Predistortion of OFDM Waveforms using Guard-band Subcarriers

In this paper, we evaluate the effect of applying peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction and digital pre-distortion (DPD) on two types of radio frequency power amplifiers when an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal is used. The power amplifiers under test are a standard class-AB amplifier and a Doherty amplifier. The PAPR reduction methods are based on a state-of-the art convex optimization formulation and on the standard clipping and filtering technique. The DPD method consists of modeling the behavior of the power amplifier using a parallel Hammerstein model, and then extracting the inverse parameters based on the indirect learning architecture. To achieve better DPD performance, extracting the DPD parameters based on multiple-step iterations is investigated. The cases where PAPR reduction and DPD are applied separately and combined are studied and investigated. Power amplifier figures of merit are evaluated. Good performance is shown when combining both pre-processing techniques up to a certain operating point where DPD performance deteriorates due to generation of strong peaks in the signal. In addition, a difference in the power amplifier behavior is reported and analyzed.

This paper investigates the trade-off between power amplifier (PA) nonlinearity, output power backoff (OBO), digital predistortion (DPD), and clipping and filtering (CF) in terms of energy consumption. The energy efficiency of a PA depends on the OBO of the signal and usually increases as the OBO decreases. Peak to average power ratio (PAPR) reduction methods like CF and PA linearization algorithms like DPD methods allow the use of a smaller OBO. Those algorithms show best results when used together. By studying the trade-off between the power consumed in the CF and DPD circuits versus having a larger OBO for a target bit-error rate (BER), we show that below a certain PA output power the power consumption is not reduced by decreasing the OBO. We also show that the increase in distortion noise when using DPD and CF might defeat the purpose of their use in terms of power consumption. Given the trend toward smaller cells like femtocells, requiring less output power, CF and DPD may not be required at all, leading to a simpler and power saving transmitter design.

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals have a generic problem of high peak to average power ratio (PAPR) which is defined as the ratio of the peak power to the average power of the OFDM signal. The drawback of the high PAPR is that the dynamic range of the power amplifiers (PA) & digital-to-analog (D/A) converters required during the transmission and reception of the signal is higher. As a result, the total cost of the transceiver increases, with reduced efficiency. This paper includes an idea of the PAPR constraint, along with the implementation and analysis of some specific algorithms for PAPR reduction of the OFDM signals. All the PAPR reduction algorithms are implemented and tested in the OFDM transceiver designed using Matlab. Analyzing some specific algorithms, we propose a novel algorithm by combining the subcarrier phase adjustment and linear combination of the time domain OFDM signals. Simulation results for a OFDM system employing Quadrature Amplitude Shift Keying (QASK) symbols and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) can achieve a PAPR reduction of 5 dB.

Nowadays energy efficiency (EE) of wireless communication systems has become a hot issue, yet the nonlinear effect and inefficiency of power amplifier (PA) have posed practical challenges for system designs to achieve high EE. However, most of previous work only considered linear PA. In this paper, we studies EE optimization concerning with I-way Doherty PA which has widespread use with I = 1 and I = 2 in orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM)-based cognitive radio (CR) systems. The aim is to maximize EE with nonlinear PA subject to the total power budget, the interference constraint and the minimum rate requirement. Other than traditional methods, the problem is hard to solve directly due to the nonlinearity of PA, and a bisection search method tailored for nonlinear PA is adopted to achieve the sub-optimal solution. Numerical results demonstrate that if the PA's nonlinearity is not considered, the EE performance of OFDM-based CR systems can be severely overestimated by 34% at P max out = 80 W for 1-way Doherty PA. Meanwhile, the EE performance can be enhanced by approximate 32% if 2-way Doherty PA is utilized instead of 1-way Doherty PA.

A major drawback of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signals is their high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), which causes serious degradation in performance when a nonlinear power amplifier (PA) is used. Companding transform (CT) is a well-known method to reduce PAPR without restrictions on system parameters such as number of subcarriers, frame format and constellation type. Recently, a linear nonsymmetrical companding transform (LNST) that has better performance than logarithmic-based transforms such as mu-law companding was proposed. In this paper, a new linear companding transform (LCT) with more design flexibility than LNST is proposed. Computer simulations show that the proposed transform has a better PAPR reduction and bit error rate (BER) performance than LNST with better power spectral density (PSD).

This article first analyzes the nonlinear behavior of frequency-multiplier (FM)-based radio frequency (RF) beamforming transmitters TXs) over a wide range of steering angles. Then, based on this analysis, a digital predistortion (DPD) scheme is proposed to linearize FM-based TX arrays. Specifically, a dual-input behavioral model of FM-based TX arrays is derived. This dual-input model is then transformed into an angle-dependent single-input–single-output (SISO) model. Next, the effect of load modulation on FM nonlinearity is studied using a circuit-inspired behavioral model, and a very distinctive feature is revealed. Notably, it is shown that FM-based RF beamforming arrays have reduced sensitivity to load modulation when compared to last-stage power-amplifier (PA)-based arrays. This is first validated in simulation using a frequency doubler and PA terminated with load impedances extracted from an 8 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 8 electromagnetically simulated array. Furthermore, experimental results are obtained using a 2 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 2 planar frequency-doubler-based RF beamforming TX operated at 28 GHz and driven with up to 400-MHz-wide orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signals where the subcarriers are modulated using up to 256-QAM. It is experimentally demonstrated that a single set of SISO DPD coefficients can significantly improve the adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) and error vector magnitude (EVM) over a wide steering range. Specifically, for the case of a 100-MHz signal, the ACPR and EVM improved from 20 dBc and 23% to, at worst, 48 dBc and 1%, respectively, when the array is steered from <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$-40^\circ $ </tex-math></inline-formula> to 40° and measured along the main beam direction. In light of the FM-based arrays reduced sensitivity to load modulation, this article also investigates different TX observation receiver (TOR) methods for DPD function training, namely, far-field-based TOR, coupler-based TOR, and single-element-based TOR, and their impacts on the linearizability of the FM-based RF beamforming TXs.

We investigate a novel dispersion compensating technique in double sideband (DSB) modulated and directed-detected (DD) passive optical network (PON) systems using super-Nyquist image induced aliasing. We show that diversity is introduced to the higher frequency components by deliberate aliasing using the super-Nyquist images. We then propose to use fractional sampling and per-subcarrier maximum ratio combining (MRC) to harvest this diversity. We evaluate the performance of conventional orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals along with discrete Fourier transform spread (DFT-S) OFDM and code-division multiplexing OFDM (CDM-OFDM) signals using the proposed scheme. The results show that the DFT-S OFDM signal has the best performance due to spectrum spreading and its superior peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). By using the proposed scheme, the reach of a 10-GHz bandwidth QPSK modulated OFDM-PON can be extended to around 90 km. We also experimentally show that the achievable data rate of the OFDM signals can be effectively increased using the proposed scheme when adaptive bit loading is applied, depending on the transmission distance. A 10.5% and 5.2% increase in the achievable bit rate can be obtained for DSB modulated OFDM-PONs in 48.3-km and 83.2-km standard single mode fiber (SSMF) transmission cases, respectively, without any modification on the transmitter. A 40-Gb/s OFDM transmission over 83.2-km SSMF is successfully demonstrated.

In this work, a Doherty power amplifier is presented for IMT-Advanced system at 450–470MHz frequency band. An imperfect Quarter-wave transmission line, which consisted of two shunt capacitors and a series microstrip line, is adopted to replace the bulky impedance inverter quarter-wave transmission line for designing the Doherty power amplifier (PA). Both the traditional and proposed structures for the Doherty power amplifiers were implemented. Comparing with the traditional Doherty amplifier, the size of the circuit and the manufacturing costs are decreased obviously. The measurement results of the proposed Doherty PA exhibit good performance as well as the traditional Doherty power amplifier. For a input signal with a 7.8dB Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR), the measured drain efficiency of the proposed Doherty power amplifier is 48.5% at an average output power of 43.0 dBm, which is a 7.8dB backed — off the peak output power. Moreover, in order to improve the linearity of the proposed Doherty power amplifier, the augmented Hammerstein and polynomial predistorter are used to linearize the proposed Doherty power amplifier. After digital predistortion, the adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) reaches −45.5dBc at an average output power of 43.0 dBm, which can satisfy the requirements of the IMT-Advanced systems.

Digital predistortion (DPD), based on complex-valued memory polynomials (MP), is established as an efficient method for power amplifier (PA) linearization. The DPD facilitates compliance of the telecommunication infrastructure to strict standard specifications (transmit spectrum mask (TSM), error vector magnitude (EVM), bit error rate (BER), [Formula: see text]) by making PA more linear, while at the same time reduces the running cost of the wireless infrastructure (at both Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and User Equipment (UE) sides) by making PA more power efficient. Even when DPD is utilized, signals with high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) produce out-of-band PA spectrum emission due to intermodulation products affecting all above-mentioned critical standard specified parameters. The novelty proposed in this paper is as follows. PA is restricted to operate within “reasonably above” PA linear region using PAPR reduction technique. The residual nonlinearity is taken care of by DPD. The combination of DPD and PAPR PA linearization methods is implemented on software-defined radio board. The necessary steps for efficient PA linearization are presented, compensating both out-of-band and in-band signal distortions. We achieved EVM = 2.0%, ACPR [Formula: see text]50[Formula: see text]dBc, at 10[Formula: see text]W LTE modulated PA output, antenna point and PA output power of 39.5[Formula: see text]dBm.

This letter presents a high-efficiency transmitter (Tx) based on a power amplifier (PA) and antenna co-design using an over-the-air (OTA) combination. A dual-feed single-aperture antenna enables the voltage-coherent recombination of two independently amplified signals in the far field through edge-loaded antenna design, generating in-phase radiation fields. A decoupling structure is introduced to enhance the port-to-port isolation while simultaneously enabling tuning of the antenna second-harmonic input impedance. Together with a shared output matching network (OMN), the antenna load provides appropriate fundamental and second-harmonic impedances for both branch PAs, enabling high-efficiency operation without additional harmonic control circuits. In the 3.45–3.55-GHz band, both branch PAs achieve 74%–76.5% saturated drain efficiency (DE) with the antenna load. Under excitation by a 20-MHz orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal with an 8.5-dB peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), the Tx achieves 78.3% average efficiency, an adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) below −45 dBc after digital predistortion (DPD) in the field-of-view (FOV) direction.

One of the severe drawbacks of orthogonal fre-quency division multiplexing (OFDM) is high Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) of transmitted OFDM signals. During modulation the sub-carriers are added together with same phase which increases the value of PAPR, leading to more interference and limits power efficiency of High Power Amplifier (HPA), it’s requires power amplifier’s (PAs) with large linear oper-ating ranges but such PAs are difficult to design and costly to manufacture. Therefore, to reduce PAPR various methods have been proposed. As a promising scheme, partial transmit sequences (PTS) provides an effective solution for PAPR reduction of OFDM signals. In this paper, we propose a PAPR reduction method for an OFDM system with variation of phases based on PTS schemes and Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPA) of Saleh model in conjunction with digital predistortion (DPD), in order to improve the performance in terms of PAPR, the HPA linearity and for the sake of mitigating the in-band distortion and the spectrum regrowth. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can not only reduces the PAPR significantly, but also improves the out-of-band radiation and decreases the computational complexity.

Recently many researchers have turned their interests to Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signal since its promising features in radar. This paper concerns a novel Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system which employs this OFDM signal. Though the OFDM will bring lots of advantages, the performance may be changed since the signal of SAR is different from conventional ones. To evaluate the change, this paper will give a theoretical analysis and the corresponding simulation results from the viewpoint of ambiguity function. This ambiguity function is equivalent to the role of Point Spread Function (PSF) which is often used in SAR for evaluating resolutions. Comparing to the conventional SAR with LFM signal, it is proved that the resolution of SAR based on OFDM is equivalent to the conventional one or even better. This ambiguity function also provides a principle for selecting various OFDM signals as the transmit signal of SAR.

This letter presents a bias-adjusted group digital predistortion (DPD) method to enhance linearization in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmitters with hybrid beamforming. By introducing a cross-normalized mean square error (CNMSE) metric, the nonlinearity consistency of multiple Doherty power amplifiers (DPAs) sharing radio frequency (RF) chains is quantitatively evaluated. A reference state is established using the worst-performing DPA, and the gate biases of other DPA are optimized to minimize CNMSE, aligning their nonlinear characteristics. This simplifies DPD training to a single-channel paradigm. Experiments with four DPAs under a 64-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal (200 MHz bandwidth) demonstrate a 6.77 dB adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) improvement over the baseline and 4.51 dB gain versus conventional DPD, validating efficient multi-DPA linearization for resource-constrained MIMO systems.

Digital predistortion (DPD) technique is an effective means to alleviate the nonlinearity of power amplifiers (PAs) and improve transmitter efficiency. However, for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems with a high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), the PAPR reduction needs to be deployed in combination with DPD, to maximize transmitter efficiency. The extra complexity caused by the introduction of PAPR reduction on the main road has become a non-negligible defect. To address this issue, this letter proposes a joint PAPR reduction and DPD model based on the generalized memory polynomial (GMP). To train the joint GMP model, this letter improves the ping-pong joint optimization (P2JO) approach under the offline case, to obtain accurate training data. The comparative experimental results based on 100-MHz Doherty PA show that the proposed joint model significantly reduces the model complexity on the main road, while ensuring adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) and bit error rate (BER).

The design of conventional digital predistortion (DPD) requires an analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) with a sampling frequency that is multiple times the signal bandwidth, which is extremely challenging for sub-Nyquist sampling systems with undersampled signals. To address this, this paper proposes a neural network (NN)-assisted wideband power amplifier (PA) DPD method for sub-Nyquist sampling systems, wherein a dual-stage architecture is designed to handle the ambiguity caused by subsampled communications signals. In the first stage, the time-delayed polynomial reconstruction method is employed to estimate the wideband DPD nonlinearity coarsely with the undersampled signals with limited pilots. In the second stage, an NN-based DPD method is proposed for the virtual training of the DPD, which learns the up-sampled DPD behavior by taking advantage of the pre-estimated DPD model and the input data signals, which reduces the length of the training sequence significantly and refines the DPD behavior efficiently. Simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method in tackling the wideband PA nonlinearity and its ability to outperform the conventional method in terms of power spectrum, error vector magnitude, and bit error rate.