High power transmission using multi-tone signals

1. A wireless transmitter comprising:

signal processing circuitry having a plurality of processor outputs,

a plurality of amplifiers, each amplifier of the plurality of amplifiers having a respective amplifier input and a respective amplifier output, wherein each amplifier input is operably connected to a respective processor output of the processor outputs and wherein each amplifier operates in non-linear mode;

a power combiner having a plurality of power combiner inputs and a power combiner output, wherein each power combiner input of the plurality of power combiner inputs is operably connected to a corresponding one of the respective amplifier outputs; and

an antenna having an antenna input, wherein the antenna input is directly connected to the power combiner output;

wherein the signal processing circuitry is configured to:

provide a data stream for each processor output;

modulate each data stream with a carrier tone to generate modulated data streams as incoherent signals;

form a multi-tone signal for each data stream based on respective modulated data streams; and

output each of the multi-tone signals to each respective one of the processor outputs for provision, after being amplified by each respective amplifier, to the power combiner for coherent combination of the multi-tone signals by the power combiner and wireless transmission via the antenna, each multi-tone signal outputted from each respective one of the amplifiers amplifier comprising harmonics based on each respective one of the amplifiers operating in non-linear mode.

2. The wireless transmitter of claim 1 , wherein a power associated with each carrier tone in the multi-tone signal is based on a number of processor outputs.

3. The wireless transmitter of claim 1 , wherein a power associated with each carrier tone of the multi-tone signal is P 1 *1/N, where P 1 is a predetermined pre-amplification single tone power and N is a number of processor outputs.

4. The wireless transmitter of claim 1 , wherein an amplified power associated with each carrier tone of the multi-tone signal on the outputs of the amplifiers, is P 2 *1/N less losses, where P 2 is a predetermined full single tone amplified power and N is a number of processor outputs.

5. The wireless transmitter of claim 1 , wherein a power for each carrier tone on the power combiner output is a predetermined full single tone amplified power less losses.

6. The wireless transmitter of claim 5 , wherein the losses include intermodulation losses and harmonic losses.

7. The wireless transmitter of claim 1 , wherein the power combiner is a Wilkinson combiner.

8. The wireless transmitter of claim 1 , wherein at least the signal processing circuitry is embodied in an field programmable gate array (FPGA).

9. A wireless transmitter comprising:

signal processing circuitry having a first processor output and a second processor output,

a first amplifier and a second amplifier, the first amplifier having a first amplifier input and a first amplifier output, the second amplifier having a second amplifier input and a second amplifier output, wherein the first amplifier input is operably connected to the first processor output and the second amplifier input is operably connected to the second processor output and wherein the first amplifier and the second amplifier operate in non-linear mode;

a power combiner having a first power combiner input, a second power combiner input, and a power combiner output, wherein the first power combiner input is operably connected to the first amplifier output and the second power combiner input is operably connected to the second amplifier output; and

an antenna having an antenna input, wherein the antenna input is directly connected to the power combiner output;

wherein the signal processing circuitry is configured to:

provide a first data stream for the first processor output and provide a second data stream for the second processor output;

modulate the first data stream with a first carrier tone to generate a first modulated data stream and modulate the second data stream with a second carrier tone to generate a second modulated data stream, the first modulated data stream and the second modulated data stream being incoherent signals;

form a first multi-tone signal based on the first modulated data stream and form a second multi-tone signal based on the second modulated data stream; and

output the first multi-tone signal on the first processor output and the second multi-tone signal on the second processor output for provision, after being amplified by the first amplifier and the second amplifier, respectively, to the power combiner for coherent combination by the power combiner and wireless transmission via the antenna, the first and second multi-tone signals respectively outputted from the first and second amplifiers each comprising harmonics based on the first amplifier and the second amplifier operating in non-linear mode.

10. The wireless transmitter of claim 9 , wherein a first power associated with the first carrier tone of the multi-tone signal is P 1 *½, where P 1 is a predetermined pre-amplification single tone power and a second power associated with the second carrier tone of the multi-tone signal is P 1 *½.

11. The wireless transmitter of claim 9 , wherein a first amplified power associated with the first carrier tone of the first multi-tone signal at the first amplifier output is P 2 *½ less losses, where P 2 is a predetermined full single tone amplified power and a second amplified power associated with the second carrier tone of the second multi-tone signal at the second amplifier output is P 2 *½ less losses.

12. The wireless transmitter of claim 9 , wherein a post-combiner power for the first carrier tone on the power combiner output is a predetermined full single tone amplified power less losses and a post-combiner power for the second carrier tone on the power combiner output is the predetermined full single tone amplified power less losses.

13. The wireless transmitter of claim 12 , wherein the losses include intermodulation losses and harmonic losses.

14. The wireless transmitter of claim 9 , wherein the power combiner is a Wilkinson combiner.

15. The wireless transmitter of claim 9 , wherein at least the signal processing circuitry is embodied in a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

16. A method comprising:

providing, by signal processing circuitry having a plurality of processor outputs, a data stream for each processor output of the plurality of processor outputs;

modulating each data stream with a carrier tone to generate modulated data streams as incoherent signals;

forming multi-tone signals based on the modulated data streams; and

outputting the multi-tone signals on each of the processor outputs for provision, after being amplified by respective amplifiers operating in non-linear mode, to a power combiner for coherent combination of the multi-tone signals by the power combiner and wireless transmission via an antenna directly connected to the power combiner, the multi-tone signals outputted from the respective amplifiers comprising harmonics.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein a power associated with each carrier tone in the multi-tone signal is based on a number of processor outputs.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein a power associated with each carrier tone of the multi-tone signal is P 1 *1/N, where P 1 is a predetermined pre-amplification single tone power and N is a number of processor outputs.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein an amplified power associated with each carrier tone of the multi-tone signals on respective outputs of the amplifiers is P 2 *1/N less losses, where P 2 is a predetermined full single tone amplified power and N is a number of processor outputs.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein a power for each carrier tone on an output of the power combiner is a predetermined full single tone amplified power less losses.