JP2002043863A - Amplifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inhibit deterioration of performance in the elimination of distortions, even [when a signal with a high level is inputted in an amplifier having distortion detection and detection eliminating loops. SOLUTION: In the distortion detecting loop, an inputted signal is distributed, one distributed signal is amplified by a main amplification circuit 3, and at the same time, the amplified signal and the other distributed signal are subjected to reverse-phase addition, thus detecting a distortion component generated in the main amplification circuit 3. In the distortion eliminating loop, a distortion component signal detected by the distortion detection loop is amplified by an auxiliary amplification circuit 8, and at the same time, the amplified signal and one outputted from the distortion detection loop are subjected to reverse- phase addition, thus eliminating the distortion component from the amplified signal. In such a configuration, a distortion generation circuit 21, provided at the front stage of the distortion detection loop, generates distortion for inhibiting the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifying circuit 8, when a high-level signal is inputted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a main amplifier circuit for amplifying a signal input by a distortion detection loop, detecting a distortion component generated in the main amplifier circuit, and auxiliary-amplifying the distortion component signal by a distortion removal loop. The present invention relates to an amplifying device that amplifies in a circuit and removes a distortion component from an amplified signal of the main amplifying circuit using the amplified signal, and in particular, suppresses deterioration in distortion removal performance even when a high-level signal is input. Related to technology.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an amplifier for amplifying a signal with an amplifier (main amplifying circuit), a distortion component such as intermodulation distortion or noise generated when the signal is amplified by the amplifier is removed from the amplified signal (distortion compensation). ) May be provided with a distortion compensation circuit including a distortion detection loop and a distortion removal loop. FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of a (feed-forward type) common amplification device having a distortion compensation circuit as an example of such an amplification device.

The amplifier shown in FIG. 1 includes three directional couplers (first directional coupler to third directional coupler) 1,
5, 9; two vector adjusters (a first vector adjuster, a second vector adjuster) 2, 7; a main amplifier circuit 3;
The circuit includes two delay lines (a first delay line and a second delay line) 4, 6, an auxiliary amplifier circuit 8, a control circuit 10, and a pre-amplifier circuit 11. For example, a multi-frequency signal (multitone) in the microwave band to be amplified is input by the pre-amplifier circuit 11, the signal is amplified by the main amplifier circuit 3, and then output from the third directional coupler 9.

The pre-amplifier circuit 11 is composed of an amplifier for amplifying a signal, and amplifies an input multi-frequency signal and outputs it to the first directional coupler 1. First directional coupler 1
Has, for example, one input terminal and two output terminals, and inputs an amplified signal output from the preamplifier circuit 11 from the input terminal, while distributing the input signal to two signals, and The output signals are output from the output terminals to the first vector adjuster 2 and the first delay line 4, respectively.

The first vector adjuster 2 has a function of adjusting the amplitude and phase of a signal under the control of, for example, a control circuit 10 to be described later, and adjusts the amplitude and phase of the signal input from the first directional coupler 1. The phase is adjusted and the signal is output to the main amplifier circuit 3. How to adjust the amplitude and phase will be described later.

The main amplifying circuit 3 comprises an amplifier for amplifying a signal, amplifies the signal input from the first vector adjuster 2 and outputs the amplified signal to the second directional coupler 5. Here, the amplified signal output from the main amplifier circuit 3 includes a distortion component such as intermodulation distortion or noise generated when amplifying the input multi-frequency signal. First delay line 4
Has a function of transmitting a signal, and transmits a signal input from the first directional coupler 1 to the second directional coupler 5.
Output to

The second directional coupler 5 has, for example, two input terminals and two output terminals, and an amplified signal output from the main amplifier circuit 3 is input to one input terminal. The signal output from the first delay line 4 is input to the other input terminal. Then, the second directional coupler 5
Outputs the amplified signal (for a predetermined ratio) input from the one input terminal to the second delay line 6 from one output terminal, and outputs the amplified signal (for the remaining ratio) to the other input terminal. A signal obtained by adding the signal input from one end is output to the second vector adjuster 7 from the other output end.

Here, the two signals added by the second directional coupler 5 (that is, the two signals input to the second directional coupler 5) are combined with the first vector adjuster 2 described above. Is controlled so as to be added in the opposite phase (that is, the state in which the phases are inverted by 180 °) by the amplitude phase adjustment or the like, whereby the other output of the second directional coupler 5 is output. From the end, for example, only the distortion component (distortion component signal) in the amplified signal generated by the main amplification circuit 3 is detected and output to the second vector adjuster 7. In the first vector adjuster 2 described above, the amplitude and the phase are adjusted so that such a reverse-phase addition is realized.

In the circuit configuration shown in FIG. 3, the circuit between the first directional coupler 1 and the second directional coupler 5 as described above includes A distortion component is detected, and a distortion detection loop is configured by a circuit that performs such distortion detection.

The second delay line 6 has a function of transmitting a signal, and transmits the amplified signal input from the second directional coupler 5 and outputs the amplified signal to the third directional coupler 9. The second vector adjuster 7 has a function of adjusting the amplitude and phase of the signal, for example, under the control of the control circuit 10 described later, and controls the amplitude and phase of the distortion component signal input from the second directional coupler 5. Is adjusted, and the distortion component signal is
Output to How to adjust the amplitude and phase will be described later. The auxiliary amplification circuit 8 includes an amplifier that amplifies the signal, and amplifies the distortion component signal input from the second vector adjuster 7 to a desired level and outputs the signal to the third directional coupler 9.

The third directional coupler 9 has, for example, two input terminals and one output terminal, and the amplified signal output from the second delay line 6 is input to one input terminal. The distortion component signal output from the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 is input to the other input terminal. Then, the third directional coupler 9 outputs from the output terminal a signal obtained by adding the amplified signal and the distortion component signal input from the two input terminals.

Here, the two signals added by the third directional coupler 9 (that is, the two signals input to the third directional coupler 9) are combined with the second vector adjuster 7 described above. Is controlled so that the signals are added in the opposite phase by the amplitude phase adjustment in the above-described manner. As a result, from the output terminal of the third directional coupler 9, the amplification input from the second delay line 6 is performed. A signal from which the distortion component in the signal has been removed is output. In the second vector adjuster 7 described above, the amplitude and phase are adjusted so as to realize such reverse-phase addition. Further, it is preferable that amplification of the distortion component in the above-described auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 is performed to such an extent that a distortion component in the amplified signal is removed as much as possible by a distortion removal loop, for example.

In the circuit configuration shown in FIG. 3, the amplified signal output from main amplifier circuit 3 by the circuit between second directional coupler 5 and third directional coupler 9 as described above. Is removed, and a circuit for removing such a distortion constitutes a distortion removal loop.

The control circuit 10 has a function of controlling the two vector adjusters 2 and 7 so that, for example, the inverse phase addition in the distortion detection loop and the distortion removal loop is optimally performed. The amplitude adjustment values and the phase adjustment values of the two vector adjusters 2 and 7 are automatically set. Note that such a setting is performed, for example, to control the level of the input multi-frequency signal included in the distortion component signal detected by the distortion detection loop or to reduce the level of the amplified signal after distortion removal output from the distortion removal loop. This is realized by control for reducing the level of the distortion component included in.

As described above, the amplifying device shown in FIG. 3 includes the distortion compensating circuit including the distortion detecting loop and the distortion removing loop, and the distortion detecting loop converts the input multi-frequency signal amplified by the preceding-stage amplifier circuit 11. The main amplifier circuit 3 distributes and amplifies one of the divided signals, and performs a reverse-phase addition of the amplified signal and the other distributed signal to detect a distortion component generated in the main amplifier circuit 3. The distortion component is removed from the amplified signal by subjecting the distortion component signal amplified by the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 and the amplified signal output from the distortion detection loop to negative-phase addition. By performing such distortion detection and distortion removal, in the above-described amplifier, when the input signal is amplified by the main amplifier circuit and output, the intermodulation distortion or the like generated in the main amplifier circuit is removed from the output signal. can do.

FIG. 4 schematically shows the amount of suppression when unnecessary components are suppressed (removed) by adding two signals in opposite phases in the above-described distortion detection loop and distortion removal loop. FIG. 1 schematically shows one example of the above-mentioned loop. That is, the distributor (input side directional coupler) 31 distributes the signal to be suppressed into two signals (for example, voltage V0 respectively), and one of the divided signals is coupled to the coupler (output side directional coupler). ) To the combiner 3 via the phase inversion circuit 32.
3 and a loop for adding the two signals input to the combiner 33 and outputting the added signal.

Here, for example, as a characteristic of a loop in a frequency band of a signal requiring processing, an amplitude deviation is d.
(DB: dB) and the phase deviation is θ (degree: ゜), the suppression amount K (dB) of the unnecessary component is expressed by Equation 1 as shown in FIG. It should be noted that "
j ″ represents an imaginary part. As a specific example, when the amplitude deviation d is 0.1 dB and the phase deviation θ is 1 °, a suppression amount K of about 40 dB is secured.

[0018]

(Equation 1)

When a multi-frequency signal is input to the amplifying apparatus as shown in FIG. 3, the peak power instantaneously increases due to the overlapping of the phase of each frequency component (each tone) signal. In addition, when the signal of each frequency component is a modulated wave signal, the peak power instantaneously increases due to the overlap of the amplitude fluctuation of the modulated wave signal of each frequency component (for example, the overlap near the peak of the amplitude). Therefore, the level of the input signal may increase instantaneously.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing an example of the input / output characteristics of the main amplifier circuit 3. The horizontal axis of this graph indicates the level of the signal input to the main amplifier circuit 3 (for example, the level of the input power), and the vertical axis indicates the level of the amplified signal output from the main amplifier circuit 3 (for example, the level of the output power) and This shows the phase of the amplified signal. The characteristic Q in FIG.
1 indicates the characteristic of the output level, and the characteristic Q2 indicates the characteristic of the phase of the output signal.

As shown in FIG. 1, for example, a peak power higher than the normal state is input to the main amplifier circuit 3, and
When the output level of the main amplifier circuit 3 reaches a level near the saturation power, phase distortion that changes the phase characteristics of the amplified signal output from the main amplifier circuit 3 occurs. Then, when such phase distortion occurs, for example, in the amplifier as shown in FIG. 3, the balance of the distortion detection loop is instantaneously lost, and the suppression amount of the distortion detection loop may deteriorate. Would.

Further, when the amount of suppression is degraded in the distortion detection loop as described above, a signal that could not be suppressed is input to the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 of the distortion removal loop.
It should be noted that the vector adjuster cannot follow the instantaneous increase in the signal level, for example.

Here, the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 has, for example, the same non-linear characteristics as the main amplifier circuit 3, so that the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 receives as input the signal component that has not been suppressed by the distortion detection loop as described above. As a result, when a signal having a higher level than the normal state is input and the output level of the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 increases to a level near the saturation power,
Distortion (for example, intermodulation distortion) occurs. Then, the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 remains unchanged (for example, in FIG.
(Combined by the third directional coupler 9 shown in FIG. 3), the signal is output from the amplifying device. Therefore, the necessary amount of suppression cannot be obtained in the distortion removal loop, and the performance of the amplifying device is deteriorated.

The preamplifier circuit 11 also has the same non-linear characteristics as the main amplifier circuit 3 and the like, so that distortion occurs when excessive peak power is input. Then, the distortion generated in the pre-amplifier circuit 11 is output from the amplifying device as it is, which causes deterioration of the performance of the amplifying device. In the amplifying apparatus shown in FIG. 3, for example, the gain of the amplifying apparatus is determined by the amount of coupling between the distortion detection loop (without the preamplifier circuit 11) and the distortion removal loop. For realization, it is necessary to provide the pre-amplifier circuit 11.

[0025]

As described in the above-mentioned conventional example, in an amplifier having a conventional distortion compensating circuit as shown in FIG. 3, for example, the level of an input signal is (for example, instantaneous). (2) When it becomes high, the suppression amount of the distortion removal loop deteriorates, which causes a problem that the performance of the amplifying device is deteriorated. It should be noted that a method of configuring the pre-amplifier circuit 11 and the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 using a high-power amplifier that does not generate distortion even when excessive peak power is input is not preferable because power consumption increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem. A signal input by a distortion detection loop is amplified by a main amplifier circuit, and a distortion component generated in the main amplifier circuit is detected. When the distortion component signal is amplified by the auxiliary amplifier circuit by the distortion removal loop and the distortion component is removed from the amplified signal of the main amplifier circuit using the amplified signal, for example, a high-level signal is input instantaneously. It is an object of the present invention to provide an amplifying device that can suppress deterioration in performance of distortion removal even in the case where it has occurred.
In the present invention, it is possible to achieve such an effect without using the above-described high power amplifier.

[0027]

In order to achieve the above object, an amplifier according to the present invention distributes an input signal, amplifies one of the divided signals by a main amplifier circuit, and distributes the amplified signal and the other. A distortion detection loop for detecting a distortion component generated in the main amplification circuit by adding the signals in opposite phases, an amplification of the distortion component signal detected by the distortion detection loop by the auxiliary amplification circuit, and the amplification signal and the distortion detection loop And a distortion removal loop that removes a distortion component from the amplified signal by performing an inverse-phase addition of the amplified signal (by the main amplification circuit) output from the A distortion generation circuit that generates distortion that suppresses distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit is provided at a stage preceding the distortion detection loop.

Therefore, for example, even when a high-level signal is input momentarily, the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit is suppressed by the distortion generated by the distortion generation circuit. Deterioration of the distortion removal performance of the device can be suppressed, and thereby, it is possible to compensate for obtaining a necessary suppression amount in the distortion removal loop. Note that, in the present invention, such an effect can be obtained without configuring an auxiliary amplifier circuit using an amplifier for high power as described in the above-described problem, so that power consumption is reduced. Can be.

Here, the signal (input signal) to be amplified by the amplifying device is not particularly limited, but as described above, the present invention is particularly effective when amplifying a multi-frequency signal. . To add two signals in opposite phases means that these two signals have a phase of 1 as described above.
It means to add in the state of being inverted by 80 °.
For example, if the two signals have the same amplitude, the two signals can be canceled (zeroed).
In the present invention, for example, as long as it is practically effective, such a negative-phase addition does not necessarily have to be performed in a 180 ° inversion state, and there is a slight phase shift (similarly in amplitude). You may.

The high-level signal according to the present invention is defined as
For example, a signal of such a high level that distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit degrades the suppression amount of the distortion removal loop is referred to. In the present invention, such a high-level signal is input as described above. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the performance of distortion removal from deteriorating.

The distortion suppressing the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit means, for example, a distortion having a characteristic opposite to the characteristic of the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit. As a specific example, when distortion occurs in the auxiliary amplifier circuit with the characteristic that the phase of the signal decreases (or increases), the distortion of the characteristic that the phase of the signal increases (or decreases) becomes distortion of the opposite characteristic. . Similarly, when distortion occurs in the auxiliary amplifier circuit with the characteristic of decreasing (or increasing) the amplitude of the signal, the distortion of the characteristic of increasing (or decreasing) the amplitude of the signal becomes distortion of the opposite characteristic.

In the present invention, a mode is used in which the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit and the distortion generated in the distortion generation circuit are canceled out (that is, the effect of the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit becomes zero). Is the most preferable, but other modes may be used as long as the effect of distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit can be suppressed to an extent that is practically effective.

As the distortion generating circuit, any circuit can be used as long as it can generate the predetermined distortion as described above. Specifically, for example, a distortion generating circuit is configured using an amplifier that generates distortion due to nonlinear characteristics, or a variable attenuator that changes a signal level or a variable phase shifter that changes a signal phase is used. It is possible to constitute a distortion generating circuit by using the above method.

In an amplifying apparatus provided with a pre-amplifier circuit in the preceding stage of the distortion detection loop as in the amplifying apparatus shown in FIG. 3, for example, the above-described pre-amplifying circuit may be used to constitute the above-described distortion generating circuit. It is possible. That is, in the amplifying device according to the present invention, as a preferred embodiment, a pre-amplifier circuit for amplifying an input signal, and a main amplifier circuit for distributing the amplified signal and amplifying one of the divided signals, and the amplified signal and the other A distortion detection loop that detects the distortion component generated in the main amplifier circuit by adding the distributed signals of
The distortion component signal detected by the distortion detection loop is amplified by the auxiliary amplifier circuit, and the amplified signal and the amplified signal output from the distortion detection loop (by the main amplifier circuit) are added in opposite phases to obtain the amplified signal. And a distortion removal loop for removing distortion components, the amplitude and phase of the distortion generated in the pre-amplifier circuit so that the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit when a high-level signal is input is suppressed. A distortion suppressing means for controlling at least one of them is provided.

Therefore, even when a high-level signal is input instantaneously, for example, the signal is generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit by controlling the amplitude and phase of the distortion generated in the preceding-stage amplifier circuit. Since the distortion is suppressed, it is possible to suppress the deterioration of the distortion removal performance in the amplification device,
This makes it possible to compensate for obtaining the necessary amount of suppression in the distortion removal loop. Note that, in the present invention, such an effect can be obtained without configuring a pre-amplifier circuit and an auxiliary amplifier circuit using an amplifier for high power as described in the above-described problem, so that low power consumption is achieved. Can be achieved.

Here, as the distortion suppressing means for controlling at least one of the amplitude and the phase of the distortion generated in the preamplifier circuit, for example, only the amplitude of the signal (distortion) is changed in accordance with the use condition of the apparatus. It may be configured using a means (for example, a variable attenuator or the like) that can change the phase, for example, using a means (for example, a variable phase shifter or the like) that can change only the phase of a signal (distortion). For example, it may be configured using a means (for example, a combination of a variable attenuator and a variable phase shifter) capable of changing both the amplitude and the phase of a signal (distortion).

[0037]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An amplifying device according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a (feed-forward type) common amplifying device including the distortion compensation circuit of the present example. The configuration of the amplifier shown in FIG.
A variable attenuator 12 is provided in a stage preceding the preamplifier circuit 11 and a variable attenuator 13 is provided in a stage subsequent to the preamplifier circuit 11.
The configuration is the same as, for example, the configuration of the amplifying device shown in FIG. 3 except that a variable phase shifter 14 is provided. For this reason, in this example, for convenience of explanation, components different from those of the amplifier shown in FIG. 3 will be described in detail, and similar components will be denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG.

More specifically, the amplifying apparatus of this embodiment has the two variable attenuators 12, 13 and the pre-amplifier circuit 11, and the variable phase shifter 14, for example, having the same configuration as that shown in FIG. A distortion detection loop, a distortion removal loop, and a control circuit 10 are provided. The distortion detection loop includes, for example, a first directional coupler 1 similar to that shown in FIG.
, First vector adjuster 2, main amplifier circuit 3, first delay line 4
And a second directional coupler 5.

In the distortion removal loop, for example, FIG.
(The second directional coupler 5 described above)
And / or) a second delay line 6, a second vector adjuster 7, an auxiliary amplifier circuit 8, and a third directional coupler 9. And
In the amplifying device of the present example, for example, a multi-frequency signal (multitone) in the microwave band to be amplified is input by the variable attenuator 12, and the signal is amplified by the main amplifying circuit 3 and then the third directional coupler. 9 to output.

Hereinafter, the two variable attenuators 12 and 13 and the variable phase shifter 1 which are characteristic points of the amplifying apparatus of this embodiment will be described.
4 and the preamplifier circuit 11 will be described in detail. The variable attenuator 12 has a function of variably attenuating the level (amplitude level) of a signal, and attenuates the level of an input multi-frequency signal (or the level as it is) to convert the signal into a preamplifier circuit 11. Output to

The pre-amplifier circuit 11 includes a pre-stage variable attenuator 1
Amplifying the signal inputted from the second stage, and amplifying the signal at the subsequent stage
Output to The variable attenuator 13 has a function of variably attenuating the level (amplitude level) of the signal, and attenuates the level of the signal input from the pre-amplifier circuit 11 (or the level as it is). 14 is output.

The variable phase shifter 14 has a function of variably changing the phase of the signal, and changes the phase of the signal input from the variable attenuator 13 (or the phase as it is) in the first direction. Output to combiner 1. The operations of the distortion detection loop, the distortion removal loop, and the control circuit 10 are the same as those shown in FIG. 3, for example, and in this example, the variable phase shifter 14 provided in the preceding stage of the distortion detection loop The signal input to the directional coupler 1 is amplified by the main amplifier circuit 3 and the distortion generated in the main amplifier circuit 3 is removed from the amplified signal.

Here, the above two variable attenuators 12,
The reference numeral 13 serves, for example, to set the gain of the amplifying device of the present example to a predetermined value, and to adjust the level of distortion generated in the preamplifier circuit 11, for example. Further, the above-described variable phase shifter 14 has a role of adjusting the phase of the distortion generated in the pre-amplifier circuit 11, for example.

As described in the above-mentioned conventional example, for example, when excessive peak power is instantaneously input to the amplifier, distortion occurs in the preamplifier circuit 11. The main signal (input signal) including the distortion and the peak power is distributed by the first directional coupler 1, and one of the distributed signals passes through a path having the first vector adjuster 2 and the main amplifier circuit 3. The signal is output to the second directional coupler 5, and the other divided signal is output to the second directional coupler 5 via a path having the first delay line 4.

In the second directional coupler 5, the main signal included in one signal input through the above two paths and the distortion generated in the preamplifier circuit 11 and the distortion included in the other signal are included. The two signals input through these two paths are synthesized and detected (main amplification) so that the main signal and the distortion generated in the preamplifier circuit 11 are added at the same level and in opposite phases. (Occurred in circuit 3)
The distortion component signal is output to the second vector adjuster 7. The amplified signal input from the main amplifier circuit 3 to the second directional coupler 5 is obtained by amplifying the distortion and the main signal including the peak power generated in the preamplifier circuit 11 to a desired power level, The amplified signal is output to the third directional coupler 9 via the second delay line 6.

In this case, ideally, at the input end of the second vector adjuster 7, the main signal and the distortion component generated in the pre-amplifier circuit 11 are suppressed. When the peak power is included in the main signal, the performance of the suppression deteriorates. That is, as described in the above-described conventional example, when the main signal includes the peak power, the balance of the distortion detection loop is lost, and the suppression amount of the distortion detection loop is deteriorated.

Therefore, the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 amplifies the distortion component signal input from the second vector adjuster 7 and
When the signal is output to the directional coupler 9, distortion is generated by the signal component not suppressed by the distortion detection loop. That is, the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 due to the deterioration of the suppression amount of the distortion detection loop is output to the third directional coupler 9 together with the distortion component signal.

In this case, the third directional coupler 9 includes the main signal including the peak power (after being amplified by the pre-amplifier circuit 11 and the main amplifying circuit 3), the distortion generated in the pre-amplifier circuit 11, and A signal (first signal) including the distortion generated in the main amplification circuit 3 is input from the second delay line 6, and the distortion generated in the main amplification circuit 3 and the auxiliary amplification circuit 8
The signal (second signal) including the distortion generated in the step (a) is input from the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8. Then, the third directional coupler 9 combines the first signal and the second signal to remove distortion generated in the main amplifier circuit 3 included in the first signal. However, as described in the above-described conventional example, the performance of the distortion removal is deteriorated if the conventional technique is not used.

Therefore, in this example, for example, the distortion generated in the preamplifier circuit 11 included in the first signal and the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 included in the second signal are at the same level. , The signal attenuation by the two variable attenuators 12 and 13 and the variable phase shifter 1
4 is set to an appropriate value (or controlled by a controller (not shown) or the like). Then, when such an opposite-phase addition is performed at the same level, the effect of the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 is suppressed, so that the distortion removal performance in the distortion removal loop is improved. This can prevent the performance of the amplifier from deteriorating.

As described above, in the amplifying device of this embodiment, even if a high-level signal is input instantaneously, for example, the amplitude and phase of the distortion generated in the pre-amplifier circuit 11 are reduced. Since the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 is suppressed by the control, it is possible to suppress the deterioration of the distortion removal performance in the amplification device, thereby compensating for obtaining the necessary suppression amount in the distortion removal loop. can do. Further, in the amplifying device of the present example, such an effect can be obtained without configuring the preamplifier circuit 11 and the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 using the amplifier for high power as described in the above-mentioned problem. Therefore, low power consumption can be achieved.

Here, in this example, the preamplifier circuit 11 for amplifying the input signal corresponds to the preamplifier circuit according to the present invention. In this example, the amplified signal is distributed by the first directional coupler 1, one of the distributed signals is amplified by the main amplifier 3, and the first vector adjuster 2 and the first delay line 4
Is used to separate the amplified signal and the other
A distortion detection loop that detects a distortion component generated in the main amplification circuit 3 by performing the opposite-phase addition by the directional coupler 5 corresponds to a distortion detection loop according to the present invention.

Further, in this embodiment, the distortion component signal detected by the distortion detection loop is amplified by the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 and the amplified signal is distorted by the second delay line 6 and the second vector adjuster 7. A distortion removal loop that removes a distortion component from the amplified signal by performing a reverse phase addition of the amplified signal (by the main amplification circuit 3) output from the detection loop corresponds to a distortion removal loop according to the present invention.

In this embodiment, two variable attenuators 12 and 13 and a variable phase shifter 14 are provided so that distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 when a high-level signal is input is suppressed.
The function of controlling the amplitude and the phase of the distortion generated in the pre-amplifier circuit 11 constitutes the distortion suppressing means according to the present invention. In this example, two such variable attenuators 1 are used.
2, 13 and the variable phase shifter 14 and the preamplifier circuit 11 generate a distortion that suppresses distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 when a high-level signal is input. The circuit is provided before the distortion detection loop.

Next, an amplifying device according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of a (feed-forward type) common amplifying device including the distortion compensation circuit of the present example. The configuration of the amplifying device shown in FIG. 2 does not include the two variable attenuators 12 and 13, the variable phase shifter 14, and the pre-amplifier circuit 11 shown in FIG. 1 except that the distortion generation circuit 21 is provided in the preceding stage (the preceding stage of the distortion detection loop).
This is the same as the configuration of the amplifier shown in FIG. For this reason, in this example, for convenience of explanation, components different from those of the amplifier shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail, and similar components will be denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG.

Hereinafter, the above-described distortion generating circuit 21 which is a feature of the amplifying device of this embodiment will be described in detail. That is, the distortion generation circuit 21 has a function of generating a predetermined amplitude distortion and a predetermined phase distortion (or an amplitude distortion and a phase distortion that can be adjusted by a control unit (not shown) or the like). Is set to generate distortion that suppresses distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 when a high-level signal is input, whereby the input signal and the distortion are converted to the first direction. Output to combiner 1.

That is, for example, in the amplifier shown in FIG. 1, the influence of the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 is suppressed by adjusting the amplitude and phase of the distortion generated in the pre-amplifier circuit 11. The amplifying device suppresses the influence of the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifying circuit 8 by the distortion generated in the distortion generating circuit 21, thereby pre-distorting residual distortion output from the amplifying device (generated in the main amplifying circuit 3). Compensation is implemented in a system.

The operations of the distortion detection loop, the distortion removal loop, and the control circuit 10 are the same as those shown in FIG. 1, for example. In this example, the distortion generation circuit 21 provided in the preceding stage of the distortion detection loop is used. A signal input from the first directional coupler 1 to the first directional coupler 1 is amplified by the main amplifier circuit 3 and the main amplifier circuit 3
Is removed from the amplified signal.

As described above, in the amplifying device according to the present embodiment, even when a high-level signal is input instantaneously, for example, the auxiliary amplifying circuit 8 is suppressed, it is possible to suppress the deterioration of the distortion removal performance in the amplification device, and thereby, it is possible to compensate for obtaining a necessary suppression amount in the distortion removal loop. Further, in the amplifying device of the present example, such an effect can be obtained without configuring the auxiliary amplifying circuit 8 using, for example, a high-power amplifier as described in the above-described problem, so that low power consumption is achieved. Electricity can be achieved.

In this embodiment, the input signal (from the distortion generating circuit 21) is distributed by the first directional coupler 1, one of the distributed signals is amplified by the main amplifier 3, and the first vector adjustment is performed. Distortion detection for detecting a distortion component generated in the main amplification circuit 3 by adding the amplified signal and the other divided signal in opposite phases by the second directional coupler 5 using the amplifier 2 and the first delay line 4. The loop corresponds to a distortion detection loop according to the present invention.

Further, in this embodiment, the distortion component signal detected by the distortion detection loop is amplified by the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 and the amplified signal is distorted by the second delay line 6 and the second vector adjuster 7. A distortion removal loop that removes a distortion component from the amplified signal by performing a reverse phase addition of the amplified signal (by the main amplification circuit 3) output from the detection loop corresponds to a distortion removal loop according to the present invention. Further, in this example, the distortion generating circuit 21 that generates the distortion that suppresses the distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit 8 when a high-level signal is input corresponds to the distortion generating circuit according to the present invention, and the circuit is It is provided before the distortion detection loop.

Here, the configuration of the amplifying device according to the present invention is not necessarily limited to the configuration described above, and various configurations may be used. Further, the amplifying device according to the present invention may be applied to various fields that amplify a signal with an amplifier, and as an example, as an amplifying device in a wireless communication system that amplifies a multi-frequency signal to be communicated. Can be used.

Various processes such as distortion removal performed by the amplifying apparatus according to the present invention include, for example, a processor executing a control program stored in a ROM on a hardware resource including a processor and a memory. A configuration that is controlled may be used, and for example, each functional unit for executing the processing may be configured as an independent hardware circuit. Further, the present invention provides a floppy disk or a C
It can be understood as a computer-readable recording medium such as a D-ROM, and the processing according to the present invention can be performed by inputting the control program from the recording medium to the computer and causing the processor to execute the control program.

[0063]

As described above, according to the amplifying device of the present invention, the input signal is distributed, one of the divided signals is amplified by the main amplifier circuit, and the amplified signal and the other distributed signal are inverted. A distortion detection loop that detects a distortion component generated in the main amplification circuit by phase addition, and a distortion component signal detected by the distortion detection loop is amplified by the auxiliary amplification circuit and output from the amplification signal and the distortion detection loop. A distortion removal loop that removes a distortion component from the amplified signal by adding the inverted signal to the amplified signal in a reverse phase, thereby suppressing a distortion generated in the auxiliary amplifier circuit when a high-level signal is input. Since the distortion generation circuit for generating distortion is provided at the front stage of the distortion detection loop, for example, even when a high-level signal is input instantaneously, the amplification device It is possible to suppress the deterioration of removal performance, which makes it possible to compensate for possible to obtain a suppression amount required in the distortion elimination loop. Further, in the amplifying device according to the present invention, for example, without using an auxiliary amplifier circuit using a high-power amplifier as described in the above-described problem,
Since such effects can be obtained, low power consumption can be achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a common amplifier including a distortion compensation circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a common amplifying device including a distortion compensation circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a common amplifier including a distortion compensation circuit according to a conventional example.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a loop suppression amount.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of characteristics of a main amplifier circuit.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 5, 9 directional coupler, 2, 7, vector adjuster, 3, main amplifier circuit, 4, 6, delay line, 8,
・ Auxiliary amplifier circuit, 10 ・ ・ Control circuit, 11 ・ ・ Preamplifier circuit, 12, 13 ・ ・ Variable attenuator, 14 ・ ・ Variable phase shifter, 21 ・ ・ Distortion generating circuit,

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5J090 AA01 AA41 CA21 CA36 FA08 FA20 GN02 GN04 GN05 GN07 KA00 KA04 KA15 KA16 KA23 KA68 MA14 TA01 5J092 AA01 AA41 CA21 CA36 FA08 FA20 KA00 KA04 KA15 KA16 KA23

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A distortion component generated in a main amplifier circuit is detected by distributing an input signal, amplifying one of the divided signals by a main amplifier circuit, and adding the amplified signal and the other distributed signal in opposite phases. A distortion detection loop that performs amplification from the amplified signal by amplifying the distortion component signal detected by the distortion detection loop with an auxiliary amplifier circuit and adding the amplified signal and the amplified signal output from the distortion detection loop in opposite phases. In an amplification device having a distortion removal loop for removing distortion components, a distortion generation circuit for generating distortion for suppressing distortion generated in an auxiliary amplifier circuit when a high-level signal is input is provided at a stage preceding the distortion detection loop. An amplification device, comprising: