A radio frequency (RF) 3-bit digital power amplifier (DPA) is described in this paper. It consists of three RF amplifiers connected at their outputs with a transmission line (TL) network. The three amplifiers are designed for different output powers (POUT). The TL network allows them to load-pull one other to achieve eight different amplitude states by alternatively enabling and disabling the amplifiers via their gate bias. A prototype was designed in the National Instruments' Microwave Office (MWO) for 500 MHz with the aid of a genetic algorithm to optimize the TL network for all seven active (on-) states. The optimizer efficiencies goals were based on data derived from load-pull simulation. The POUT goals were based on a 1 Vrms step-size. In simulation, ≥50% efficiency was achieved at all on-states with 29.7 dBm peak POUT. A practical prototype based on the simulation achieved an efficiency of ≥40% over all seven on-states. A peak POUT of 28.9 dBm was achieved, with the lowest state at 22.4 dBm.

中文翻译：

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3位负载牵引数字功率放大器

本文描述了一种射频 (RF) 3 位数字功率放大器 (DPA)。它由三个射频放大器组成，其输出端与传输线 (TL) 网络相连。这三个放大器设计用于不同的输出功率（磷出去）。TL 网络允许它们通过栅极偏置交替启用和禁用放大器，从而实现八种不同的幅度状态。在遗传算法的帮助下，美国国家仪器公司的微波办公室 (MWO) 设计了一个 500 MHz 的原型，以针对所有七个活动（开启）状态优化 TL 网络。优化器效率目标基于负载拉动模拟得出的数据。这磷出去目标基于 1 V有效值一步的大小。在仿真中，在所有导通状态下实现了 ≥50% 的效率，峰值为 29.7 dBm磷出去. 基于仿真的实用原型在所有七个导通状态下实现了≥40% 的效率。一个顶峰磷出去达到了 28.9 dBm，最低状态为 22.4 dBm。