High Average-Efficiency Multimode RF Transmitter Using a Hybrid Quadrature Polar Modulator

Abstract

This paper presents a hybrid quadrature polar modulator (HQPM) to drive the power amplifier (PA) highly efficiently in a wireless RF transmitter required for multimode operation. For enhancing the transmit efficiency, a switching-mode PA realized as Class-E design is used in the transmitter. The HQPM consists of a quadrature modulator for processing the RF modulated carrier and a Class-S modulator for processing the supply-voltage signal. The quadrature modulator and the Class-S modulator deliver the output signals with proportional envelope variation before being inserted into the RF-input terminal and the supply-voltage terminal of a Class-E PA, respectively, causing the double envelope modulation to distort the modulated RF signal at the PA output. Therefore, a digital predistorter is embedded in the HQPM for compensation. The proposed HQPM-based transmitter can help reducing the average dc and input RF powers and the output feedthrough levels so as to enhance power added efficiency and adjacent channel power rejection remarkably.