Empirical Validation of Signal Predistortion for Nonlinear Distortion Mitigation in RF Amplifiers

Amplifiers are essential components in EMC testing setups. However, it generates levels of distortions that can significantly impact the electromagnetic emissions and susceptibility characteristics of the device under test (DUT), potentially leading to erroneous conclusions and wrong interpretation of test results. In this paper, it is presented the experimental investigation of a signal predistortion method aimed at reducing the power of harmonics and eliminating intermodulation products. This approach is proposed for conducting EMC immunity testing using multi-tone signals. For the linearization with signal predistortion, it is considered a static nonlinear model with memory to define the inverse model of the RF amplifier. This model is based on the Volterra series, specifically named generalized memory polynomial (GMP).