T-LINC Architecture with Digital Combination and Mismatch Correction in the Receiver

In this paper a novel outphasing amplification architecture, Transmitted Linear Amplification with Nonlinear Components (T-LINC), is proposed and evaluated. Different from conventional LINC techniques that combine the outphased signals before transmission, the proposed architecture transmits both outphased signals and implements the signal combination in the base-band domain at the receiver side. By digitally combining the signals in the receiver, it is easier to correct gain or phase mismatch existing between the two outphased signals, without adding any extra complexity in the transmitter. Additionally, a power combiner is no longer required in the transmitter. Simulations show that the proposed technique is able to correct transmitter gain and phase imbalance and achieve an ACPR level of -42 dBc and EVM below 2.5 % for 16-QAM signals.