Joint optimisation of supply and bias modulation

1. A method of controlling at least one amplification stage, comprising:

a. selecting a linearity objective for the amplification stage;

b. in dependence on an input signal to said amplification stage, determining a combination of supply input and bias input for the amplification stage in order to meet said linearity objective;

c. in dependence on there being more than one combination of supply input and bias input for meeting the linearity objective, selecting the combination that optimises a further system performance objective for the amplification stage;

d. measuring at least one amplifier dependent characteristic in dependence on at least one amplifier independent characteristic; and

e. determining a preferred combination of bias and supply inputs to achieve the linearity objective based on said measurements.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the further system performance objective is one or more of: an efficiency objective; an envelope signal bandwidth objective; or a robustness to production tolerance objective.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the supply input and the bias input vary in dependence on a variation in the envelope of the input signal or the power of the input signal and the step of determining a preferred combination is based on an instantaneous value of the input signal.

4. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

a. creating a searchable database of said amplifier dependent and independent characteristics;

b. searching said measurement database to simultaneously determine the optimum combination of bias and supply voltage at each input power over the measurement range to achieve specific system performance objectives;

c. wherein step of applying the supply voltage and the bias voltage is based on said determined combinations.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

a. measuring a plurality of amplifier dependent characteristics in dependence on a plurality of amplifier independent characteristics;

b. creating a model of the amplifier operating for emulation of said measured amplifier characteristics;

c. determining from said model the optimum combination of bias and supply voltage at each input power over the measurement range to achieve specific system performance objectives;

d. wherein step of applying the supply voltage and the bias voltage is based on said determined combinations.

6. The method according to claim 5 wherein said model is in real-time or non-real-time.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the plurality of amplifier independent characteristics are from the group comprising bias voltage; supply voltage; input power; input phase; temperature; device periphery; and load impedance.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the plurality of amplifier dependent characteristics are from the group comprising: output power; output phase; gain; supply current; adjacent channel power; error vector magnitude; correlation coefficient.

9. The method according to claim 5 wherein the inputs to the model are from the group comprising bias voltage; supply voltage; input power; input phase; temperature; device periphery; and load impedance.

10. The method according to claim 5 wherein the outputs from the model are from the group comprising: output power; output phase; gain; supply current; adjacent channel power; error vector magnitude; correlation coefficient.

11. The method according to claim 1 wherein said system performance objectives comprise highest power added efficiency; highest drain efficiency; constant gain; constant phase; lowest adjacent channel power; lowest error vector magnitude; highest correlation coefficient.

12. The method according to claim 1 wherein the supply and bias inputs are selected in dependence upon one or more previous input signal values.

13. An amplification stage for amplifying an input signal, the amplification stage having a supply voltage input and bias voltage input, comprising:

a. detection means for detecting the input signal to the amplifier;

b. voltage selection means for selecting a supply input and bias input set for the amplification stage in dependence on the detected input signal, wherein the selected supply and bias inputs are selected to meet a linearity objective for the amplification stage; and further wherein in dependence on there being more than one supply input and bias input set for meeting the linearity objective, selecting the set that optimises a further system performance objective for the amplification stage;

wherein the voltage selection means comprises:

i. a non-linear mapping element for receiving the detected input signal and generating the supply input; and

ii. a non-linear mapping element for receiving the detected input signal and generating the bias input.

14. The amplification stage of claim 13 wherein the further system performance objective is one or more of: an efficiency objective; an envelope signal bandwidth objective; or a robustness to production tolerance objective.

15. The amplification stage according to claim 13 wherein each of the respective non-linear mapping element is adapted to approximate an idealised mapping for the detected input signal to meet the specific system performance objective.

16. The amplification stage according to claim 13 wherein each of said respective non-linear mapping element is a digital linear mapping means.

17. The amplification stage according to claim 13 wherein each of said respective non-linear mapping element is a digital linear mapping means.

18. The amplification stage according to claim 13 wherein the non-linear mapping element are configured in accordance with measured results for the amplification stage performance.