High output power digital TX

A digital-to-analog upconverter configured to convert a baseband digital value to a radio frequency (RF) analog signal, said digital-to-analog upconverter comprising:

• a first balanced upconverter configured to convert an In-phase portion of the baseband digital value to a first In-phase analog component (Ip) at a radio frequency and a second In-phase analog component (In) at the radio frequency, where In is phase-shifted relative to Ip;
• a second balanced upconverter configured to convert a Quadrature portion of the baseband digital value to a first Quadrature analog component (Qp) at the radio frequency and a second Quadrature analog component (Qn) at the radio frequency, where Qp is phase-shifted relative to Qn;
• a first amplifier configured to amplify Ip and In to generate amplified Ip and In signals at first and second In-phase amplifier outputs;
• a second amplifier configured to amplify Qp and Qn to generate amplified Qp and Qn signals at first and second Quadrature amplifier outputs;
• wherein the first and second amplifiers each operate at a 50% duty cycle and in an interleaved fashion such that only one of the first and second amplifiers is active at any time, and such that the first amplifier outputs the amplified Ip and amplified In signals for a first 25% of a cycle, the second amplifier outputs the amplified Qp and amplified Qn signals for a subsequent second 25% of the cycle, the first amplifier outputs the amplified Ip and amplified In signals for a subsequent third 25% of the cycle, and the second amplifier outputs the amplified Qp and amplified Qn signals for a final 25% of the cycle;
• and
• a differential combiner configured to combine the amplified signals output by the first and second amplifiers during the cycle to generate the RF analog signal representative of the baseband digital value.