Phased Array Antenna Power Amplifier Modules

"Today's high-performance radars rely on electronically steered arrays made of thousands of radiating elements with a transmit/receiver (T/R) module connected to each element. One critical design goal for T/R modules is maximization of the power-addedefficiency (PAE) of the transmitter power amplifier, usually defined near its saturated output power level (Psat). As more sophisticated modulation waveforms or multiple carriers are introduced, power amplifiers near saturation introduce unacceptabledistortion effects. This means that the output power has to be backed-off from Psat with potentially major degradation in PAE. This program will focus on development of distortion reduction and efficiency enhancement techniques applicable to complexmodulation or multi-carrier systems and practical implementation of these circuits, including adaptive bias optimization to compensate for variations in signal levels, temperature, and load conditions. The design approach to be evolved will stresscapabilities for distortion cancellation and efficiency enhancement, and for integration of the complete circuit into one (or more) MMIC chip(s) that can be incorporated into standard T/R modules. The proposed program will lead to MMIC design concepts forreduction of non-linear distortion and efficiency enhancement in power amplifiers for one or more specific applications with well-defined frequencies of operation, bandwidths, and modulation formats. Suc