Improving Power Amplifier Efficiency of Zero-Crossing Modulation at Sub-THz Frequencies

Research output: Contribution to book/Conference proceedings/Anthology/ReportConference contributionContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Utilizing the vast bandwidths available in the THz and sub-THz bands poses significant challenges, particularly with regard to the power consumption of the analog front end. For example, the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) power consumption is suspected to increase significantly due to the increase in bandwidth. As shown in prior work, reducing the ADC's amplitude resolution down to 1-bit and using tailored modulation schemes, such as zero-crossing modulation (ZXM), can partly mitigate this issue. However, the power amplifier (PA) at the transmitter typically dominates the overall power consumption. Thus, in this work we evaluate the PA efficiency of ZXM under non-linear distortions and propose two techniques to enhance PA efficiency: i) offsetting the in-phase and quadrature components by half a symbol period, and ii) maximizing output power by allowing strong distortions. Our results demonstrate that combining these approaches achieves high amplification efficiency and leads to performance gains in terms of symbol error rate.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2025 16th German Microwave Conference, GeMiC 2025
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Pages622-625
Number of pages4
ISBN (electronic)978-3-9820397-4-9
Publication statusPublished - 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

Conference

Title16th German Microwave Conference
Abbreviated titleGeMiC 2025
Conference number16
Duration17 - 19 March 2025
Website
LocationTechnische Universität Dresden
CityDresden
CountryGermany

Keywords

Keywords

  • efficiency, Power amplifier, waveform