ADAPTIVE DIGITAL PREDISTORTION FOR POLAR TRANSMITTER

• US 20180287569A1
• Filed: 07/19/2017
• Published: 10/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Innophase, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Innophase, Inc.
• Inventors: Xu, Yang, Munoz Hermoso, Sara
• Granted Patent: US 10,148,230 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/0261 with control of the polarisation voltage or current, e.g. gliding Class A
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/3247 using feedback acting on predistortion circuits H03F1/3264 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/3282 Acting on the phase and the amplitude of the input signal
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/451 the amplifier being a radio frequency amplifier
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2201/3233 Adaptive predistortion using lookup table, e.g. memory, RAM, ROM, LUT, to generate the predistortion
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2203/21109 An input signal being distributed by switching to a plurality of paralleled power amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/189 High-frequency amplifiers, e.g. radio frequency amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/20 Power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers H03F3/26 - H03F3/30 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/211 using a combination of several amplifiers H03F3/60 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/24 of transmitter output stages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/361 Modulation using a single or unspecified number of carriers, e.g. with separate stages of phase and amplitude modulation

Abstract

A predistortion circuit receives an input polar signal to be transmitted, including an input amplitude signal and an input phase signal. The input polar signal is predistorted using at least one predistortion parameter selected from a lookup table. A phase-and-amplitude modulated radio-frequency signal is generated corresponding to the predistorted polar signal. A copy of the generated radio-frequency signal is provided to a polar receiver. The polar receiver is operated to generate, from the copy of the radio-frequency signal and without information relating to the generated transmit signal, a feedback polar signal including a feedback amplitude signal and a feedback phase signal. The feedback polar signal is compared to the input polar signal, the lookup table is updated in response to the comparison.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an input polar transmit signal including an input amplitude signal and an input phase signal;

generating a predistorted polar transmit signal by predistorting the input polar transmit signal using at least one predistortion parameter selected from a lookup table;

generating a phase-and-amplitude modulated radio-frequency transmit signal corresponding to the predistorted polar signal;

providing a copy of the generated radio-frequency signal to a polar receiver having an injection lock oscillator (ILO);

operating the ILO of the polar receiver to generate in response to the copied, generated radio-frequency signal, a sampled polar signal including a sampled amplitude signal and a sampled phase signal;

comparing the sampled polar signal to the input polar transmit signal; and

updating the lookup table in response to the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

amplifying the radio-frequency signal with a power amplifier using a selected power level, wherein the at least one predistortion parameter in the lookup table is selected based in part on the selected power level.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein predistorting the input polar transmit signal comprises:

looking up an amplitude predistortion parameter corresponding to a value of the input amplitude signal; and

multiplying the input amplitude signal by the amplitude predistortion parameter.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein predistorting the input polar transmit signal comprises:

looking up a phase predistortion parameter corresponding to a value of the input amplitude signal; and

adding the phase predistortion parameter to the input phase signal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein predistorting the input polar transmit signal comprises:

looking up an amplitude predistortion parameter corresponding to a value of the input amplitude signal;

multiplying the input amplitude signal by the amplitude predistortion parameter to generate a predistorted amplitude signal;

looking up a phase predistortion parameter corresponding to a value of the predistorted amplitude signal; and

adding the phase predistortion parameter to the input phase signal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein operating the polar receiver to generate the sampled phase signal includes:

dividing the frequency of the copied radio-frequency signal to generate a frequency-divided signal; and

providing the frequency-divided signal to a time-to-digital converter.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein dividing the frequency of the copied radio-frequency signal includes providing the copied radio-frequency signal to an injection-locked frequency divider.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein operating the polar receiver to generate the sampled phase signal includes:

normalizing an amplitude of the copied radio-frequency signal; and

measuring the phase of the normalized radio-frequency signal.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the sampled polar signal to the input polar transmit signal comprises comparing the sampled polar signal to a delayed version of the input polar transmit signal.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the sampled polar signal to the input polar transmit signal comprises subtracting the sampled phase signal from the input phase signal to determine a phase difference, and wherein updating the lookup table includes adjusting an entry in the lookup table by an amount proportional to the phase difference.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the sampled polar signal to the input polar transmit signal comprises subtracting the sampled amplitude signal from the input amplitude signal to determine an amplitude difference, and wherein updating the lookup table includes adjusting an entry in the lookup table by an amount proportional to the amplitude difference.

12. A circuit comprising:

a lookup table having at least one address input and a data output, the address input being connected to a polar signal input, the lookup table being operative to store a plurality of predistortion parameters;

predistortion logic having at least a first predistortion input connected to the polar signal input and a second predistortion input connected to the data output of the lookup table, the predistortion logic further having a predistortion output;

a polar transmitter having an input connected to the predistortion output, the polar transmitter having an RF output;

a polar receiver having an RF input coupled to the RF output of the polar transmitter, the polar receiver having a sampled polar signal output; and

an adaptation circuit having a first input connected to the sampled polar signal output of the polar receiver and a second input connected to the polar signal input, the adaptation circuit being operative to modify the stored predistortion parameters based on a comparison of the sampled polar signal output with the polar signal input.

13. The circuit of claim 12, wherein the predistortion output includes a predistorted amplitude output, and wherein at least one of the address inputs of the lookup table is connected to the predistorted amplitude output.

14. The circuit of claim 12, wherein the polar receiver includes a phase detector and an envelope detector, and wherein the phase detector includes amplitude normalization circuitry.

15. The circuit of claim 12, wherein the polar receiver includes a phase detector and an envelope detector, and wherein the phase detector comprises:

a frequency divider having a frequency-divided output and an input connected to the RF input of the polar receiver; and

a time-to-digital converter connected to the frequency-divided output and operative to determine a sampled phase signal from a phase of the frequency-divided output.

16. The circuit of claim 15, wherein the frequency divider is an injection-locked frequency divider.

17. The circuit of claim 12, wherein the polar transmitter includes a power amplifier, and wherein the power amplifier comprises:

a binary-to-thermometer decoder having a plurality of thermometer code outputs and a binary input connected to the predistortion output; and

a plurality of power amplifier cells connected to respective thermometer code outputs.

18. The circuit of claim 12, further comprising a power control circuit having a power level output operative to control a drain voltage level applied to the plurality of power amplifier cells.

19. The circuit of claim 12, wherein the polar transmitter includes a power amplifier, the circuit further comprising a power control circuit having a power level output operative to control a power level of the power amplifier, wherein the power level output is connected to at least one of the address inputs of the lookup table.

20. The circuit of claim 12, further comprising a loop delay matching circuit to connect the polar signal input to the lookup table and the adaptation circuit.