Synergistic design of DSP and power amplifiers for wireless communications

Co-design of digital signal-processing (DSP) algorithms and power-amplifier characteristics can lead to improved efficiency and linearity through a va riety of strategies including: predistortion, DSP control over bias conditi ons, particularly the power supply voltage, and DSP generation of digital i nput signals for switching amplifiers. This paper discusses several amplifi er architectures that exemplify these approaches, including: bias-controlle d amplifiers, linear amplification with nonlinear components amplifiers, an d class-S amplifiers. We envision for the future a generation of "smart pow er amplifiers," in which DSP optimization of amplifier parameters is carrie d out for changing environments.