1st International Conference on 5G for Ubiquitous Connectivity

Research Article

Techniques to Improve Power Amplifier Energy Efficiency for 5G

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/icst.5gu.2014.257998,
        author={Erdem Bala and Leonid Kazakevich and Rui Yang},
        title={Techniques to Improve Power Amplifier Energy Efficiency for 5G},
        proceedings={1st International Conference on 5G for Ubiquitous Connectivity},
        publisher={IEEE},
        proceedings_a={5GU},
        year={2014},
        month={12},
        keywords={ofdm multicarrier modulation power amplifier energy efficiency spectral efficiency envelope detection digital predistortion},
        doi={10.4108/icst.5gu.2014.257998}
    }
    
  • Erdem Bala
    Leonid Kazakevich
    Rui Yang
    Year: 2014
    Techniques to Improve Power Amplifier Energy Efficiency for 5G
    5GU
    IEEE
    DOI: 10.4108/icst.5gu.2014.257998
Erdem Bala1,*, Leonid Kazakevich1, Rui Yang1
  • 1: InterDigital
*Contact email: erdem.bala@interdigital.com

Abstract

Improved spectral and energy efficiency are two key requirements for the fifth generation (5G) wireless communication systems. The inefficiency and non-linearity of traditional power amplifiers (PA) pose significant challenges to meet these requirements, especially for multicarrier modulation signals (MCM) with high peak to average power ratio (PAPR). In this paper, we study methods to improve the energy efficiency of PAs and compensate for the distortion of PA non-linearity. A low complexity envelope tracking (ET) method where the supply voltage of the PA consists of two or more discrete levels is presented. To reduce the distortion due to PA nonlinearity, a power amplifier model with power supply variation is introduced and a digital predistortion technique based on a Volterra series is used. Finally, an integrated architecture combining crest factor reduction (CFR), DPD, and ET is presented. Simulations and measurements from a hardware platform demonstrate the energy efficiency gains attained by the proposed techniques.