Experimental Assessment of Modulated$S$-Parameters Reliability in Modeling and Testing Wideband Radio Frequency Amplifiers

The paper deals with modeling and testing of radio frequency (RF) amplifiers that operate with wideband signals, such as those involved in emerging wireless and/or wireline communication systems. The use of new parameters, i.e., the so-called modulated S-parameters, is particularly encouraged and supported. Differently from traditional S-parameters, their measurement no longer requires a sinusoidal signal as test stimulus but a digitally modulated signal of the same type with which the RF amplifier has to operate. The reliability of the new parameters is assessed through a number of experiments conducted on an RF amplifier, which is mainly addressed to very wide bandwidth industrial and commercial applications. Both sinusoidal and modulated S-parameters are evaluated, and their ability in describing the real performance of the amplifier when operating with typical wideband signals, such as those involved in third-generation (3G) communication systems, is compared