System for estimating a non-linear characteristic of an amplifier

US6657492B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. · DE

Inventors

• Rainer Perthold · Weisendorf, DE
• Heinz Gerhauser · Waischenfeld, DE
• Gerald Ulbricht · Westerburg, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: May 1, 2000
• Grant date: Dec 2, 2003
• Expiry date: May 1, 2020

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H03F2200/102
• WIPO field: Basic communication processes
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

In a method for estimating a non-linear characteristic of an amplifier, an input signal is provided, a reference signal is determined based on the power of the input signal, the input signal is amplified using said amplifier in order to produce an amplified signal, a measurement signal is determined based on the power of the amplified signal and respective samples of the measurement signal are associated with respective samples of the reference signal. A gain value of said amplifier for each sample is determined from the respective samples of the reference signal and the measurement signal. An operating range of the amplifier is divided into a plurality of power sections and an averaged gain value is produced for each power section. Thereafter, a measure of the deviation of the gain values associated with a power section from said averaged gain value is determined. Then, averaged gain values are rejected which have a measure of the deviation which exceeds a predetermined threshold. Finally, an interpolation is performed using averaged gain values which have not been rejected in order to produce an estimation of said non-linear characteristic of said amplifier.