Abstract: 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.

Abstract: 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”) 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 “traffic” variations.

Abstract: 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.

Abstract: 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 5th generation (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.