Amplification using amplitude reconstruction of amplitude and/or angle modulated carrier
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for amplifying an input signal comprising:
- a signal separator to separate the input signal into an amplitude component and a phase modulated component;
a divider coupled to the signal separator to generate drive signals representing a plurality of replicas of the phase modulated component;
a plurality of parallel paths coupled to the divider to receive the drive signals, wherein at least two of the plurality of paths comprising a switch and a phase modulator and each of the plurality of paths comprises an amplifier producing an amplified signal;
a combiner coupled to sum outputs of amplifiers of the plurality of parallel paths to produce an amplified output; and
an amplitude reconstruction controller coupled to the signal separator and said at least two paths to control each switch and phase modulator contained therein, wherein the amplitude reconstruction controller induces amplitude modulation to appear at the combiner output by introducing into the plurality of paths a combination of amplifier switching and phase modulation.
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Abstract
The present invention provides high power linear amplification of an amplitude and/or phase modulated signal using multiple saturated (or if desired, unsaturated) amplifiers driven by an appropriate set of switched, and/or phase modulated constant amplitude signals derived from the input signal. The present invention combines three amplitude reconstruction techniques and implements the amplitude reconstruction modulator digitally.
301 Citations
38 Claims
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1. An apparatus for amplifying an input signal comprising:
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a signal separator to separate the input signal into an amplitude component and a phase modulated component; a divider coupled to the signal separator to generate drive signals representing a plurality of replicas of the phase modulated component; a plurality of parallel paths coupled to the divider to receive the drive signals, wherein at least two of the plurality of paths comprising a switch and a phase modulator and each of the plurality of paths comprises an amplifier producing an amplified signal; a combiner coupled to sum outputs of amplifiers of the plurality of parallel paths to produce an amplified output; and an amplitude reconstruction controller coupled to the signal separator and said at least two paths to control each switch and phase modulator contained therein, wherein the amplitude reconstruction controller induces amplitude modulation to appear at the combiner output by introducing into the plurality of paths a combination of amplifier switching and phase modulation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of amplifying an input signal comprising:
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removing amplitude modulation from the input signal; dividing the angle modulation component into a plurality parallel paths having amplifier stages, wherein at least two of the plurality of parallel paths have a switch and a phase modulator preceding the amplifier stage of the path; inducing amplitude modulation into the plurality of paths by performing amplifier switching and phase modulation; and combining outputs of the amplifier stages in each path to regenerate an output signal having the amplitude and phase modulation of the input signal. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 27)
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19. An apparatus for amplifying a signal comprising:
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means for separating an input signal into an amplitude modulation component and an angle modulation component; means for dividing the angle modulation component into a plurality parallel paths having amplifier stages, wherein at least two of the plurality of parallel paths include a switch and a phase modulator; means for inducing amplitude modulation into the plurality of paths by performing amplifier switching and phase modulation; and means for combining outputs of the amplifier stages in each path to create an output signal. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 26, 38)
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22. An amplifier to amplify an input signal to high power levels with low distortion, said amplifier comprising:
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means for separating the input signal into its envelope and phase modulated components; means for providing replicas of the phase modulated component to each of a plurality of parallel channels; means for imparting phase modulation in each of the plurality of parallel channels; means for generating switch and phase modulation for amplitude reconstruction based on a function of the signal envelope, wherein the means for generating supplies signals to each of the plurality of parallel channels; means for controlling amplitude reconstruction based on a combination switched amplifier and differential phase modulation; a plurality of amplifier means for amplifying the phase modulated component in each or any combination of the plurality of parallel channels; and combining means for summing the output of the plurality of amplifiers means. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 28, 29)
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30. An amplifier comprising:
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means for performing analog to digital conversion to sample an analog input and calibration signals centered at an intermediate frequency (IF); means for converting sampled the signals into complex baseband signals; means for performing rectangular to polar conversion on the complex baseband signals to generate amplitude and phase modulated components; means for computing phase modulation for reconstituting amplitude modulation based on vector recombination of multiple amplifier outputs; means for generating and combining amplitude and phase calibration signals with amplitude reconstruction modulation signals to generate signals to drive a plurality of amplifier channels; means for performing polar to rectangular conversion on signals from each of the amplifier channels to reconstitute I and Q signals; means for converting complex baseband signals on each of the signals from the amplifier channels into real signals; and means for converting the digital signal on each of the amplifier channel signals into analog signals centered at the IF. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32)
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33. An apparatus for amplifying an input signal comprising:
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a digital signal processor comprising a rectangular to polar converter to convert the rectangular coordinate in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) input into a polar coordinate amplitude and phase format, a phase modulation combining module to provide phase modulation to the polar coordinate phase component, and a plurality of polar to rectangular converters coupled to the phase modulation combining module to convert amplitude and phase components from polar coordinates into rectangular coordinates; and a plurality of amplifier modules, each being coupled to one of the plurality of polar to rectangular converters; a combiner coupled to sum outputs of amplifiers of the plurality of amplifier modules to produce an amplified output. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification