Digital Envelope Tracking to Address 5G, 6G, and WiFi7 Power Efficiency

Spectrally efficient standards like 5G/6G and WiFi7 utilize high PAPR signals, resulting in degraded RF PA efficiency. Analog envelope tracking (AET) has been deployed in mobile transmitters and offers efficiency benefits in some systems. But AET does not scale well for high signal bandwidths. Digital envelope tracking (DET) dynamically adjusts the PA supply voltage using a discrete set of supply voltages, without need for a linear amplifier. It can maintain high efficiency for very high bandwidth signals. This workshop will review DET technology, compare DET vs. AET, discuss implementation challenges, and performance benefits.