Electrical amplifier
Keywords
electrical, unidirectional
Ports
| Name | Type |
|---|---|
| input | Electrical Signal |
| output | Electrical Signal |
Properties
General Properties
| Name | Default value | Default unit | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
|
name Defines the name of the element. |
Electrical Amplifier | - | - |
|
annotate Defines whether or not to display annotations on the schematic editor. |
true | - | [true, false] |
|
enabled Defines whether or not the element is enabled. |
true | - | [true, false] |
|
type Defines the element unique type (read only). |
Electrical Amplifier | - | - |
|
description A brief description of the elements functionality. |
Electrical amplifier | - | - |
|
prefix Defines the element name prefix. |
AMP | - | - |
|
model Defines the element model name. |
- | - | - |
|
library Defines the element location or source in the library (custom or design kit). |
- | - | - |
|
local path Defines the local path or working folder $LOCAL for the element. |
- | - | - |
|
url An optional URL address pointing to the element online help. |
- | - | - |
Standard Properties
| Name | Default value | Default unit | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
|
gain Defines the gain the amplifier. |
20 | dB | [0, +∞) |
|
noise parameter The noise parameter. |
output | - | [disable, input, output, noise figure |
|
noise spectral density The signal noise power spectral density. |
10e-018 | W/Hz | [0, +∞) |
|
noise figure Defines the noise figure of the amplifier. |
3 | dB | [0, +∞) |
Thermal Properties
| Name | Default value | Default unit | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
|
temperature Defines the temperature. |
290 | K | (-∞, +∞) |
Enhanced Properties
| Name | Default value | Default unit | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
|
one db compression parameter The one dB gain compression parameter. |
disable | - | [disable, input, output |
|
one db compression power The one dB gain compression power. |
10 |
dBm* *std. unit is W |
(-∞, +∞) |
|
saturation parameter The saturation parameter. |
disable | - | [disable, input, output |
|
saturation power The saturation power. |
100 |
dBm* *std. unit is W |
(-∞, +∞) |
|
gain compression at saturation The gain compression at saturation power. |
10 | dB | [0, +∞) |
|
third order intercept parameter The third order intercept point parameter. |
disable | - | [disable, input, output |
|
third order intercept point The third order intercept point value. |
100 |
dBm* *std. unit is W |
(-∞, +∞) |
Numerical Properties
| Name | Default value | Default unit | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
|
automatic seed Defines whether or not to automatically create an unique seed value for each instance of this element. The seed will be the same for each simulation run. |
true | - | [true, false] |
|
seed The value of the seed for the random number generator. A value zero recreates an unique seed for each simulation run. |
1 | - | [0, +∞) |
Diagnostic Properties
| Name | Default value | Default unit | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
|
run diagnostic Enables the frequency response of the designed filter implementation and the ideal frequency response to be generated as results. |
false | - | [true, false] |
|
diagnostic size The number of frequency points used when calculating the filter frequency response. |
1024 | - | [2, +∞) |
Results
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| diagnostic/response #/transmission | The complex transmission vs. frequency corresponding to the ideal and designed filter. |
| diagnostic/response #/gain | The gain vs. frequency corresponding to the ideal and designed filter. |
| diagnostic/response #/error | Mean square error comparing the frequency response of the designed filter implementation with the ideal frequency response. |
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Implementation Details
The Electrical Amplifier is a radio frequency power amplifier (RF amplifier) which converts a low-power RF signal to a higher power signal, and typically adds noise in the same process. Design goals for this model often includes gain, noise figure (NF), bandwidth and linearity.
The following examples test the linearity and noise properties of the model.
Gain compression effect
The gain compression effect is a large-signal phenomenon of the model; it measures the level of input signal power applied to the amplifier (or the level of the output power itself) that causes a distortion output. This phenomenon occurs when the input power to the amplifier is increased to a level that the gain of the amplifier is reduced and causes nonlinear increase in the output power. Three parameters that defines the gain compression are 1 dB compression point (P1dB), saturation power and third-order intercept point (IP3).
The 1 dB compression point indicates the input (or output) power level that causes the gain to drop by 1 dB compares to the theoretical small signal value (in the linear region). Following is the circuit in the example file rf_amplifier_1db_compression_point.icp.
We slowly increase the input power to the amplifier from -30 dBm to 15 dBm and the 1 dB compression point at output is measured as 10 dBm, which matches our setting in the model. The saturation power is set to 20 dBm with 10 dB gain compression at saturation.
When disable the 1 dB compression gain option, the saturation power will match the setting of 20 dBm.
When two or more tones are present in the nonlinear RF amplifier, intermodulation distortion (IMD) will happen at the output. The third-order intercept point (IP3) is located at the input power level where the output power of the fundamental and the output power of the third order IM product is the same. Following is the circuit in the example file rf_amplifier_3rd_intercept_point.icp.
A two tone signal which is formed by two sine waves at 10 GHz and 10.5 GHz, respectively, is input to the RF amplifier. We plot the third order IMD overlay with the fundamental gain curve and the intersection of the extension of the two curves is the the third order intercept point.
Noise
The following example shows the noise amplifying effect in the model. The noise figure is set to be 3 dB and the gain in the amplifier is 20 dB. Following is the circuit in the example file rf_amplifier_NF.icp.
The following figure plots the input and output signal power spectra. The measurement indicates that the signal power is increased by 20 dB while the noise level is increased by roughly 23 dB with 3 dB noise figure.