Tracking power converter for supply modulation of RF power amplifiers

Abstract

This paper describes a tracking power converter and the controller IC for its implementation. The tracking power converter is used for supply modulation of a linear RF power amplifier. Supply modulation improves RF power amplifier efficiency for variable envelope RF signals. This system maximizes tracking bandwidth (/spl sim/160 kHz), ripple suppression (/spl sim/70 dB) and power conversion efficiency (/spl sim/92%) with a relatively low switching frequency (800 kHz).