Power Amplifiers in Cable Access Network

Cable access network as a kind of wireline communication is very different from ubiquitous wireless counterparts. In the newest standard i.e., Data-Over-Cable System Interface Specification (DOCSIS) version 3.1, large bandwidth (5*192MHz), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and higher-order QAM modulation (4096-QAM) are simultaneously used for >10 Gbps downstream (DS) data rate, which poses significant challenges in the design of power amplifiers (PAs) in Cable network, especially high-efficiency requirement. This paper reviews the PA realization in Cable industry and the possibility of two common efficiency techniques including load-and supply-modulations to be used in Cable DS PA. Digital pre-distortion (DPD) as a famous linearization technique can be applied to Cable PA with the availability of advanced ADC & DAC, which is proven in this paper.