A Method and Apparatus for Quantifying the Nonlinear Performance of Power Amplifiers
Muhammad Taher Abuelma’atti and Ali M.T. Abuelmaatti
This paper presents a simple mathematical model for the transfer characteristic of any nonlinear power amplifier. The model yields closed-form expressions for the amplitudes of the fundamental and distortion components of the output resulting from a multisinusoidal input. Using this model an apparatus is proposed to quantify the nonlinear performance of the power amplifier without recourse to the use of expensive electronic measuring instruments and/or sophisticated software. Moreover, the apparatus can provide means for automatic adjustment of the nonlinear characteristics of the pre-distortion network that may be used to linearize the power amplifier. The proposed apparatus is simple and can be built around a microprocessor that can perform addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in addition to storing and moving data from one location to another.
Keywords: Power amplifiers, nonlinear distortion