New Design Paradigm for MIMO RF Power Amplifiers

全球电信业面临着设计下一代（例如5G）移动网络的挑战，通过大规模连接人和机器来释放互联网的全部潜力。目前尚不清楚每秒数十千兆比特的宽带移动通信将对世界各地的社会产生何种影响。然而，下一代无线系统的一个重要目标是在节省能源的同时容纳10倍以上的数据流量。射频功率放大器（PA）是基站和手机中消耗能量最多的部件。因此，高效节能的移动网络需要高效的射频放大器。该项目通过引入设计方法的范式转变来促进这一推动力，这将使设计更快、更有效，从而实现显著的节能。除了这些技术目标之外，拟议的研究还将通过培训人员进行先进的5G电路设计，为无线行业提供关键支持。一个积极的数据管理计划也将被追求，以最大限度地提高该项目的影响，并通过档案网站和参与NSF连接一个中心由NSF世界自然与自然保护委员会项目资助。研究成果也将在课堂和教学实验室中进行介绍。为了提供近距离接触这些令人兴奋的研究活动，工程专业的本科生将通过暑期实习计划参与相关的子项目。此外，还计划在高中和初中开展无线技术激励外展活动，以促进工程教育。高效射频功率放大器的发展，需要具有成本效益的部署下一代节能无线网络容纳10倍以上的数据流量。目前，射频放大器设计人员依靠多谐波源和负载-拉力测量或模拟来设计高能效放大器。由于设计中存在巨大的多维搜索空间，这种设计技术速度极慢，效率极低。在这个项目中，将采用最近开发的嵌入式PA技术直接设计射频功率放大器。放大器首先设计在电流源参考平面上。现在人们已经充分认识到，为了射频功率晶体管的最佳工作，设计者必须以晶体管的本禀电流源参考平面为目标。在这个项目中，新的PA类和架构将被研究并与传统的进行比较。直到最近，由于存在线性和非线性器件寄生，在现实世界中实现理想的固有PA工作模式仍然受到阻碍，这需要耗时且不准确的多谐波源和负载-拉搜索。然而，随着嵌入装置模型的出现，现在可以在一次模拟中获得最佳设计。该方法将在本提案中进一步应用于多个互连晶体管电路。通过这种嵌入设计方法，现在可以探索以前从未设想过的新型宽带电路拓扑，以实现宽带5G应用的最高性能。这种嵌入设计技术也将最终促进自动设计最佳高效射频放大器的工具的开发。射频电路设计中的这种范式转变有可能释放射频电路设计中电子设计自动化（EDA）工具的真正力量。

The global telecommunication industry faces the challenge of designing the next generation (e.g., 5G) of mobile networks to unleash the full potential of the internet by connecting people and machines on a massive scale. There is no telling the impact broadband mobile communication with tens of gigabits per seconds will have on societies across the world. However, one important goal for next generation wireless systems is to save energy while accommodating 10 times more data traffic. RF power amplifier (PA) is the component that consumes most energy in both base-stations and cell phones. Therefore, energy-efficient mobile network requires highly efficient RF amplifiers. This project contributes to this thrust by introducing a paradigm shift in design methodology that will enable faster and more effective design to achieve significant energy savings. In addition to these technical goals, the proposed research will also provide critical support to the wireless industry by training personnel for advanced 5G circuit design. A proactive data management plan will also be pursued for maximizing the impact of this project and its dissemination via an archival website and participation in the NSF Connection One Center funded by NSF IUCRC program. The research results will also be introduced in the classroom and in our educational labs. To provide a close exposure to these exciting research activities, undergraduate students in engineering will be recruited through a summer internship program to work on relevant sub-projects. Inspiring outreach activities in wireless technologies will also be scheduled to promote engineering education in high-schools and middle-schools.The development of highly efficient RF power amplifiers is required for the cost-effective deployment of next generation energy-efficient wireless networks accommodating 10 times more data traffic. Presently, RF PA designers rely on multi-harmonic source- and load-pull measurements or simulations for designing power-efficient PAs. Due to the huge multi-dimensional search space in design, this design technique is extremely slow and inefficient. In this project, the direct design of RF power amplifiers using the recently developed embedding PA technique will be pursued. The amplifiers are first designed at the current source reference planes. It is indeed now fully understood that for the optimal operation of RF power transistors, the designer must target on optimal operation at the intrinsic current-source reference-planes of the transistors. In this project, new PA classes and architectures will be investigated and compared to traditional ones. Until recently, the practical realization of ideal intrinsic PA mode of operation in the real-world remained crippled by the presence of linear and nonlinear device parasitics, which required time-consuming and inaccurate multi-harmonic source- and load-pull searches. However, with the advent of the embedding device model, optimal designs can now be obtained in a single simulation. This approach will be further applied in this proposal to multiple interconnected transistor circuits. With this embedding design approach, new broadband circuit topologies never conceived before can now be explored for achieving the highest performance possible for broadband 5G applications. This embedding design technique should also eventually facilitate the development of tools for the automatic design of optimal high-efficiency RF PAs. This paradigm shift in RF circuit design has the potential to unleash the true power of electronic design automation (EDA) tools in RF circuit design.