A Wideband Antenna Integrated Power Amplifier For 5G Base Stations

In this paper, co-design of power amplifier (PA), low pass filter (LPF) and antenna is presented for a beamforming network for 5G base stations. The targeted frequency range is 3.3-3.6 GHz. A class AB PA is designed using harmonic load pull technique to extract power from the harmonics and hence maximum possible power added efficiency (PAE) over a wide bandwidth. A high performance LPF is designed and integrated with the PA for improved harmonic suppression. The antenna is a U-shape ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna, which originally showed tilted dipole like radiation pattern. The antenna is modified to obtain a directional pattern in the broadside direction while maintaining the pattern over the desired frequency range. The PA, LPF and antenna are integrated on the same substrate and overall results are investigated. It is a good candidate for RF beamforming network for the base stations with user tracking capability.