LINEAR-AMPLIFIERS TARGET PCS AND WLL BASE STATIONS

PERSONAL-communications-services (PCS) and wireless-local-loop (WLL) b ase stations must often support high power levels for single-carrier a nd multicarrier transmission while delivering high Linearity and effic iency. While base-station designers have traditionally turned to silic on bipolar devices [and more recently, laterally-diffused metal-oxide- semiconductor (LDMOS) devices] for amplification, these technologies r equire high-voltage supplies (typically in the +28-VDC range) and prov ide low gain per stage. By using a GaAs-based design, power-amplifier models PCS-19020 and PCS-19040 from Celeritek (Santa Clara, CA) delive r 20- and 40-W output power, respectively, from only a +12-VDC supply (Fig. 1).