12 January 2017

Mitsubishi Electric develops first GaN Doherty power amplifier with 600MHz bandwidth above 3GHz

Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Electric Corp and its corporate R&D organization's North American subsidiary Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) have developed an ultra-wideband gallium nitride (GaN) Doherty power amplifier for next-generation base stations that is compatible with what is claimed to be a record range of frequency bands above 3GHz, covering an operating bandwidth of 600MHz. The technology is expected to help to reduce the size and energy consumption of next-generation wireless base-stations. Details will be presented at the IEEE Topical Conference on RF/Microwave Power Amplifiers for Wireless and Radio Applications (PAWR2017) during Radio & Wireless Week (RWW) in Phoenix, AZ, USA (15-18 January).

Picture: Power amplifier units in base stations for next-generation wireless systems (left: conventional Doherty power amplifiers; right: newly developed Doherty power amplifier).

To help meet a rapid rise in demand for increasing wireless capacity, mobile technologies are shifting to next-generation systems that raise capacity by allocating new frequency bands above 3GHz and using multiple frequency bands, notes Mitsubishi Electric. Generally, power amplifiers operate with less efficiency at higher frequencies. Also, different power amplifiers are needed for different frequency bands, which can require larger base-stations. As such, extra-efficient power amplifiers compatible with multiple frequencies are in demand. 

Mitsubishi Electric says that its new ultra-wideband GaN Doherty power amplifier uses frequency-compensation circuits with a Doherty architecture for enhanced efficiency over a three-fold wider range of frequency bands (spanning 600MHz above 3GHz, which is reckoned to be a record for a Doherty power amplifier).

Wideband, high-efficiency performance for efficient amplification of multiple radio frequencies by just one power amplifier can help to reduce base-station size and cooling needs, notes Mitsubishi Electric. The firm's MGFS39G38L2 high-efficiency GaN device contributes to a drain efficiency of more than 45.9% in the 3-3.6GHz frequency range, reducing energy consumption. Further, an adjacent-channel leakage ratio (ACLR) of -50dBc is achieved with a commercial digital pre-distortion (DPD) technique for LTE (long-term evolution) 20MHz signals.

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