processing rates while keeping individual path complexity manageable through the modular polyphase structure.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentUS11476809B2Polyphase digital signal predistortion in radio transmitter
Publication Date: 2022.10.18 NOKIA SOLUTIONS & NETWORKS OY
  • US11476809B2 patent drawing
  • US11476809B2 patent drawing
  • US11476809B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A method comprises obtaining a transmission signal to be power-amplified in a power amplifier (361) prior to transmission; separating the transmission signal into two or more polyphase components of the transmission signal; feeding one or more polyphase components of the transmission signal comprised in the two or more polyphase components to each of two or more parallel predistortion circuits (320,321,322); selecting a dedicated predistortion model and dedicated predistortion coefficients for each of the two or more parallel predistortion circuits (320,321,322); performing non-linear memory-based modeling on the transmission signal according to the selected dedicated predistortion models and coefficients using the one or more polyphase components; and combining output signals of the two or more parallel predistortion circuits (320,321,322) to form a predistorted transmission signal (y[n]) to be applied to the power amplifier (361).