Unlocking the potential of millimeter-wave (mmWave) phased array systems demands robust nonlinear transmitter modeling and digital pre-distortion (DPD) techniques. In this article, we present a novel behavioral modeling approach and the corresponding linearization solution for beamforming antenna arrays comprising multiple and mutually interacting nonlinear power amplifier (PA) units. Our non-recursive transmitter model simplifies numerical evaluations across diverse phased array/multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) configurations under crosstalk-induced load modulation. We introduce a novel, nonlinear forward model parameter identification algorithm tailored for crosstalk-prone array systems and applicable in arbitrary MIMO transmitter configurations, enabling precise modeling and characterization using over-the-air (OTA) observations. Furthermore, we propose an offline direct learning architecture based DPD method, harnessing the estimated nonlinear array forward model and specific beam-sweeping procedure, for linearizing phased arrays under severe load modulation. Numerical assessments across various scenarios demonstrate superior performance, while physical validation on a measurement test bench reinforces our methodology’s real-world applicability. Overall, this work paves the way for advanced nonlinear array transmitter optimization and linearization, vital for next-generation wireless communication networks.

We analyze the uplink performance of a distributed massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) architecture in which the remotely located access points (APs) are connected to a central processing unit via a fiber-optical fronthaul carrying a dithered and 1-bit quantized version of the received radio-frequency (RF) signal. The innovative feature of the proposed architecture is that no down-conversion is performed at the APs. This eliminates the need to equip the APs with local oscillators, which may be difficult to synchronize. Under the assumption that a constraint is imposed on the amount of data that can be exchanged across the fiber-optical fronthaul, we investigate the tradeoff between spatial oversampling, defined in terms of the total number of APs, and temporal oversampling, defined in terms of the oversampling factor selected at the central processing unit, to facilitate the recovery of the transmitted signal from 1-bit samples of the RF received signal. Using the so-called error-vector magnitude (EVM) as performance metric, we shed light on the optimal design of the dither signal, and quantify, for a given number of APs, the minimum fronthaul rate required for our proposed distributed massive MIMO architecture to outperform a standard co-located massive MIMO architecture in terms of EVM.

A complete theoretical analysis is presented for a highly efficient power amplifier (PA) architecture based on a non-reciprocal combiner. The architecture consists of two amplifier branches and a microwave circulator acting as the output combiner, referred to as the circulator load-modulated amplifier (CLMA). The continuous-mode (CM) design technique has been further exploited for the CLMA to demonstrate the wideband capabilities of the architecture. The analysis reveals that the CLMA performs active load modulation to maintain high PA efficiency performance across a wide bandwidth and large output power dynamic range. As a proof of concept, a CLMA demonstrator circuit based on gallium nitride (GaN) transistors and a microwave circulator, is designed and characterized with continuous-wave and modulated-signal measurements. The implemented CLMA prototype circuit experimentally demonstrates Doherty-like efficiency enhancement over a large bandwidth covering 2.1 to 3.5 GHz. In measurements, the prototype exhibits a drain efficiency of 46.7-57.5% at peak output power and 35.6-50.6% at 7-dB output power back-off level, within the design bandwidth. When tested with a 60-MHz multi-carrier orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal having a 7-dB peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), an average efficiency of 48.5% with better than −47.5-dBc adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) is achieved after applying digital pre-distortion (DPD).

This article investigates the feasibility of combinerless multilevel outphasing transmitter as a potential architecture for large millimeter-wave (mmWave) phased arrays. We consider two distinct ways of distributing the component signals to the antennas and develop a model for the received signal at each radiated spatial direction from a phased array. Based on the received signal model, we derive expressions for the signal-to-distortion ratio as well as total power experienced at each spatial direction. Furthermore, antenna branch mismatches, overload distortion and quantization are considered, and an analytical model for the signal-to-distortion ratio at the intended receiver is derived. We additionally establish a model for comparing the achievable energy efficiency to those of the relevant reference methods. Extensive numerical experiments are carried out to verify the analytical works, and to assess the commonly used metrics of error vector magnitude (EVM) and total radiated power adjacent channel leakage ratio (TRP-ACLR). It is shown that the combinerless architecture is a valid option for mmWave phased arrays, demonstrating favorable EVM results and TRP-ACLR beyond the 28 dBc limit imposed by the 3GPP, even in the presence of the considered distortions. The conducted energy efficiency assessment shows that efficiency of the reference methods can be exceeded with sufficient amount of outphasing levels. The considered architecture is thus an interesting alternative for addressing the linearity vs. energy-efficiency challenge in mmWave phased-array systems.

In this paper, we present a novel and effective linearization technique for nonlinear phased array antennas. For large phased arrays, linearization of the array using a single digital predistortion (DPD) is inevitable since one digital path is upconverted and feeds several RF transmission paths, each of which is connected to a power amplifier (PA) and an antenna element. However, a critical issue is that the PA characteristics can vary considerably within an array. Thus, linearizing individual PAs with one DPD is rather challenging. We formulate and solve an optimization problem that corresponds to jointly minimizing the maximum residuals between the input to the array and the output of individual PAs. We demonstrate that the proposed technique outperforms state-of-the-art linearization solutions while retaining the linear gain of the array.

In this paper, we present a technique to model and linearize a multi-antenna transmitter using only a small set of observation receivers that perform over-the-air measurements. We assume that the transmitter suffers from distortion due to power amplifier (PA) nonlinearities but not from crosstalk. By avoiding the use of an observation receiver in every transmitter branch, the hardware complexity and cost of multi-antenna transmitters can be reduced. First, equations are developed to extract PA models from observation receivers. Based on the extracted PA models, predistorters can then be identified for every transmit branch. We present simulation results that demonstrate that it is indeed possible to model and linearize a set of PAs using only one single observation receiver.

In this semi-tutorial paper, we derive the general form of a predistorter for a concurrent multiband system. Further, we derive complexity-reduced forms, and we compare the resulting algorithms with previously proposed algorithms in the literature.

This paper presents an iterative interference suppression technique to cancel power amplifier (PA) distortion at the receiver. The focus is mainly on single carrier frequency division multiple access systems, and on removing the distortion created by adjacent users' power amplifier. It is assumed that the receiver has perfect knowledge of all the users' transmitter power amplifier nonlinearities. By relaxing the requirement on PA linearity at the mobile terminals, the PA power efficiency can be improved. The simulations show that by utilizing the successive interference cancelation technique, the require signal to noise ratio required to achieve 10-3symbol error rate is decreased by 3 - 4 dB. By using a clipped communication signal instead of backing off the power in the transmitter PA, we are able to improve the power added efficiency by 8 percentage points.