On Feedback Sample Selection Methods Allowing Lightweight Digital Predistorter Adaptation

Abstract

In modern communication systems advanced techniques such as digital predistortion (DPD) are required to satisfy stringent demands on transmitter linearity and efficiency. DPD, however, increases the hardware and computational complexity of transmitters. In this article we show that the computational complexity of DPD adaptation can be drastically reduced if a low number of samples is properly selected for DPD adaptation. For this purpose we propose methods of sample selection for DPD adaptation. Among the proposed methods, the highest computational complexity reduction is achieved by a method based on the histogram of signal magnitudes, optimised with respect to characteristics of the radio frequency power amplifier and of the transmitted signal. Simulations indicate that this proposed method can reduce the computational complexity of DPD adaptation by a factor of up to 400 while the linearisation performance of conventional methods is preserved. Besides simulations for three models of distinct power amplifiers, measurements on a real power amplifier further verify the linearisation capabilities of the proposed methods.