Envelope Amplifier For Broadband Base Station Envelope Tracking Power Amplifier

Envelope tracking (ET), which is a dynamic supply control technology to realize high efficiency power amplifiers, is a promising approach for base-station transmitters of the future. The envelope amplifier (EA) in ET systems provides a non-constant modulated power supply to the RF transistor. It is challenging to design so that it is both broadband and high efficiency, while meeting the stringent linearity requirements for high peak-to-average ratio signals in modern wireless communication systems. This thesis focuses on EA design and implementation for efficiency enhancement of ET systems with broadband envelope input signals. First, the ET system architecture is analyzed, and the efficiencies of RF transistors and envelope amplifiers are described. Secondly, the principles of the EA operation are investigated, and each circuit stage is carefully designed for broadband signals. Then, an EA model, including the RF transistor load, is developed in PSpice, and many simulations are described in order to better analyze and design the broadband EA for high efficiency. After the design, a broadband EA is implemented on a PCB board. The testing with constant resistive loads is carried out to verify the function and measure the efficiencies of 5 MHz WCDMA and 20 MHz LTE-A downlink envelope signals. Finally, tests on the whole ET system are performed, and the overall drain and power added efficiencies are tabulated. For this broadband envelope amplifier, the efficiency for a 5 MHz WCDMA input signal is above 75%, and for 20 MHz LTE-A, it works robustly with an efficiency of 62%.