A New Power Combining and Outphasing Modulation System for High-Efficiency Power Amplification

Abstract

Abstract---This paper describes a new power combining and outphasing system that provides both high efficiency and linear output control. Whereas conventional outphasing systems utilize two power amplifiers, the system introduced here combines power from four or more amplifiers. The proposed technique overcomes the loss and reactive loading problems of previous outphasing systems. It provides ideally lossless power combining, along with resistive loading of the individual power amplifiers over a very wide output power range. A conceptual development illustrating the operating principles of the system is provided, along with a representative design, detailed analysis, and supporting simulations. The relation of the proposed technique to multi-level resistance compression is also described. It is anticipated that the new power combining and outphasing modulation approach will find widespread use in applications where both high linearity and high efficiency are desired.

Multi-Inverter Discrete Backoff: A High-Efficiency, Wide-Range RF Power Generation Architecture

“…The current passing through the devices mainly consists of two parts, the output current to the load and the current from L ZV S shunt leg. Assuming square-wave voltage at the switching node and using First-Harmonic Approximation (FHA), P Cond can be expressed by (3), where K Ron is a device-dependent constant that captures the device on-state resistance's inverse relationship with area, and R L is the load, assumed to be real and fixed.…”

Sequential Selective Harmonic Elimination and Outphasing Amplitude Control for the Modular Multilevel Converters Operating with the Fundamental Frequency

“…The variable phase-shift symmetry maintains stable phase of the resulting output voltage at the load during the amplitude regulation. This method (also known as outphasing) was originally developed for AM transmitters and assumed two sinusoidal combining voltages, now widely used for high-efficiency communication transmitters [34]. The amplitude of the combined output voltage Vc depends upon the phase shift ϕ as shown on phasor diagram (Figure 13):…”

Development Review of Broadband and Multi-Band Outphasing Power Amplifiers for High-Efficiency Amplification

“…Notice that the two types of OPA combiner mentioned above can be applied to multiway applications [18][19][20][21][22][23]. In 2014, a 2.14 GHz four-way Chireix OPA was meticulously designed [20], achieving a remarkable maximum output power of 62 W with an impressive drain efficiency (DE) of over 50% at an 8.4 dB output back-off (OBO).…”