Digital Predistorter Design Using a Reduced Volterra Model to Linearize GaN RF Power Amplifiers

In this paper, a novel method for reducing a Simplified Volterra Series (SVS) model size is proposed for GaN RF Power Amplifier (PA) Digital Predistorter (DPD) design. Using the SVS-modified model, the number of coefficients needed for the PA behavioral modeling and predistortion can be reduced by 60% while maintaining acceptable performances. Simulation and implementation tests are performed for a Class AB GaN PA and Doherty GaN PA using a 20-MHz Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) signal. The Adjacent Channel Power Ratio (ACPR) attains -40 dB and -41 dB for the Doherty and Class AB GaN PAs, respectively. The implementation complexity is also studied and the obtained results prove the capability of the proposed model to linearize PA using 3% of the Slice LUTs and 87% of the DSP48E1 available in the Xilinx Zynq-7000 FPGA.