Memory predistortion in bandwidth limited envelope tracking

• US 9,973,370 B1
• Filed: 06/06/2017
• Issued: 05/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel IP Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Langer, Andreas, Hepp, Christoph
• Primary Examiner(s): Panwalkar, Vineeta
• Application Number:
  US15/614,817
• Time in Patent Office: 343 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/025 by using a signal derived from the input signal
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/3258 based on polynomial terms
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/102 A non-specified detector of a signal envelope being used in an amplifying circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2201/3209 the amplifier comprising means for compensating memory effects
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2201/3224 Predistortion being done for compensating memory effects
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/245 with semiconductor devices only
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/3912 Simulation models, e.g. distribution of spectral power density or received signal strength indicator [RSSI] for a given geographic region
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/368 adaptive predistortion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/365 Power headroom reporting

Abstract

An apparatus compensates nonlinearities in envelope tracking (ET) used in a mobile device by limiting a bandwidth of an envelope signal representing an envelope of an input baseband signal to be less than a bandwidth of tracker circuitry, generating a scaled replica of an output signal of the tracker circuitry based on the bandwidth-limited envelope signal, and generating a model distortion signal based on the scaled replica and the input baseband signal, where the model distortion signal emulates ET linearity degradation. The apparatus is further configured to generate an output baseband signal based on the scaled replica, the model distortion signal, and the input baseband signal, where the output baseband signal is pre-distorted relative to the input baseband signal according to the scaled replica, the model distortion signal, and the input baseband signal to compensate for degradations in transmit signal quality due to ET nonlinearities.

Claims

1. An apparatus for compensating nonlinearities in envelope tracking (ET) used in a mobile device, the apparatus comprising:

memory; and

processing circuitry, configured to;

filter an envelope signal representing an envelope of an input baseband signal to limit a bandwidth of the envelope signal to be less than a bandwidth of tracker circuitry;

generate a scaled replica of an output signal of the tracker circuitry based on the bandwidth-limited envelope signal;

generate a model distortion signal based on the scaled replica and the input baseband signal, the model distortion signal emulating ET linearity degradation;

generate an output baseband signal based on the scaled replica, the model distortion signal, and the input baseband signal, the output baseband signal being pre-distorted relative to the input baseband signal according to the scaled replica, the model distortion signal, and the input baseband signal to compensate for degradations in transmit signal quality due to ET nonlinearities; and

provide the output baseband signal to transmitter circuitry to be converted to an RF signal for transmission by the transmitter circuitry.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ET linearity degradation is due to tracker bandwidth limitations.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ET linearity degradation is due to ET delay offset errors.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

generate the envelope signal from the input baseband signal; and

shape the envelope signal;

wherein the shaped envelope signal is filtered and the scaled replica is generated based on the filtered shaped envelope signal.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the model distortion signal is based on a ratio of the input baseband signal and the scaled replica.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to invert the scaled replica and multiply the input baseband signal by the inverted scaled replica to generate the model distortion signal.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

compute a plurality of memory polynomial equations operating on a plurality of signal pairs, the plurality of signal pairs including the scaled replica paired with the model distortion signal, the scaled replica paired with the input baseband signal, the model distortion signal paired with the input baseband signal, the scaled replica paired with itself, the model distortion signal paired with itself, and the input baseband signal paired with itself; and

sum results of computing the plurality of memory polynomial equations to generate the output baseband signal.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of memory polynomial equations implement the following polynomial equation:

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine the complex weighting of each polynomial of the polynomial equation by indirect learning.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tracker circuitry'"'"'s output signal is to be provided to ET power amplifier (PA) circuitry as a variable voltage power supply, the tracker circuitry'"'"'s output signal being varied by the tracker circuitry according to the bandwidth-limited envelope signal to increase efficiency of the ET PA circuitry.

11. A method of compensating envelope tracking (ET) nonlinearities in a mobile device, the method comprising:

filtering an envelope signal representing an envelope of an input baseband signal to limit a bandwidth of the envelope signal to be less than a bandwidth of tracker circuitry;

generating a scaled replica of an output signal of the tracker circuitry based on the bandwidth-limited envelope signal;

generating a model distortion signal based on the scaled replica and the input baseband signal, the model distortion signal emulating ET linearity degradation;

generating an output baseband signal based on the scaled replica, the model distortion signal, and the input baseband signal, the output baseband signal being pre-distorted relative to the input baseband signal according to the scaled replica, the model distortion signal, and the input baseband signal to compensate for degradations in transmit signal quality due to ET nonlinearities; and

providing the output baseband signal to transmitter circuitry to be converted to an RF signal for transmission by the transmitter circuitry.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the ET linearity degradation is due to tracker bandwidth limitations.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the ET linearity degradation is due to ET delay offset errors.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating the envelope signal from the input baseband signal; and

shaping the envelope signal;

wherein the shaped envelope signal is filtered and the scaled replica is generated based on the filtered shaped envelope signal.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein generating the model distortion signal comprises:

inverting the scaled replica; and

multiplying the input baseband signal by the inverted scaled replica to generate the model distortion signal.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein generating the output baseband signal comprises:

computing a plurality of memory polynomial equations operating on a plurality of signal pairs, the plurality of signal pairs including the scaled replica paired with the model distortion signal, the scaled replica paired with the input baseband signal, the model distortion signal paired with the input baseband signal, the scaled replica paired with itself, the model distortion signal paired with itself, and the input baseband signal paired with itself; and

summing outputs of the plurality of memory polynomial equations to generate the output baseband signal.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of memory polynomial equations is described by:

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising performing indirect learning to determine the complex weighting of each polynomial of the polynomial equation.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the tracker circuitry'"'"'s output signal is to be provided to ET power amplifier (PA) circuitry as a variable voltage power supply, the tracker circuitry'"'"'s output signal being varied by the tracker circuitry according to the bandwidth-limited envelope signal to increase efficiency of the ET PA circuitry.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of a mobile device, to perform operations for compensating nonlinearities in envelope tracking (ET), the operations to configure the one or more processors to:

filter an envelope signal representing an envelope of an input baseband signal to limit a bandwidth of the envelope signal to be less than a bandwidth of tracker circuitry;

generate a scaled replica of an output signal of the tracker circuitry, the scaled replica generated based on the bandwidth-limited envelope signal;

generate a model distortion signal based on the scaled replica and the input baseband signal, the model distortion signal emulating ET linearity degradation;

generate an output baseband signal based on the scaled replica, the model distortion signal, and the input baseband signal, the output baseband signal being pre-distorted relative to the input baseband signal according to the scaled replica, the model distortion signal, and the input baseband signal to compensate for degradations in transmit signal quality due to ET nonlinearities; and

provide the output baseband signal to transmitter circuitry to be converted to an RF signal for transmission by the transmitter circuitry.

21. The medium of claim 20, wherein the operations to configure the one or more processors to generate the model distortion signal further include operations to configure the one or more processors to:

invert the scaled replica; and

multiply the input baseband signal by the inverted scaled replica to generate the model distortion signal.

22. The medium of claim 20, wherein the operations further comprise operations to configure the one or more processors to:

generate the envelope signal from the input baseband signal; and

shape the envelope signal;

wherein the shaped envelope signal is filtered and the scaled replica is generated based on the filtered shaped envelope signal.

23. The medium of claim 20, wherein the operations to configure the one or more processors to generate the output baseband signal further include operations to configure the one or more processors to:

compute a plurality of memory polynomial equations operating on a plurality of signal pairs, the plurality of signal pairs including the scaled replica paired with the model distortion signal, the scaled replica paired with the input baseband signal, the model distortion signal paired with the input baseband signal, the scaled replica paired with itself, the model distortion signal paired with itself, and the input baseband signal paired with itself; and

sum results of computing the plurality of memory polynomial equations to generate the output baseband signal;

wherein each of the plurality of memory polynomial equations is described by;

24. The medium of claim 20, wherein the tracker circuitry'"'"'s output signal is to be provided to ET power amplifier (PA) circuitry as a variable voltage power supply, the tracker circuitry'"'"'s output signal being varied by the tracker circuitry according to the bandwidth-limited envelope signal to increase efficiency of the ET PA circuitry.

25. An apparatus of a mobile device, the apparatus configured to compensate nonlinearities in envelope tracking (ET), the apparatus comprising:

memory; and

processing circuitry, configured to;

generate an input baseband signal;

generate an envelope signal from the input baseband signal;

shape the envelope signal;

filter the shaped envelope signal to limit a bandwidth of the envelope signal to be less than a bandwidth of tracker circuitry;

generate a scaled replica of an output signal of the tracker circuitry, the scaled replica generated based on the bandwidth-limited envelope signal;

generate a model distortion signal as a ratio of the input baseband signal and the scaled replica, the model distortion signal emulating ET linearity degradation;

generate an output baseband signal based on the scaled replica, the model distortion signal, and the input baseband signal, the output baseband signal being pre-distorted relative to the input baseband signal according to the scaled replica, the model distortion signal, and the input baseband signal to compensate for degradations in transmit signal quality due to ET nonlinearities;

generate a radio frequency (RF) signal based on the output baseband signal;

amplify the RF signal by a power amplifier having an input voltage modulated by tracker circuitry based on a conditioned representation of the scaled replica; and

transmit the RF signal by RF front end circuitry and antenna.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

compute a plurality of memory polynomial equations operating on a plurality of signal pairs, the plurality of signal pairs including the scaled replica paired with the model distortion signal, the scaled replica paired with the input baseband signal, the model distortion signal paired with the input baseband signal, the scaled replica paired with itself, the model distortion signal paired with itself, and the input baseband signal paired with itself; and

sum results of computing the plurality of memory polynomial equations to generate the output baseband signal.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein each of the plurality of memory polynomial equations implement the following polynomial equation:

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine the complex weighting of each polynomial of the polynomial equation by indirect learning.

29. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the tracker circuitry'"'"'s output signal to be provided to ET power amplifier (PA) circuitry as a variable voltage power supply, the tracker circuitry'"'"'s output signal being varied by the tracker circuitry according to the bandwidth-limited envelope signal to increase efficiency of the ET PA circuitry.