Multi-order predistortion of power amplifiers using a second harmonic based technique

A novel multi-order predistortion linearizer is proposed to achieve independent control of the third- and fifth-order intermodulation products in high power amplifier. The approach is based on a combination of the second harmonic technique and the difference frequency technique. The second harmonic and difference frequency terms are generated using an envelope detector and two frequency multipliers. The RF predistorter has the advantage of low insertion loss and the requirement of a short delay line. Experimental results demonstrate an adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) reduction of 11 dB for W-CDMA, at 2140 MHz.