On the design considerations of solid-state power amplifiers for
satellite communications: a systems perspective
Abstract
Conventional solid-state power amplifier (SSPA) design approach isolates
RF design from communication theory. In this paper, a unified SSPA
design approach is proposed which optimizes SSPA parameters (bias
voltage and input RF signal power) to minimize total DC power
consumption while satisfying received SNR constraint specified by the
link budget. The effect of SSPA nonlinearity is quantified by the error
vector magnitude measured at its output and the corresponding received
SNR degradation is analyzed. Using the quantitative metrics for received
SNR, it is possible to evaluate highly nonlinear SSPA classes such as
Class-B or deep-Class AB which are normally not considered in
conventional SSPA design approach to be used in satellite communication
applications.