Subsystems and Systems

Overcoming Hard Limiter Suppression

For about half a century the suppression effects of bandpass hard limiters on various combinations of signals and interference have attracted widespread interest. 1-4 Certain "rules of thumb" have accreted around a variety of theoretical results. The purpose of this article is to revisit issues of interpretation and to...
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Ultra-wideband Radio - The New Part 15

Summary of the possible interactions between ultra-wideband and other wireless communications systems based on newly adopted rules by the Federal Communications Commission
Ultra-wideband (UWB) radio technology enables several important applications, including ground penetrating radar, imaging, location tracking and low cost, short-range communications. With the recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval of rules for operation of UWB devices under Part 15, devices aimed at these, and possibly other, applications will soon be...
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An RF Module Design for a Multi-mode Handset

This article describes a novel design of an RF module for a multi-mode handset and presents an example of an RF module for a W-CDMA/GSM/DCS tri-band and dual-mode handset. The entire module, including a direct modulation transmitter and a superheterody...
The number of mobile users is predicted to reach 1.7 billion by the year 2010. More than 45 percent of them will use high data speed services. W-CDMA, proposed by IMT2000, has become the most practical and important system for the development of new wireless communications. Nevertheless, second generation...
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A Minimalist Approach to Feedforward Multi-carrier Linear Power Amplifiers

A feedforward multi-carrier linear power amplifier with 60 W maximum average output is featured
Atmospheric propagation attenuation is known to be higher in the 2.1 GHz band than in the cellular band. Thus, to overcome this performance disadvantage and to maximize cell coverage and capacity, Unity Wireless System's first feedforward multi-carrier linear power amplifier (MCLPA) product has been designed with a high 60...
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Understanding W-CDMA Modulation Quality Measurements

There are many ways of characterizing W-CDMA transmitter performance. However, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifications require two measurements to verify the in-channel modulation quality of W-CDMA transmitters - error vector magnitude (EVM) and peak code domain power (peak CDE). This article explores the purpose behind these key...
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Precision Eb/No Generators for BER Testing to 44 GHz

With the continually increasing complexity of digital modulation techniques employed in wireless and satellite communications systems, instruments that accurately generate and maintain a set level of bit energy-to-noise density ratio (E b /N o ) have become valued tools in optimizing bit-error rate (BER) performance. These instruments have been...
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Effects of AM/AM and AM/PM Distortion on Spectral Regrowth in 3GPP W-CDMA BS Power Amplification

The effects of amplitude and phase nonlinearities in a power amplifier, which lead to spectral regrowth, are examined in the context of a 3GPP W-CDMA forward link (base station) environment. Behavioral modeling and simulation techniques are applied fir...
The transmitter unit, contained in base stations for third generation cellular systems, requires a linear power amplifier to preserve signal integrity when amplifying composite signals associated with multiple channels. While the power amplifier must meet a number of requirements to be system level compliant, the design process generally emphasizes...
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A Broadband Hybrid Solid-state and TWT Amplifier

Development of a broadband microwave amplifier for testing in the 800 MHz to 18 GHz frequency range
Test applications that require microwave power from 1 to 18 GHz are usually addressed by two amplifiers, a solid-state unit to cover the low frequency range and a traveling-wave tube amplifier (TWTA) for the higher range. The input signal must be switched between the two amplifiers and, if there...
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