Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Infineon Technologies Austria Ag

Eta Wireless, Inc.

James R Garrett

Yevgeniy A Tkachenko

John R Hoversten

Sri Harsh Pakala

David J Perreault

Ivan Duzevik

Brendan Metzner

Keng Chen

Charles P Amirault

Birol Bekirov

Robert T Carroll

Danny Clavette

Venkat Sreenivas

Min Chen

Described are circuits and techniques to increase the efficiency of radio-frequency (rf) amplifiers including rf power amplifiers (PAs) through 'supply modulation' (also referred to as “drain modulation” or “collector modulation”), in which supply voltages provided to rf amplifiers is adjusted dynamically (“modulated”) over time depending upon the rf signal being synthesized. For the largest efficiency improvements, a supply voltage can be adjusted among discrete voltage levels or continuously on a short time scale. The supply voltages (or voltage levels) provided to an rf amplifier may also be adapted to accommodate longer-term changes in desired rf envelope such as associated with adapting transmitter output strength to minimize errors in data transfer, for rf “traffic” variations.

RF power amplifier system having a multi-output supply generator and low-frequency turn off switch

RF power amplifier system with multiple supply modulators

Multi-output supply generator for RF power amplifiers with differential capacitive energy transfer

Described are circuits and techniques to communicate a digital envelope signal from a baseband chipset to a discrete supply modulator power management circuit (PMC). Also described is an apparatus and technique for power management control over a radio frequency (RF) transmission line for millimeter wave chip sets for cellular radios.

Power management control over a transmission line for millimeter wave chip sets for cellular radios

A power supply includes a storage component to store an output current value representative of a magnitude of output current supplied by an output voltage of a power converter to power a load. The power supply further includes an offset reference generator and a controller. The offset reference generator produces an offset reference signal, the output current value being offset by the offset reference signal. The controller controls generation of the output voltage of the power converter as a function of the offset output current value with respect to a threshold signal (value). Additionally, the controller is configured to detect a startup mode of a power converter operative to convert an input voltage into an output voltage. During the startup mode, the controller: i) produces a threshold signal having a magnitude that varies over time, and ii) controls operation of switches in the power converter as a function of the threshold signal while the power converter is operated in a diode emulation mode. Implementation of the startup mode monotonically increases a magnitude of the output voltage without dips.

Power supply and emulated current mode to control generation of an output voltage

Described are concepts, circuits, systems and techniques directed toward N-phase control techniques useful in the design and control of supply generators configured for use in a wide variety of power management applications including, but not limited to mobile applications.

Supply generator and associated control methods

Power supply and emulated current mode control

In a discrete supply modulation system, a circuit includes a multi-stage pulse shaping network (PSN) having a first PSN stage having an input configured to receive variable bias supply signals from a power management circuit (PMC) and having an output coupled to one or more second PSN stages with each of the one or more second PSN stages having an output configured to be coupled to a supply (or bias) terminal of a respective one of one or more radio frequency amplifiers. Such an arrangement is suitable for use with transmit systems in mobile handsets operating in accordance with 5generation (5G) communications and other connectivity protocols such as 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/ad/ay and is suitable for use with multiple simultaneous transmit systems including multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO), uplink carrier aggregation (ULCA) and beamforming.

Multi-stage pulse shaping network

An apparatus comprises an emulator and a corresponding compensator. During operation, the emulator produces, at different instants of time, an emulated output current value representative of an amount of current supplied from an output voltage to a load. In general, the compensator provides selective compensation to the emulated output current value over time. For example, for a first time duration, compensation adjustments from the compensator are used to modify the emulated output current value. For a second duration of time, compensation adjustments from the compensator are not used to modify the emulated output current value. Disabling or discontinuing application of adjustments (such as based on the actual measured output current) during the second time duration (such as during a respective transient condition) provides more accurate and timely generation of a respective emulated output current value.

Current emulation in a power supply

A power converter includes a switch, an ON-time controller, and a compensator. Over multiple control cycles, the ON-time controller controls an ON-time duration of a control signal driving the switch. Activation of the switch generates an output voltage that powers a dynamic load. The ON-time controller controls attributes such as a switching frequency and/or an ON-time duration of the control signal driving the switch to regulate the output voltage. A phase-locked loop in the compensator supplies the ON-time controller with adjustment signals that adjust the ON-time duration of activating the switch to maintain the switching frequency at a desired setpoint. Thus, if a transient load condition causes the ON-time controller to temporarily operate the switch to at a value other than the desired setpoint frequency, the phase-locked loop of the compensator causes the switching frequency to align with the desired switching frequency again over one or more control cycles.

On-time compensation in a power converter

Described are circuits and techniques to increase the efficiency of radio-frequency (rf) amplifiers including rf power amplifiers (PAs) through 'supply modulation' (also referred to as 'drain modulation' or &#x201c;collector modulation&#x201d;), in which supply voltages provided to rf amplifiers is adjusted dynamically (&#x201c;modulated&#x201d;) overtime depending upon the rf signal being synthesized. For the largest efficiency improvements, a supply voltage can be adjusted among discrete voltage levels or continuously on a short time scale. The supply voltages (or voltage levels) provided to an rf amplifier may also be adapted to accommodate longer-term changes in desired rf envelope such as associated with adapting transmitter output strength to minimize errors in data transfer, for rf &#x201c;traffic&#x201d; variations.

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Windham, NH, United States of America

James R Garrett