This paper presents a broadband Doherty power amplifier (DPA) design with an octave bandwidth based on a new load network consisting of a quasi-lumped impedance transformer for the carrier amplifier, a multiple resonance circuit for the peaking amplifier, and a broadband post-matching network. The quasi-lumped impedance transformer and the multiple resonance circuit were designed based on accurate equivalent circuits for internal components inside the packaged transistor. Based on power bandwidth analysis, optimum susceptance provided by the multiple resonance circuit at the peaking amplifier, was obtained. The proposed broadband DPA was designed using 45 W gallium-nitride high electron mobility transistor for both carrier and peaking amplifiers. For continuous-wave signals in frequency range of 0.9 to 1.8 GHz, the implemented broadband DPA exhibited a drain efficiency of 54.2% to 73.4% at peak output power of 49.7 to 51.4 dBm and a drain efficiency of 41.7% to 58.0% at output back-off of 6 dB. For the down-link long-term evolution signal with a channel bandwidth of 10 MHz and a peak-to-average power ratio of 6.5 dB, a drain efficiency of 41.3% to 57.4% and an adjacent channel leakage power ratio of -22.5 to -30.2 dBc at an average output power of 43.2 to 449 dBm were achieved at an octave bandwidth.

The retroreflective method has been used as a radio—frequency (RF) beamforming method for massive antenna array, for wireless communication systems, radars, and microwave power transfer (MPT) systems. In particular, the retroreflective method is suitable for optimum beamforming for both near—and far—field zones. Each transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) circuit in the Tx array has its own phase offset, which should be calibrated for optimum retroreflective operation. This paper presents a simple and effective phase offset calibration method for the retroreflective beamforming arrays using a one—by—one basis optimum phase searching method with a receiver at a reference point. To verify the proposed method for a massive retroreflective array, a 5.2 GHz short— and mid—range (~ 4 m) MPT system, including a Tx array based on 8x8 antennas and an Rx using 6 antennas (5 rectennas for power reception, and 1 additional for pilot transmission) for charging mobile handsets was implemented. Optimal retroreflective beamforming from the Tx array, which was calibrated using the proposed method, was experimentally verified for angles of within ±45° degrees for both xz— and yz—planes. The implemented Tx and Rx circuits achieved a received dc power of about 100 mW at a distance of 4 m.

This article presents a Doherty power amplifier (DPA) based on asymmetric cells with a complex combining load (CCL). In this study, a new and intuitive design technique using the Smith chart is proposed for developing the load network of the CCL-DPA. The peaking amplifier consists of a larger cell size compared to that of the carrier amplifier in order to achieve higher power gain and peak output power in comparison with the conventional CCL-DPAs based on symmetric cells. For verification purposes, the proposed asymmetric CCL-DPA was designed and implemented using 6- and 10-W GaN-HEMTs for the carrier and peaking amplifiers, respectively. For the 1.68-GHz continuous-wave signal, the asymmetric CCL-DPA exhibited a power-added efficiency (PAE) of 68.0% and a drain efficiency (DE) of 73.9% at a peak output power of 43.5 dBm. When an output power back-off of 9.5 dB was used, a PAE of 52.0% and a DE of 54.7% were achieved. Using the long-term evolution signal with a peak-to-average power ratio of 9.6 dB and a signal bandwidth of 10 MHz, a PAE of 53.6%, a DE of 56.4%, and a power gain of 13.5 dB were obtained at a power level of 34.0 dBm. Using a digital predistortion technique, an adjacent channel leakage power ratio of -48 dBc was achieved at the same power level.

This article presents a novel method of extending the high-efficiency range of Doherty power amplifiers (DPAs) by utilizing multiple output power back-off (OBO) parameters. The OBO extension techniques of the DPAs, such as complex combining load (CCL), virtual stub (VS), and out-phased current combining (OCC) methods, were defined, and a general expression for these OBO extension techniques was derived. Using the general expression, three OBO extension methods were comparatively and comprehensively analyzed. Based on the analysis, the DPA with an extended OBO can be designed by simultaneously employing multiple back-off techniques with a high degree of freedom. To verify the general expression and its analysis, a DPA design for the frequency band of 3.45–3.75 GHz with GaN HEMTs was conducted using multiple OBO extension techniques of VS and OCC methods for a large OBO of 8.5 dB. Using a long-term evolution (LTE) signal with a signal bandwidth of 20 MHz and a peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of 8 dB, the drain efficiency (DE) of 38.9%–56.8% was achieved at the average output power levels of 34.4–36.8 dBm while satisfying ACLR of no larger than −45 dBc with digital predistortion (DPD) linearization. Under excitation of a 5G new radio (NR) signal with a signal bandwidth of 100 MHz and a PAPR of 8 dB, the DE of 38.5%–50.2% was achieved at the average output power levels of 34.6–36.8 dBm with an ACLR of under −24.6 dBc without DPD linearization.

This paper presents a look-up table (LUT)-based focal beamforming system that can effectively transmit RF power up to mid-range distances (≤ 3 m) including when the Rx is in the near-field zones. The Tx elements control and radiate signals for the Rx even at the near-field zone ensuring the received signals are in-phase. Since the proposed system uses a LUT for storing the phase sets of the signals for the Tx elements, it requires only very simple hardware and a very simple adaptive control algorithm compared to conventional retroreflective method. In order to track the moving Rx, a 2-D adaptive sequential searching algorithm is proposed. The system can find the optimum phase set by sequentially searching the phase sets for a pre-determined 2-D area. The LUT of the phase sets are generated using geometric analysis over the entire 2-D area where the Rx could be located. To verify the proposed method, a 5.2 GHz mid-range (≤ 3 m) MPT system composed of a $4\times 8$ Tx array and a $2\times 3$ Rx array was designed and implemented. Using the proposed 2-D adaptive sequential searching algorithm, the optimum phase set for focal beamforming can be quickly found for a given position of the Rx. In our experiments, the results showed an RF power level of 177.8 mW was received at the Rx with a distance of 1 m with a total radiated RF power of 16W. Since the measured received power levels for various Rx positions agree well with the simulation results, the proposed system was proved to be an excellent candidate for the practical application.