Broadband high power amplifier

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11456702-B2
Application number	US-201916521929-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2019
Priority date	Jul 25, 2018
Publication date	Sep 27, 2022
Grant date	Sep 27, 2022

Abstract

The invention relates to a broadband high power amplifier that comprises a signal input adapted to receive an input signal, at least one amplifier stage adapted to amplify the received input signal, a signal output adapted to output the signal amplified by the at least one amplifier stage as an output signal, a monitoring unit adapted to monitor signal characteristics of the input signal and the output signal and a control unit adapted to operate the at least one amplifier stage at an optimal operating point depending on the current signal characteristics monitored by said monitoring unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A broadband high power amplifier, the broadband high power amplifier comprising:
a signal input adapted to receive an input signal;
at least one amplifier stage adapted to amplify the received input signal, wherein the amplifier stage comprise amplifier stages of different classes selected from at least one of switching amplifier stages such as class D amplifier stages and/or non-switching conduction angle amplifiers such as class A, B, AB and class C amplifier stages;
a signal output adapted to output the signal amplified by the at least one amplifier stage as an output signal;
a monitoring unit adapted to monitor signal characteristics of the input signal and the output signal; and
a control unit adapted to operate the at least one amplifier stage at an optimal operating point depending on the current signal characteristics monitored by said monitoring unit, wherein the control unit is adapted to operate the at least one amplifier stage at an optimal operating point which achieves at least one predefined or selected optimization criterion, and wherein the control unit is adapted to take into account the selected optimization criterion, the amplifier class of the respective stage, and the current signal characteristics of the respective amplifier stages received from the monitoring of the broadband high power amplifier.

2. The broadband high power amplifier of claim 1 wherein the control unit is adapted to adjust continuously or with preset increments an operation current or an operation voltage of at least one transistor or of at least one tube of the at least one amplifier stage to operate said amplifier stage at the optimal operation point.

3. The broadband high power amplifier of claim 2 wherein the control unit is adapted to adjust continuously or with preset increments a quiescent current or a supply voltage, respectively, of at least one transistor or of at least one tube of said at least one amplifier stage to operate the amplifier stage at the optimal operation point.

4. The broadband high power amplifier of claim 1 wherein the monitoring unit is adapted to monitor at the signal input of the amplifier stage of the broadband high power amplifier at least one of the following signal characteristics of the received input signal:
an average input power of the input signal,
a peak input power of the input signal,
a frequency of the input signal,
a bandwidth of the input signal.

5. The broadband high power amplifier of claim 1 wherein the monitoring unit is adapted to monitor at the signal output of the amplifier stage of the broadband high power amplifier at least one of the following signal characteristics of the output signal:
an average forward power,
a peak forward power,
a phase of the forward signal,
an average reflected power,
a peak reflected power,
a phase of the reflected signal.

6. The broadband high power amplifier of claim 1 wherein the optimization criterion applied by the control unit to adjust the operating point of the at least one amplifier stage comprises at least one of:
maximizing of forward power into a load connected to the signal output of the broadband high power amplifier;
maximizing a power efficiency of the broadband high power amplifier;
minimizing power dissipation of the broadband high power amplifier.

7. The broadband high power amplifier of claim 1 wherein the optimal operating point of the amplifier stage is located inside a linear operation range of said amplifier stage.

8. The broadband high power amplifier of claim 1 wherein the optimal operating point of the amplifier stage is located outside the linear operation range of said amplifier stage.

9. The broadband high power amplifier of claim 1 wherein the amplifier stages comprise at least one of:
solid-state amplifier stages including power transistors;
power tube amplifier stages comprising power tubes.

10. The broadband high power amplifier of claim 1 wherein the amplifier stages comprise at least one of:
switched amplifier stages;
conduction angle amplifier stages.

11. The broadband high power amplifier claim 1 wherein the at least one amplifier stage comprises a passive or active cooling device adapted to cool the respective amplifier stage.

12. An electromagnetic compatibility, EMC, test setup, the EMC test setup comprising:
at least one broadband high power amplifier used to amplify a continuous wave or pulsed RF test signal, the broadband high power amplifier comprising:
a signal input adapted to receive an input signal;
at least one amplifier stage adapted to amplify the received input signal, wherein the amplifier stage comprise amplifier stages of different classes selected from at least one of switching amplifier stages such as class D amplifier stages and/or non-switching conduction angle amplifiers such as class A, B, AB and class C amplifier stages;
a signal output adapted to output the signal amplified by the at least one amplifier stage as an output signal;
a monitoring unit adapted to monitor signal characteristics of the input signal and the output signal; and
a control unit adapted to operate the at least one amplifier stage at an optimal operating point depending on the current signal characteristics monitored by said monitoring unit, wherein the control unit is adapted to operate the at least one amplifier stage at an optimal operating point which achieves at least one predefined or selected optimization criterion, and wherein the control unit is adapted to take into account the selected optimization criterion, the amplifier class of the respective stage, and the current signal characteristics of the respective amplifier stages received from the monitoring of the broadband high power amplifier.

13. A method for operating a broadband high power amplifier having one or more amplifier stages, wherein the amplifier stage comprise amplifiers stages of different classes selected from at least one of switching amplifier stages such as class D amplifier stages and/or non-switching conduction angle amplifiers such as class A, B, AB and class C amplifier stages, the method comprising the steps of:
monitoring, by a monitoring unit, signal characteristics of an input signal received at a signal input of an amplifier stage of said broadband high power amplifier and signal characteristics of an output signal output at a signal output of the amplifier stage of said broad band high power amplifier; and
controlling the at least one amplifier stage of said broadband high power amplifier to operate at an optimal operation point depending on the monitored signal characteristics which achieves at least one predefined or selected optimization criterion, wherein the step of controlling takes into account the selected optimization criterion, the amplifier class of the respective stage, and the current signal characteristics of the respective amplifier stage received from the monitoring unit of the broadband high power amplifier.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein an operation current or an operation voltage of at least one transistor or of at least one tube of the amplifier stage is adjusted to continuously or with preset increments to operate the amplifier stage at the optimal operation point which is determined in response to the monitored signal characteristics according to at least one predefined or selected optimization criterion.

15. The method according of claim 13 wherein the monitored signal characteristics of the input signal comprise at least one of:
an average input power of the input signal,
a peak input power of the input signal,
a frequen

Assignees

• Rohde & Schwarz

Inventors

• Witt Thomas
• Ohnimus Florian
• Dalisda Uwe
• Titze Wolfram
• Andrei Andreas
• Göritz Raimon

Classifications

• H03F3/22

  with tubes only (H03F3/24 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H03F1/04 Primary

  in discharge-tube amplifiers · CPC title

• H03F3/195

  in integrated circuits · CPC title

• H03F1/06

  to raise the efficiency of amplifying modulated radio frequency waves; to raise the efficiency of amplifiers acting also as modulators {(modulation H03C)} · CPC title

• G01R31/002

  where the device under test is an electronic circuit · CPC title