A Perspective on Linearization and Digital Pre-Distortion for Wireless Radio Systems

Abstract

Over the past two decades there has been much interest in the use of signal processing techniques to enhance the RF performance of non-linear wireless systems. This paper presents the challenges and requirements for a wide range of modern telecommunication applications from cellular mobile devices to wireless infrastructure and base stations. We shall also consider how the overall linearization system architecture is influenced by the design choices and application requirements. More specifically, we will compare and analyze different digital pre-distortion techniques, including direct-form polynomials, orthogonal polynomials, piecewise polynomials, and basis spline functions that are suitable for various wireless radio applications. Experimental results are presented along with discussions of advantages and drawbacks for each method in details.