A High-Efficiency 10 W GaN HEMT Power Amplifier Optimized by Gravitational Search Algorithm for Wireless Communication

Abstract

The power amplifier resides within the structure of transmitters and active antennas. Since the performance of a power amplifier significantly influences the system's efficiency, enhancing its efficiency is a critical topic in RF applications. This paper presents a novel approach to optimize a power amplifier. In the proposed method, the microstrip lines at the input and output of the matching network are modeled and optimized using the Gravitational Search Algorithm. The optimization process is initiated based on the results of the load-pull simulation to achieve maximum gain. The defined objectives are Gain and Power Added Efficiency. The harmonic balance simulation showed that the obtained results align well across the bandwidths of 2.4 GHz to 3 GHz. A 10 W GaN HEMT active device with part number CG2H40010F from MACOM Corporation was utilized to verify the proposed approach. The simulation results demonstrate that the input and output return losses are below -10 dB, the Gain exceeds 14.3 dB, and the Power Added Efficiency is greater than 52.5 % across the frequency range from 2.4 GHz to 3 GHz. The proposed power amplifier is suitable for wireless communication, including active antennas.