Nonlinear and Load-Pulling Effects in an Octave-Bandwidth Transmit Array

Marzall, Laila; Nogales, Connor; Schafer, Scott; Lasser, Gregor; Popović, Zoya

doi:10.1109/tmtt.2022.3222326

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In an active transmit array, slowly varying the supply voltage between elements can be used to taper the beam, and [9] shows how nonlinearities in the array are affected by the supply voltage and antenna active reflection coefficient, and that it is difficult to maintain high efficiency across a wide bandwidth for modulated signals. Here we show that dynamic supply modulation is a possible solution for broadband array efficiency and linearity enhancement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dynamic Supply Modulation of a 6 – 12 GHz Transmit Array

Nogales

Marzall

Lasser

et al. 2023

2023 IEEE Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON)

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This paper presents dynamic supply modulation results of a broadband 6-12 GHz 4 × 1 transmit antenna array. The four 2-W GaN MMIC PAs share a 4-level GaN MMIC dynamic power supply. A single GaN MMIC PA is first characterized at 6.5 and 11.5 GHz, and its efficiency while tracking a 10-MHz signal is compared to static drain supply performance, showing 10 percentage point (pp) average efficiency improvement. Four such PAs are then assembled in a modular array of broadband double-ridge dielectrically-loaded horn antennas and characterized under supply modulation. The measured average efficiency when each of the four PAs are terminated with 50 Ω is compared to when the PAs are loaded with the antenna array. An average PAE improvement of 3.4 pp is achieved over the static case with the supply modulated array at 6.5 GHz when amplifying a 10-MHz 10.7-dB peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) signal, not taking the >80% efficient modulator into account. Linearity is characterized in terms noise power ratio (NPR) of the individual PAs, and at 6.5 GHz the improvement ranges from 2 to 6 dB, depending on the PA. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first demonstration of dynamic supply modulation for broadband array efficiency and linearity enhancement.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3. The antenna array elements are double-ridge flared small-aperture horns designed for 6-12 GHz, described in more detail in [9]. The mechanical design of the array is modular in the z-direction (Fig.…”

Section: Supply-modulated Pa Combinermentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic Supply Modulation of a 6 – 12 GHz Transmit Array

Nogales

Marzall

Lasser

et al. 2023

2023 IEEE Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON)

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“…Behavior of the 3rd order intermodulation prducts (IM3) has been analyzed in radiation [16], but the effect of load-pull has been ignored. Beam-steering is usually not performed in simulations which take load-pull into account [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Over-the-Air Suppression of Third-Order Intermodulation in a Two-Beam Steered Amplifier-Antenna Array

Kutinlahti,

Lehtovuori,

Viikari

2023

IEEE Access

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The effect of load-pull on 3rd order intermodulation (IM3) radiation characteristics of a transmitting active phased array is studied and a general model for predicting the spatial distribution of fundamental tones and intermodulation products is introduced. The used data is obtained from a load pull measured amplifier prototype and a simulated linear antenna array, which are used in co-simulation of the system behavior. The system is optimized for maximum main tone beam powers with a two-tone excitation while satisfying a signal-to-IM3 ratio (SI3R) of 40 dB. In this paper, we demonstrate the case, where two separate beams are scanned independently from each other. The used load-pull system model achieves on average an improvement of 10.4 dB for SI3R, when compared to traditional small-signal modelling, while decreasing the main beam power densities by only 0.3 dB when compared to traditional small-signal modelling. Optimizing for SI3R degrades beam pattern by increasing beamwidths and decreasing sidelobe levels (SLL).INDEX TERMS Active phased arrays, amplifier, beam-steering, intermodulation, load pull, third-order intermodulation product (IM3)

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Nonlinear and Load-Pulling Effects in an Octave-Bandwidth Transmit Array

Cited by 2 publications

References 29 publications

Dynamic Supply Modulation of a 6 – 12 GHz Transmit Array

Dynamic Supply Modulation of a 6 – 12 GHz Transmit Array

Over-the-Air Suppression of Third-Order Intermodulation in a Two-Beam Steered Amplifier-Antenna Array

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