Systems and methods for controlling supply voltages of stacked power amplifiers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10749593-B2
Application number	US-201615233830-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2016
Priority date	Aug 10, 2015
Publication date	Aug 18, 2020
Grant date	Aug 18, 2020

Abstract

Many embodiments of the invention include stacked power amplifier configurations that include control circuitry for sensing the operational characteristics of the power amplifiers and adjusting the current drawn by one or more of the power amplifiers to prevent any of the power amplifiers from experiencing over voltage stresses and/or to increase the operational efficiency of the power amplifiers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A circuit comprising:
a plurality of power amplifiers having supply connections connected in series and used to convert electric current received via a supply connection into RF power that can be transmitted via an RF signal;
one or more current sensors to monitor operating characteristics, including a supply current, of each power amplifier; and
control circuitry configured to control each of the plurality of power amplifiers based on the operating characteristics of the plurality of power amplifiers, wherein the control circuitry further comprises a field-effect transistor (FET) bypass device that provides a path to bypass current around a specific power amplifier.

2. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry adjusts a supply current drawn by one or more of the power amplifiers based on data derived from the one or more current sensors.

3. The circuit of claim 1 , further comprising one or more voltage sensors that monitor the operating characteristics of the plurality of power amplifiers.

4. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry increases a supply current drawn by a power amplifier.

5. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry adjusts a supply current drawn by one or more of the power amplifiers by modifying bias voltages of transistors within the power amplifiers.

6. The circuit of claim 5 , wherein the bias voltage is selected from a group consisting of a gate bias, a base bias, and a cascode bias.

7. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors comprises an analog peak voltage detector and a DC current detector.

8. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein an output of the one or more sensors is converted by an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter.

9. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry further comprises a microcontroller for monitoring the supply current.

10. The circuit of claim 9 , wherein the microcontroller controls a magnitude of bias by performing a proportional-summation-difference (PSD) control process.

11. The circuit of claim 9 , wherein the microcontroller controls the magnitude of bypass current by performing a PSD control process.

12. The circuit of claim 9 , wherein the microcontroller controls the supply current using a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) process.

13. A control method for controlling supply voltages provided to a plurality of power amplifiers, the control method comprising:
monitoring operating characteristics, including a supply current, to each of a plurality of power amplifiers using one or more current sensors, wherein the plurality of power amplifiers have supply connections connected in series and are used to convert electric current received via a supply connection into RF power that can be transmitted via an RF signal;
controlling a supply current provided to each of the plurality of power amplifiers based on the operating characteristics of the plurality of power amplifiers wherein controlling the supply current comprises using a bypass device that provides a path to bypass current around a specific power amplifier.

14. The control method of claim 13 , further comprising adjusting a supply current drawn by one or more of the power amplifiers based on data derived from the one or more current sensors.

15. The control method of claim 13 , further comprising monitoring the operating characteristics of the plurality of power amplifiers using one or more voltage sensors.

16. The control method of claim 13 , further comprising increasing a supply current drawn by a power amplifier.

17. The control method of claim 13 , further comprising adjusting a supply current drawn by one or more of the power amplifiers by modifying bias voltages of transistors within the power amplifiers.

18. The control method of claim 17 , wherein the bias voltage is selected from a group consisting of a gate bias, a base bias, and a cascode bias.

19. The control method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more current sensors comprise an analog peak voltage detector and a DC current detector.

20. The control method of claim 13 , wherein an output of the one or more sensors is converted by an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter.

21. A power generation tile, comprising:
at least one photovoltaic cell; and
at least one power transmitter collocated with the at least one photovoltaic cell and in signal communication therewith such that an electrical current generated by collection of solar radiation by the at least one photovoltaic cell powers the at least one power transmitter, where each of the at least one power transmitters comprises:
a plurality of power amplifiers having supply connections connected in series and used to convert electric current received via a supply connection into RF power that can be transmitted via an RF signal; and
control circuitry configured to control a supply voltage provided to each of the plurality of power amplifiers based on operating characteristics of the plurality of power amplifiers, wherein the control circuitry further comprises a field-effect transistor (FET) bypass device that provides a path to bypass current around a specific power amplifier.

Assignees

• California Inst Of Techn

Inventors

• Hajimiri Seyed Ali
• Bohn Florian
• Abiri Behrooz

Classifications

• B64G1/4282

  for transmitting power to earth or other spacecraft · CPC title

• H03F3/19

  with semiconductor devices only · CPC title

• H03F2200/451

  the amplifier being a radio frequency amplifier · CPC title

• H03F2200/471

  the voltage being sensed · CPC title

• H03F1/0261

  with control of the polarisation voltage or current, e.g. gliding Class A · CPC title