Increasing Multitone Power Near Saturation

摘要

Microwave high power amplifiers (HPA), particularly traveling-wave-tube amplifiers (TWTA) and klystrons, are increasingly being used for the transmission of multitone signals. Such signals are frequently in the form of complex digitally modulated waveforms as orthogonal frequency division multiplex or CDMA. Some systems require multitone operation at or near saturation. This article investigates the relationship between single-tone and multitone saturated power. It is demonstrated that the two-tone and multitone (≥ 4) saturated power of TWTAs and similar amplifiers can be increased by more than 1 and 2 dB, respectively, through the use of a limiter-linearizer combination.