Power amplifier does not need DFD, CFR or ET, says Guerilla RF
Guerilla RF has developed its latest InGaP HBT power amplifier for wideband linear output power in 5G applications that cannot employ digital pre-distortion (DPD), crest factor reduction (CFR) or envelope tracking (ET). The GRF5317 power amplifier delivers 18dBm of wideband linear power and is the first of a series of 0.1W linear power amplifiers being developed by the company.
The InGaP HBT amplifiers were designed specifically for 5G wireless infrastructure applications requiring exceptional native linearity over large 500MHz bandwidths and temperature extremes of -40 to +85 degrees C.
Spanning a frequency range of 1.5 to 2.0GHz, the GRF5317 is tuned to operate within the n1, n2, n3, n25, n34, n39, n65, n66, n70, n80, n84, and n86 5G new radio (NR) bands. The devices typically deliver 18dBm of linear power over the entire operating temperature range while maintaining adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) levels of better than -45dBc and IMD3 levels less than -25dBm are achievable without the aid of supplemental linearisation schemes like DPD.
The ability to beat the -45dBc ACLR performance metric without DPD is critical for cellular applications like home and commercial repeaters / boosters, femto cells, and pico cells, as well as cable loss compensators which are used in conjunction with automotive ‘shark fin’ antennas. Typically, sensitivity to cost, power and size constraints prohibits the use of elaborate linearisation techniques, meaning designers must rely on the power amplifier’s native linearity to meet the stringent emissions mask requirements imposed by the latest 5G standards.
The GRF53xx series was developed by Guerrilla RF, blending power and linearity to maximise the effective range and throughput for cellular systems. It was also designed to be footprint-compatible, enabling customers to rapidly customise designs for many cellular frequencies.
Ryan Pratt, CEO and founder of Guerrilla RF, commented: “GRF now provides pin-pin compatible linear [power amplifiers] PAs that can cover the 0.1W, 0.25W and 0.5W power spectrum, giving customers the ability to simply swap in different devices to address a variety of output power scenarios. The GRF53xx series can also work in conjunction with its 0.5W cousins, serving as linear drivers for the higher power cores.”
The GRF5317 comes in a 3.0 x 3.0mm, 16-pin QFN package. The power amplifier is sampling now. Evaluation boards for the GRF5317 are also available.
