High Efficiency WCDMA Power Amplifier for MUOS Handheld Radio

For this Phase II research project, Quantum Dimension will develop a highly advanced prototype class E switching power amplifier (PA) for the MUOS handheld. The performance objectives are 8 Watts peak power with a power-added efficiency (PAE) greater than 50%. The PA that was developed in Phase I of this project will be built into a hardware prototype with today"s cutting edge commercial components. The performance objective of 50% is a starting point for this design. With class E operation, our target efficiency is on the order of 70% or greater. To achieve this objective, we will employ envelope tracking (ET) in order to keep the PA near peak efficiency operation. We will also build adaptive predistortion into the RF and baseband design to improve performance even further. While this technology is targeted for handheld operation, it is has applicability in many other areas due to its potential high efficiency and linearity: including the commercial and military radio applications. We also envision the outcome of this research to be cutting edge mobile technology that can potentially be integrated into Fourth Generation (4G) cellular devices due to this power amplifier"s ultra high performance capability.