Performance Analysis of Multiradio Transmitter with Polar or Cartesian Architectures Associated with High Efficiency Switched-Mode Power Amplifiers (invited paper)

Abstract

This paper deals with wireless multi-radio transmitter architectures operating in the frequency band of 800 MHz – 6 GHz. As a consequence of the constant evolution in the communication systems, mobile transmitters must be able to operate at different frequency bands and modes according to existing standards specifications. The concept of a unique multiradio architecture is an evolution of the multistandard transceiver characterized by a parallelization of circuits for each standard. Multi-radio concept optimizes surface and power consumption. Transmitter architectures using sampling techniques and baseband ΣΔ or PWM coding of signals before their amplification appear as good candidates for multiradio transmitters for several reasons. They allow using high efficiency power amplifiers such as switched-mode PAs. They are highly flexible and easy to integrate because of their digital nature. But when the transmitter efficiency is considered, many elements have to be taken into account: signal coding efficiency, PA efficiency, RF filter. This paper investigates the interest of these architectures for a multiradio transmitter able to support existing wireless communications standards between 800 MHz and 6 GHz. It evaluates and compares the different possible architectures for WiMAX and LTE standards in terms of signal quality and transmitter power efficiency.