Identification of static distortion by noise measurement. Issue 21 (1st October 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gunn, L.J.; Allison, A.; Abbott, D.
• Is Part Of: Electronics letters. Volume 49:Issue 21(2013)
• Page Start: 1321
• Page End: 1323
• Publication Date: 2013-10-01
• Subjects: amplifiers -- electric noise measurement -- harmonic distortion; static distortion identification -- noise measurement -- active devices -- gross nonlinearity -- negative feedback mitigation -- postprocessing stage -- device transfer function -- inherent noise -- offline characterisation step -- total harmonic distortion reduction -- common‐emitter amplifier; Electronics -- Periodicals; 621.381
• DOI: 10.1049/el.2013.2547
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-5194

Abstract

Abstract : Many active devices exhibit gross nonlinearity, which is traditionally mitigated using negative feedback. In those cases where negative feedback is not desired, compensation for the distortion can be carried out at the postprocessing stage by inverting the transfer function of the device. A new technique is demonstrated where the inherent noise in the system is exploited to estimate the required transformation, thus reducing distortion without the need for an offline characterisation step. It is demonstrated that the proposed technique can reduce the total harmonic distortion of a common‐emitter amplifier from about 10% to < 1%.