Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F1/00—Details of amplifiers with only discharge tubes, only semiconductor devices or only unspecified devices as amplifying elements
  • H03F1/56—Modifications of input or output impedances, not otherwise provided for
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F1/00—Details of amplifiers with only discharge tubes, only semiconductor devices or only unspecified devices as amplifying elements
  • H03F1/02—Modifications of amplifiers to raise the efficiency, e.g. gliding Class A stages, use of an auxiliary oscillation
  • H03F1/0205—Modifications of amplifiers to raise the efficiency, e.g. gliding Class A stages, use of an auxiliary oscillation in transistor amplifiers
  • H03F1/0211—Modifications of amplifiers to raise the efficiency, e.g. gliding Class A stages, use of an auxiliary oscillation in transistor amplifiers with control of the supply voltage or current
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F1/00—Details of amplifiers with only discharge tubes, only semiconductor devices or only unspecified devices as amplifying elements
  • H03F1/02—Modifications of amplifiers to raise the efficiency, e.g. gliding Class A stages, use of an auxiliary oscillation
  • H03F1/0205—Modifications of amplifiers to raise the efficiency, e.g. gliding Class A stages, use of an auxiliary oscillation in transistor amplifiers
  • H03F1/0277—Selecting one or more amplifiers from a plurality of amplifiers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F1/00—Details of amplifiers with only discharge tubes, only semiconductor devices or only unspecified devices as amplifying elements
  • H03F1/02—Modifications of amplifiers to raise the efficiency, e.g. gliding Class A stages, use of an auxiliary oscillation
  • H03F1/04—Modifications of amplifiers to raise the efficiency, e.g. gliding Class A stages, use of an auxiliary oscillation in discharge-tube amplifiers
  • H03F1/06—Modifications of amplifiers to raise the efficiency, e.g. gliding Class A stages, use of an auxiliary oscillation in discharge-tube amplifiers to raise the efficiency of amplifying modulated radio frequency waves; to raise the efficiency of amplifiers acting also as modulators
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F1/00—Details of amplifiers with only discharge tubes, only semiconductor devices or only unspecified devices as amplifying elements
  • H03F1/32—Modifications of amplifiers to reduce non-linear distortion
  • H03F1/3241—Modifications of amplifiers to reduce non-linear distortion using predistortion circuits
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F3/00—Amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements
  • H03F3/189—High-frequency amplifiers, e.g. radio frequency amplifiers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F3/00—Amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements
  • H03F3/189—High-frequency amplifiers, e.g. radio frequency amplifiers
  • H03F3/19—High-frequency amplifiers, e.g. radio frequency amplifiers with semiconductor devices only
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F3/00—Amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements
  • H03F3/20—Power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers
  • H03F3/21—Power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers with semiconductor devices only
  • H03F3/211—Power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers with semiconductor devices only using a combination of several amplifiers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F3/00—Amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements
  • H03F3/20—Power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers
  • H03F3/22—Power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers with tubes only
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F3/00—Amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements
  • H03F3/20—Power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers
  • H03F3/24—Power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers of transmitter output stages
  • H03F3/245—Power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers of transmitter output stages with semiconductor devices only
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F3/00—Amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements
  • H03F3/54—Amplifiers using transit-time effect in tubes or semiconductor devices
  • H03F3/58—Amplifiers using transit-time effect in tubes or semiconductor devices using travelling-wave tubes
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F2200/00—Indexing scheme relating to amplifiers
  • H03F2200/102—A non-specified detector of a signal envelope being used in an amplifying circuit
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F2200/00—Indexing scheme relating to amplifiers
  • H03F2200/462—Indexing scheme relating to amplifiers the current being sensed
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F2200/00—Indexing scheme relating to amplifiers
  • H03F2200/465—Power sensing
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F2200/00—Indexing scheme relating to amplifiers
  • H03F2200/471—Indexing scheme relating to amplifiers the voltage being sensed
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F2203/00—Indexing scheme relating to amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements covered by H03F3/00
  • H03F2203/20—Indexing scheme relating to power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers
  • H03F2203/21—Indexing scheme relating to power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers with semiconductor devices only
  • H03F2203/211—Indexing scheme relating to power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers with semiconductor devices only using a combination of several amplifiers
  • H03F2203/21106—An input signal being distributed in parallel over the inputs of a plurality of power amplifiers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
  • H03F2203/00—Indexing scheme relating to amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements covered by H03F3/00
  • H03F2203/20—Indexing scheme relating to power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers
  • H03F2203/21—Indexing scheme relating to power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers with semiconductor devices only
  • H03F2203/211—Indexing scheme relating to power amplifiers, e.g. Class B amplifiers, Class C amplifiers with semiconductor devices only using a combination of several amplifiers
  • H03F2203/21142—Output signals of a plurality of power amplifiers are parallel combined to a common output

Definitions

• the invention relates to a method for manufacturing a power amplification stage of a variable envelope input signal having a predetermined instantaneous power distribution, said amplification stage delivering a predetermined mean output power POUT and comprising at least one amplifier and matching circuits determining setting parameters (for example selected for solid-state circuits from bias voltages, the complex value of the load impedance, ... or for tubes with traveling waves among the beam current, the helix voltage, the collector voltages, ...) whose value influences the average power transfer functions POUT (PIN), in PM phase (PIN), and in consumption PDC (PIN), amplifier stage. It extends to an amplification stage thus manufactured.
• a configurable pre-distortion circuit whose transfer characteristics (in particular in average power and in phase) are adjusted empirically by successive iterations by observing the variations of the output signal as a function of those of the input signal .
• the first linearization methods are not always usable, for example when there is no inverse function of the model applying to the nonlinear circuit.
• the inverse function of the modeling of the power characteristic of HPA has, in principle, a singularity in the neighborhood of saturation, since its slope tends towards infinity.
• they are most often extremely complex and difficult to implement and / or dedicated to specific categories of non-linear circuits or very specific applications and / or imprecise in nature (that is to say do not not producing results of sufficient quality considering the approximations provided by modeling). They require extremely heavy computing and energy resources, which are not necessarily available (for example on board a space system).
• some models are applicable only to traveling wave tube amplifiers, but not to solid state circuits.
• the second linearization methods induce extremely high optimization costs and are also imperfect insofar as it is not certain in advance to be able to find, by successive iterations, an adjustment of the different characteristics of the configurable pre-distortion circuit. to empirically obtain an appropriate response at the output of the nonlinear circuit.
• US 2012/0105150 describes a method of controlling an amplification system in which the bias and supply voltages are modulated instantaneously as a function of signals derived from the envelope voltage of the input signal.
• This circuit requires an envelope detector, and a voltage selection stage that generates the supply voltage and the bias voltage to be applied to the amplification stage.
• Non-linear mapping elements make it possible to define the values of the supply voltage and of the bias voltage as a function of the envelope of the input signal, for example according to a third order polynomial expansion and / or by tables of values established by characterization of the device.
• US 2015/0236729 also discloses a method and apparatus for dynamically optimizing in real time an envelope detection amplification stage of the input signal. Again, this circuit necessarily incorporates an envelope tracking system ("ET").
• ET envelope tracking system
• the problem which therefore arises for the manufacture of a power amplification stage of a variable envelope signal, such as a microwave communication signal consists in optimizing the circuit settings. adaptation to obtain answers as linear as possible with simultaneously optimal values of optimization criteria such as the average power output and / or the efficiency and / or consumption and / or power dissipated.
• optimization criteria such as the average power output and / or the efficiency and / or consumption and / or power dissipated.
• this optimization consists in determining the characteristics of the load impedance and the polarization of each transistor, each of these two parameters having in general two variables. (Grid voltage and drain voltage for a FET field effect transistor, real and imaginary parts of the load impedance).
• the publication Optimization criteria for power amplifiers J. Sombrin, International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies, Vol. 3, Issue 1, pp. 35-45, 2011, mentions various criteria that can be theoretically advantageously used for the optimization of power amplifiers.
• the aim of the invention is to overcome these drawbacks by proposing a method making it possible to better optimize the adjustment parameters of an amplification stage, and this in a faster, simpler and more systematic way, which is applicable with various amplifier technologies and various input signals, including communication signals, particularly in the microwave range (300 MHz to 300 GHz).
• the invention also aims to provide such a method that can be implemented in a simple manner, with the traditional facilities and devices, and that does not change the work habits.
• variable envelope signal means any signal having a variable amplitude in time at a predetermined frequency corresponding to the minimum frequency of the signal.
• the invention therefore relates to a method for manufacturing a power amplification stage of a variable envelope input signal having a predetermined instantaneous power distribution, said amplification stage comprising at least one amplifier and circuits. for determining setting parameters whose value influences the average power transfer functions POUT (PIN), in the PM phase (PIN), and the PDC consumption (PIN), of the amplification stage,
• the use of the instantaneous statistical power distribution of the variable envelope input signal in a method according to the invention makes it possible to calculate the value of an optimization criterion and to choose adjustment parameters representing an optimization of this optimization criterion, while retaining a freedom of selection of a form of ideal variation in average power, which selection may, in particular, be carried out according to at least one performance criterion of the amplification stage, for example a predetermined value of the signal-to-noise ratio and / or the intermodulation rate.
• the invention thus relies on an approach totally different from that of the state of the art, by using the predetermined instantaneous statistical power distribution of the variable envelope input signal to produce the adaptation circuits directly optimized for this distribution. Since the matching circuits are manufactured in such a way as to provide said optimum values of the adjustment parameters, the amplification stage thus manufactured according to the invention does not require an envelope detector of the input signal, or circuit allowing the adjustment dynamic real-time supply voltages or polarization.
• the optimization criterion is chosen from the average output power POUTk of the amplifier (where k is throughout the text an associated index, when necessary, at each amplifier k the amplification stage); the PDCk consumption of the amplifier; the dissipated power DISSk by the amplifier; and an amplifier efficiency determined by the ratio of the average output power POUTk to the PDCk consumption; and their combinations.
• the optimum value of each setting parameter is then chosen so as to maximize the average power output POUTk, or minimize the PDCk consumption, or minimize the dissipated power DISSk or maximize the efficiency.
• At least one optimization parameter is chosen from the average output power POUTk of the amplifier and the consumption PDCk of the amplifier, each value of the optimization criterion. being calculated according to the expected expectation, with the statistical distribution of the input signal, of this optimization parameter from at least said ideal variation in mean power POUT L (PIN). If the average output power POUTk is chosen as the optimization criterion, this average output power can only be used as an optimization parameter, and only the mathematical expectation of the average output power according to the variation can be calculated. ideal in average power POUT L (PIN) with the statistical distribution of the input signal.
• the PDCk consumption is chosen as an optimization criterion, it is possible to use only the consumption as an optimization parameter, and to calculate only the expected expectation of the PDCk consumption of which an ideal variation PDC L (PIN) can be determined from the ideal variation in average power POUT L (PIN).
• PIN ideal variation in average power POUT L
• the average output power POUTk and the consumption PDCk are used as optimization parameters, the difference of the mathematical expectations of which is calculated.
• the efficiency is chosen as the optimization criterion, the average output power POUTk and the consumption PDCk are used as optimization parameters, the ratio of the mathematical expectations of which is calculated.
• a method according to the invention is also characterized in that at least one optimization parameter is the PDCk consumption of the amplifier, and in that it further comprises the following steps:
• each value of the optimization criterion is determined according to the expected expectation, with the statistical distribution of the input signal, of the PDC consumption L (PIN) obtained from said ideal variation of the PDC consumption.
• L (PIN) according to the average input power PIN.
• the invention comprises a step of characterizing each amplifier, using a test bench measuring and recording, for each value of each adjustment parameter, characteristic variations, depending the average input power PIN, the phase shift PMcw (PIN) of the amplifier from the constant envelope input signal, and the matching circuits are selected to obtain a predetermined value phase shift. , especially zero.
• said ideal form of variation in average power POUT L is an affine variation - notably linear - up to a higher value of saturation start.
• a linear variation having a predetermined performance at the saturation point is advantageously chosen, for example a predetermined signal-to-noise ratio, for example of the order of 15 dB, or a predetermined intermodulation or other rate. It should be noted that this predetermined performance remains the same regardless of the values of the adjustment parameters. Also, one advantageously chooses a linear variation having a curvature at the beginning of saturation so as to be differentiable in all points, including the point of saturation.
• variable envelope input signal having a predetermined instantaneous statistical power distribution
• the variable envelope input signal has an instantaneous power probability density of the input signal determined according to the modulation scheme of the communication signal. Indeed, it turns out that any modulated signal has a probability density of the instantaneous power which is characteristic of the modulation scheme.
• the invention nevertheless applies more generally to any variable envelope input signal having an instantaneous statistical power distribution for determining a probability density of the instantaneous power, and calculating a mathematical expectation of the average power for this signal.
• the inventor has thus demonstrated that the statistical distribution of the input signal can be used to calculate the mathematical expectation of an optimization parameter from the ideal variation in mean power POUT L (PIN) of the amplified output signal. , and that, unexpectedly, this mathematical expectation is in fact very relevant to evaluate in a simple but very precise way, a criterion of optimization of the amplifier.
• said ideal form of variation in average power POUT L is chosen as a function of a performance criterion of the amplification stage chosen from a value of a signal-to-noise ratio and an intermodulation rate.
• Other performance criteria may alternatively be used.
• the invention also applies more particularly, although not exclusively, advantageously to a microwave input signal, in particular to a modulated input signal comprising one (or more) carrier (s) having a carrier frequency in a band Frequency selectable in the microwave range (300 MHz to 300 GHz), or outside this range.
• At least one amplifier being a transistor
• said adjustment parameters are chosen from the group consisting of at least one bias voltage and at least one impedance characteristic. charge.
• the adjustment parameters are the gate voltage, the drain voltage, the real part of the load impedance and the imaginary part of the impedance of the field. load (or the power factor ⁇ ).
• At least one amplifier being a traveling wave tube
• said adjustment parameters are chosen from the group consisting of a beam current, a helical voltage, and a collector voltage.
• the amplification stage can be manufactured with one (or more) amplifier (s) in parallel.
• one (or more) amplifier (s) in parallel In the case of several amplifiers in parallel, a plurality of identical amplifiers is advantageously used. However, nothing prevents the use of different amplifiers as needed.
• the amplification stage delivering a predetermined average output power POUT, for each amplifier, a mean output power value POUTk of the amplifier is determined for the optimum values of each setting parameter, and the number N of amplifier (s) in parallel of the amplification stage is chosen such that:
• the average output power POUTk of each amplifier is advantageously calculated from the expected average of the average power output of each amplifier calculated as indicated above.
• the invention extends to an amplification stage obtained by a manufacturing method according to the invention. It therefore also relates to a power amplification stage of a variable envelope input signal having a predetermined instantaneous statistical power distribution, this amplification stage comprising at least one amplifier and adaptation circuits determining parameters of setting whose value influences the average power transfer functions POUT (PIN), in the PM phase (PIN), and the PDC consumption (PIN), of the amplification stage,
• these optimum values being determined from values of an optimization criterion calculated for each value of each adjustment parameter, and so as to represent an optimization of the optimization criterion of the amplifier,
• the values of the optimization criterion being calculated according to the expected expectation, with the statistical distribution of the input signal, of at least one optimization parameter starting from at least an ideal variation in mean power POUT L (PIN) of the amplifier,
• N N number of amplifier (s) in parallel determined as a function of an average output power value to be provided by the amplification stage.
• An amplification stage according to the invention may in particular be free of an envelope detector of the input signal and any circuit for dynamically adjusting the bias and supply voltages of the amplifier.
• the invention also relates to a method for manufacturing a power amplification stage of a variable envelope input signal, and such an amplification stage characterized in combination by all or some of the characteristics mentioned above or below.
• FIG. 1 is a logic diagram of the main steps of a method according to one embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating variations in average power output POUT as a function of the average input power PIN of an amplifier
• FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a linearization matching circuit associated with an amplifier for carrying out a method according to the invention
• FIGS. 4a to 4c are diagrams illustrating examples of statistical distribution (histograms of the number of occurrences of amplitude values) of signals according to three modulation schemes, respectively APSK; 16 APSK and 16 QAM,
• FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an amplification stage according to the invention manufactured by a method according to the invention.
• a method of manufacturing an amplification stage shown in FIG. 1 comprises a first step 11 of characterizing each amplifier 12 of the amplification stage.
• an amplifier 32 formed of a field effect transistor is placed in a test bench (not shown) of the type designated in English "load pull", for example as described by the publication "Characterization in power. at millimeter frequencies of nanometric circuits in silicon technology "M. de Matos, E. Kerherve, H. Lapuyade, JB. Begueret, Y. Deval, 10th CNFM Teaching Days (CNFM 2008), Nov 2008, St Malo, France, pp. 11-116.
• FIG. 2 An example of variation of the average power POUTcw (PIN) of the amplifier for a constant envelope input signal is shown in FIG. 2 by a dotted line curve.
• this variation can be recorded in the form of a table comprising a column of values of the average input power PIN, a column of measured values of the average output power POUTcw, and a column of measured values of the PDCcw consumption.
• a linearization circuit 33 is chosen located upstream of the amplifier 32 and capable of providing an ideal form of variation in average output power POUT L (PIN) differentiable at any point.
• this ideal variation POUT L is a variation comprising a first linear part (actually affine) up to a maximum value POUTmax of saturation of the average output power of the amplifier, with a transition curve differentiable at any point between the linear part and the saturation part.
• Other examples are possible, and there are many matching circuits for obtaining various forms of ideal variation of the average output power of the amplifier.
• this linearization circuit 33 is chosen so as to obtain an ideal variation in average output power as a function of a performance criterion that it is desired to impose on the amplifier, for example a value of the signal / noise ratio. or an intermodulation rate at the maximum power of saturation, and which is known to be satisfied for said ideal variation.
• a value of the signal-to-noise ratio at the saturation power which is, for example, equal to 15 dB by choosing the circuit 33 for linearization of appropriate way.
• the linearization circuit 33 is chosen so as to obtain a predetermined, preferably zero, phase shift in the amplified output signal.
• a method for selecting such a linearization circuit 33 is described in the French patent application FR1453773. Many other known variants of linearization can be used as such.
• the characteristics of the electronic circuits making it possible to obtain the chosen form of variation can be determined in the case of a microwave signal, in particular as described by CWPark, et al., "An Independently Controllable AM / AM and AM / PM Predistortion Linearizer for CDMA 2000 Multi-Carrier Applications ", IEEE 2001.
• a configurable linearizer circuit such as linearizers Lintech (US) of the WAFL series, compatible with the frequency range and the average power range provided for the input signal, and for which the variations transfer functions (or “curves") in average power and in phase shift that it produces are predetermined and known for different values of the adjustable parameters of this parameterizable linearizer circuit.
• a set of parameters of the linearizer circuit is chosen so that the transfer functions in average power and in phase shift produced by this linearizer circuit correspond as closely as possible to the ideal variation sought.
• the choice of a set of adjustable parameters of the linearizer circuit thus makes it possible to choose an ideal variation in average power POUT L (PIN) differentiable in any point.
• this ideal variation in mean output power POUT L (PIN) is represented by an additional column of the values of the average output power POUT L according to this ideal variation in the table mentioned above.
• the ideal variation in average power POUT L (PIN) has been selected, it is possible, if the consumption is chosen as an optimization parameter, to recalculate, for each value of each adjustment parameter Vg, Vd, Z, ⁇ , a ideal variation of the PDC consumption L (PIN) according to the average input power PIN, from said ideal variation in average power POUT L (PIN) and said measured variations POUTcw (PIN) and PDCcw (PIN).
• the aforementioned table relates the values of the measured consumption for the constant envelope signal PDCcw as a function of the values of the measured output power for the constant envelope signal POUTcw.
• PDC L (i) POUT L (i) x [POUTcwG) - POUTcwG-1)] / [PDCcwG) - PDCcwG-1)] with j the selected line such that:
• step 13 the instantaneous statistical power distribution of the variable envelope input signal to be amplified, which is predetermined, in particular according to the modulation scheme, to calculate an optimization criterion during a step 14 is used (step 13). .
• FIG. 4a thus illustrates the shape of the histograms of the number of occurrences of amplitude values of signals modulated according to a 7APSK modulation (amplitude and phase modulation with 7 symbols);
• FIG. 4b illustrates the shape of the histograms of the number of occurrences of amplitude values of signals modulated according to a 16APSK (16-symbol amplitude and phase modulation) modulation;
• FIG. 4a thus illustrates the shape of the histograms of the number of occurrences of amplitude values of signals modulated according to a 7APSK modulation (amplitude and phase modulation with 7 symbols);
• FIG. 4b illustrates the shape of the histograms of the number of occurrences of amplitude values of signals modulated according to a 16APSK (16-symbol amplitude and phase modulation) modulation;
• the probability density 5e (Pi) of the average power of the signal Se is known as a function of each instantaneous power value Pi of the signal Se.
• this statistical distribution can be in the form of a table of discrete values from which numerical calculations are performed, or of an analytical function or of an analytical approximation, for example a polynomial of the probability density. It is therefore possible to calculate (by numerical calculation on discrete values or with an analytical function) the mathematical expectation of the average power of such a signal Se.
• the probability density D Se (Pi) of the average power of the variable envelope input signal Se to be amplified as a function of each instantaneous power value Pi of this variable envelope input signal Se is used.
• at least one such optimization parameter is chosen from the average output power POUTk of the amplifier and the consumption PDCk of the amplifier.
• each optimization parameter depends on the optimization criterion of the amplifier that is to be retained, which itself depends on the application of the amplification stage to be manufactured.
• step 14 for each value of each adjustment parameter Vd, Vg, Z, ⁇ , the mathematical expectation of these optimization parameters is calculated according to the following formulas:
• another optimization criterion may be used that the yield.
• the yield For example, it is possible to use only the value of the average output power POUTk as an optimization criterion, in which case only the mathematical expectation of the average output power E P0UT1 [Pi] is calculated in step 14. . If only the consumption PDCk is used as an optimization criterion, only the mathematical expectation of consumption E PDCl [Pi] is calculated in step 14. If only the dissipated power DISSk is used as an optimization criterion, only the mathematical expectation of the dissipated power is calculated in step 14:
• each mathematical expectation is calculated from the ideal variation of the corresponding optimization parameter, that is to say at least from the ideal variation in mean power POUT L (PIN).
• PIN mean power
• using an amplifier 32 corrected by circuits 33, 34 and 35 adaptation can indeed use such an ideal variation to calculate each expectation used to calculate an optimization criterion, while ensuring that the amplifier will satisfy predetermined performance criteria related to the previously chosen choice of this ideal variation.
• an idealized linearized variation as noted above, it can be ensured that the amplifier will provide a predetermined signal-to-noise ratio or intermodulation rate for any value of its average output power.
• step 14 the different calculations of the optimization criterion performed for each value of each adjustment parameter Vd, Vg, Z, ⁇ are recorded in a table.
• an optimal combination of the values of the adjustment parameters Vd, Vg, Z, ⁇ is determined from the computed value table of the optimization criterion, to optimize this optimization criterion of the optimization criterion. amplifier.
• the optimal combination which gives the greatest numerical value r
• a simple and complete optimization of the amplifier's adjustment is obtained in a simple way, taking into account the various adjustment parameters and performance criteria of the amplifier, whatever the optimization criterion and whatever the amplifier technology and corresponding tuning parameters.
• the number N of amplifiers A1, A2, ... Ak,..., AN in parallel is determined so that:
• the average power of the input signal is not a given constraint, but is determined to correspond to the optimal combination of the adjustment parameters of each amplifier and the corresponding average output power POUTk.
• the amplification stage comprises, for each amplifier 32, an upstream linearization circuit 33 (notably making it possible to obtain an ideal variation of the average output power of the amplifier), a load impedance 34 at the output and a polarization device 35 supplying the bias voltages Vg, Vd of the transistor 32.
• the linearization circuit 33, the output impedance 34 at the output and the polarization device 35 are matching circuits of the amplification stage.
• These matching circuits 33, 34, 35 have fixed characteristics corresponding to the optimum values of the adjustment parameters and which do not depend in particular dynamically on the characteristics of the input signal.
• the amplification stage comprises a plurality of such identical amplifiers 32, it is possible to use one and the same linearization circuit 33 common to the different amplifiers 32, a single output circuit constituting the impedance 34 for all the amplifiers 32, and a single bias circuit 35 providing the different bias voltages to the different transistors in parallel.
• the invention provides a particularly simple, robust, reliable, and universal method of determining the optimum setting parameters of a variable envelope signal power amplification stage, and in particular of communication signals, including modulated signals. It goes without saying that the invention can be the subject of many variants and applications other than those described above and shown in the figures.

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