Weekly Seminar: “Harmonically Tuned Amplifiers for Future Wireless Communications Systems”

26/09/2018 - 26/09/2018

Ico_CTTC

ABSTRACT:

High data-rate communication systems require the transmission of radio frequency (RF) signals which are modulated in both amplitude and phase, presenting peak power envelope swings exceeding ten times their average power levels. In wireless communication systems, it is a significant challenge to transmit high peak-to-average-power-ratio signals whilst maintaining a high degree of energy efficiency. However, it is fundamental from an environmental and economical point of view. Within radio hardware, power amplifier (PA) modules are the most power hungry elements, and therefore it is of utmost importance to develop modules capable of maintaining high levels of efficiency over large output power dynamic ranges. At the same time the linearity of the PA is critical because of the standards’ stringent requirements in terms of in-band and out-of-band distortion. Finally, as the number of bands and the baseband bandwidth of the transmitted signals increases the power amplifiers’ bandwidth of operation becomes another crucial parameter to reduce the size and cost of the transceiver. This seminar investigates, through a series of design examples, circuit level approaches to push the efficiency, linearity and bandwidth of the GaN HEMT based RF PAs to their fundamental limits.

SPEAKER:

Paolo Enrico de Falco received the B.E. degree in electronic engineering from the University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, U.K., in 2013, and PhD degree from the University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K in 2018. His research interests include broadband RF amplifiers, linearization and efficiency enhancement techniques for wireless communication transceivers. Dr. de Falco was bestowed First Place in the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (2016 IMS) High Efficiency Power Amplifier Student Design Competition, in the 2016 European Microwave Week Student Challenge and has authored or co-authored over 10 international journal, conference papers and patents. After holding a Visiting Research Scholar position at the University of Boulder-Colorado for 6 months, since 2017, he has been with Toshiba Research Europe Ltd., Bristol, where he is currently a member of the RF Team as a Research Engineer.

CTTC Auditorium / 10:00hDr. Paolo Enrico de Falco, Research Engineer at Toshiba Research Europe Ltd.