With the advent of 5G and the need for ever increasing connectivity, new requirements and restrictions of the associated applications demand the adoption of research by the industry allowing the translation of innovative ideas into products. One of the key components – if not the most important – for any wireless communications system is the power amplifier (PA). Although PAs have been the focus of research for many decades resulting in a vast number of architectures and implementations, it is still unclear why certain types of PAs have dominated particular applications and what are the key aspects that a new architecture must possess to outplace an established solution. This course will introduce the most prominent techniques for sub-6GHz and mmWave PAs and discuss them in the context highly efficient architectures. The course, inspired from both academia and industry practices, will discuss the theory and variations of the Doherty, outphasing, Envelope Tracking and Digital Pre-Distortion.

• familiar with RF engineering techniques such as active and passive components modelling, S parameters, and impedance matching
• familiar with matlab and Advanced Design System
• PC with internet connection with a student license for Matlab and ADS
• Language English/French

This course aims to help students, researchers and RF engineers become familiar with PA efficiency/linearity enhancement techniques and inform them on the directions their research should focus in order to maximise their impact.