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US 6,633,200 B2Granted
Management of internal signal levels and control of the net gain for a LINC amplifier
AssigneeCeliant Corporation
InventorJames C. Kolanek
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An amplifier subsystem has a modulator to generate a pair of constant amplitude phase-modulated components which are in response to an input signal, a pair of channels that include a pair of power amplifiers to amplify the components, and a combiner to combine the amplified components. A number of variable gain elements are coupled into some of a number of signal paths of the amplifier subsystem. A controller is to receive feedback from the amplifier subsystem and in response maintains signal levels of some of the signal paths within predefined ranges and controls a net gain of the linear amplifier, by adjusting the variable gain elements.
Claims15
An amplifier comprising:
- an amplifier subsystem having a modulator to generate a pair of constant-amplitude phase-modulated components in response to an input signal, a pair of channels which include a pair of power amplifiers coupled to amplify the components, respectively, a combiner coupled to combine the amplified components, and a plurality of variable gain elements coupled into some of a plurality of signal paths of the amplifier subsystem;
- and
- a controller coupled to receive feedback from the amplifier subsystem
- wherein the amplifier subsystem further comprises a first A/D converter coupled to digitize the input signal in a signal path to the modulator and a second A/D converter coupled to digitize a feedback signal in a signal path between an output of the combiner an input of the controller, and wherein the plurality of variable gain elements include a first analog variable gain element coupled to adjust a signal level into the first A/D converter and a second analog variable gain element coupled to adjust a signal level into the second A/D converter, and wherein the plurality of variable gain elements further include third and fourth analog variable gain elements coupled to adjust the corrected components, respectively, prior to amplification.
1 more element
A method for operating a LINC amplifier, comprising:
- generating a pair of constant-amplitude phase-modulated components in response to an input signal;
- separately amplifying said components to a relatively high power level;
- combining said amplified components;
- and
- generating commands that cause gain changes in a plurality of signal paths of the LINC amplifier, in response to receiving feedback concerning said amplified components, to simultaneously (1) maintain signal levels of some of the plurality of signal paths in predefined ranges that improve one of signal to noise ratio and clipping in said signal paths and (2) maintain one of a net gain and an output power of the LINC amplifier in a predefined range.
2 more elements
A method for operating a LINC amplifier, comprising:
- generating a pair of constant-amplitude phase-modulated components in response to an input signal;
- separately amplifying said components to a relatively high power level;
- combining said amplified components;
- generating commands that cause gain changes in a plurality of signal paths of the LINC amplifier, in response to receiving feedback concerning said amplified components, to (1) maintain signal levels of some of the plurality of signal paths in predefined ranges and (2) control a net gain of the LINC amplifier;
- digitizing the input signal prior to generating said components;
- and
- digitizing a feedback signal related to said amplified components, and wherein said commands cause adjustments to analog levels of the input signal and the feedback signal prior to digitization.
4 more elements
A linear amplifier comprising:
- a first A/D converter to digitize an input signal;
- a modulator coupled to an output of the first A/D converter to generate a pair of constant amplitude phase modulated components in response to the input signal;
- a pair of channels including an equalizer coupled to provide amplitude and phase corrections to one or both of the components, a D/A converter coupled to convert the corrected components into analog form, and a pair of phase-preserving power amplifiers coupled to amplify the corrected components, respectively;
- a combiner coupled to combine the amplified components;
- and
- a controller coupled to receive feedback from at least one of the pair of channels and the combiner, and in response control the equalizer so that variation in frequency response between the channels is reduced, wherein the controller is to further represent the influence of a plurality of control parameters upon a plurality of performance parameters in the amplifier, determine a plurality of current values of the performance parameters, and determine a plurality of values of the control parameters that allow the amplifier to meet a plurality of target values for the performance parameters, the control parameters are to control (1) a first analog variable gain element coupled to adjust an input signal level of the first A/D converter, and (2) a second analog variable gain element coupled to adjust an input signal level of a second A/D converter that is in a feedback path from an output of the combiner, and the performance parameters represent net amplifier gain and input signal level to the first A/D converter.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.