IEEE 2004 CUSTOM INTEGRATED CIRCUITS CONFERENCE

An Efficient Algorithm for Simulating Error Vector Magnitude

in Nonlinear OFDM Amplifiers
Shingo Yamanouchi, Kazuaki Kunihiro and Hikaru Hida
System Devices Research Laboratories, NEC Corporation
34 Miyukigaoka, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8501, Japan
Phone:+81-29-850-1171 Fax:+81-29-850-1108 E-mai1:s-yamanouchi@bx.jp.nec.com
Abstract Analytical Approach
We have developed an algorithm for evaluating the error A. Formulas predicting E VMfmm single-tone distortion
vector magnitude (EVM) from the single-tone distortion of The modulated and demodulated signals in an OFDM system
power amplifiers in orthogonal frequency-division are shown in Fig. 1. The non-linearity of the PA distorts the
multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The developed formulas modulated signal, resulting in error vectors in the
allow to simulate EVM using only the single-tone response demodulated signal. The EVM is characterized by the
i.e. without modulation and demodulation; this enables us to average magnitude of the error vectors. In the following
easily calculate the EVM using a standard harmonic-balance discussion, we derive the formulas predicting EVM from the
(HB) simulator. This simulation scheme reduces the single-tone distortion of the PA.
processing time by a factor of ten compared with lC-N..,I-I...., 4Ck = 1, + J Q k
C~z.C.l,C~,CI.Cz,~..,C~,..,~}

conventional system-level (SL) simulation. The EVM vector

obtained using this scheme agreed well with the results of SL
simulation (0.6% error).

Introduction
Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) has
been applied to many applications such as wireless local area
networks (WLANs), ultra-wideband (UWB), digital
broadcasting thanks to its high spectrum efficiency and
fading robustness. One drawback of OFDM is its high Fig. 1. OFDM signals. (a) Modulated signil’in time domain.
peak-to-average power ratio (PAR), which means that power (b) Modulated signal in frequency domain, i.e. subcarriers.
(c) Demodulated signal, i.e. constellation.
amplifiers (PAS) must operate with a large power back-off to
meet the linearity specifications, resulting in lower efficiency. In the IEEE 802.1l a standard, EVM is defined as[5]
In the IEEE 802.11a standard for 5-GHz WLAN systems
based on OFDM, PA linearity is strictly regulated by the rms
error vector magnitude (EVM) of 5.6% at 54-Mbps
mode[l][2]. To design highly linear PAS that meet this where cm/k and c ’ m/k are the ideal symbol and measured
specification, it would be usefd if radio-frequency (RF) symbol, respectively, of the k-th subcarrier, the I-th packet
designers could predict EVM directly from the PA and the m-th frame; N,, is the number of subcarriers in the
characteristics. While there has been some investigation of OFDM signal (Nsc= 52); Lp is the packet length (Lp2 16); Nf
the effect of single-tone amplitude distortion (AMAM) and is the number of frames (Nf2 20); and Po is the average
phase distortion (AM/PM) on EVM[3][4], an explicit power of the demodulated signals. Assuming that the values
relationship between EVM and the power characteristics of of EVM in the frames are nearly the same, the EVM can be
AMIAM and AM/PM has not been identified. In addition, the simplified to
calculation processes used are time-consuming because many
sampled error vectors in the demodulated signals must be
averaged.
To clarify the effect of single-tone distortion of PAS on EVM, In the OFDM system, demodulated signal clk is obtained by
we have derived an explicit relationship for evaluating EVM discrete Fourier transformation (DFT) of the complex output
from the power characteristics of AMIAM and AM/PM. We envelope of the I-th packet of the PA, Senyco(t):
used the probability density function (PDF) of the modulated
signal power to calculate the EVM without modulation and (3)
demodulation and without averaging the error vectors; this
allows to simulate EVM quickly using a standard where Af is the subcarrier frequency spacing (Af = 312.5 a)
harmonic-balance (HB) simulator. and t, is the sampling period (t, = 1/Af= 3.2 ps). The complex

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 envelope Se,l,(o(t)is also related to the complex output signal
of the PA, So,,,(,(?), as given by (4) and to its output power,
POl,/(O(O,as given by (5):
s,,,,,(&)=
s,,,,c,)(t)exp(j2.rlfjt), (4)
= Is,, (/)hI'
L(/)(d= Is,,8,,(/)(ty2 9 (5)
wheref, is the RF carrier frequency.
The Parseval's theorem in DFT gives the relationship
between the deviation of the modulated signal, So,,t(O(nt,),and
that of the demodulated signal, elk, from their ideal values; it
is shown by (6). The theorem also gives the relationship
between the average power of the modulated signal, Pout(nve),
and that of the demodulated signal, Po; it is shown by (7):

EVMAM/AM in (12) and EVMAMpM in (13) represent EVM

arising from AWAM and AM/PM respectively. In (12) and
Po = e,,,/(oLej/Nrc 7 (7) (13), the expectations in the discrete expressions are replaced
where S'o,,,,o(nt,)is the modulated signal of c 'lk including the by those in the continuous expressions using p(r), i.e. the
error. PDF of Y. The peak-to-average power ratio (PAR) has a value
Let r,! denote the power-to-average power ratio of the ideal of N,, in multi-carrier transmission; that is, PAR is 52 (=
modulated signal: 1Olog52 = 17.2 dEi) in the IEEE 802.11a standard.
The form of (11) indicates that it is impossible to cancel out
C/ E ~ ( / ) ( n t)/en(,,,)
t = Pour(/)(nt$) / L r ( m )
3 (8) EVMAM/AM and EVMAM/PMeach other. Therefore, both
where P,,(,,) is the average power of the modulated input AMIAM and AM/PM must be lowered to reduce EVM.
signal of the PA. The time series of output signal So,,,(~(nt,) For OFDM signals with a relatively large number of
depends on that of the input power of the PA, Pln(o(nts)(= subcarriers, the complementary cumulative distribution
r,,P,,(,,)). Therefore, the time-variable nt, can be replaced by function (CCDF) of Y, F(r),can be approximated as[6]
rn/Pin(ave).
Using the power characteristics of single-tone M A M in F " ( Y ) =e-r. (14)
absolute magnitude, AG(Pln),and AMRM in radian, A@Pln), As shown in Fig. 2, (14) agrees with the results of
we can write the error of the modulated signal as system-level (SL) simulation (Agilent Advanced Design
Systemm (ADS) Ptolemy) and measurement using a signal
generator and a vector signal analyzer for the IEEE 802.11a
standard in 54-Mbps mode. The PDF, p(r), can be obtained as
We normalize the error of the modulated signal in (9) by the derivative of the CCDF:
AG(Pin(,ve)) and A@Pin(ove)) because the ideal gain and phase d
p ( r )= --dr F " ( r )= e-". (15)
are determined by those at the average power.
Assuming that M A M and AM/PM are sufficiently small Thus, (11)-(13) and (15) enable us to calculate the power
-
(i.e. AG 1 and A6Y2 << 1 rad), we can approximate the error characteristics of E W directly from that of single-tone
of the complex output signal of the PA as (10) using (5), (8), AMIAM and M M .
(9), and an approximation of Taylor's expansion: 100

I%., )- S",, (Yn/e n (a,,)

(r"/e"(a,e) r 10
h

where AG(&)(Pin)is M A M in dB and At&&'in) is AM/PM 0.1

in degree (deg).
Substituting (6), (7) and (10) for (2), we obtain the IEEE 802 1l a , 54 Mbps

relationships between the power characteristics of EVM and

Power I Average (dB)
those of AWAM and AM/PM: Fig. 2. Comparison among CCDFs obtained by measurement, SL
simulation, and equation (14) for IEEE 802.1la std in 54-Mbps mode.

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 EVM Calculation
where ~ A M I A M(in dB/dB), kAM/pM (in degldB), IAMIAM (in dB) based on (1)

Using (11)-(13) and (15), we can obtain an analytical Single-tone EVM Calculation
expression for EVM with the distortion given by (16) and signalsowce using (11)-(13) & (15)

= 100x J(0.454kAMIAM p + (0.0688kAM/, p, (18)

B. Application to HBT PA Design
To validate the developed method, we simulated the
(19)
operation of a single-stage heterojunction bipolar transistor
In this case, EVM is independent of input power Pin(ave) and (HBT) PA for an IEEE 802.1la 5-GHz WAN (shown in Fig.
the intercepts of the distortion, IAM/AM and I A M / ~ M .We can thus 5). The impedance matching networks of the PA were
characterize EVM using only the gradients of distortion designed for conjugate matching. As shown in Fig. 6 , the
( ~ A M I A Mand ~ A M / P M ) ,as shown in Fig. 3. This figure indicates single-tone distortion of the PA strongly depends on the
the condition of kAM1.M and k A M / p M for obtaining EVh4 of less quiescent current, Iq.
than 5.6%; they should be within the radius of /kAMlAM( =
Vref Vcc
0.123 dB/dB and IkAM/pM( = 0.814 deg/dB. Basebias p 7 ,
1.o network
OFDM (IEEE802.1la, 54 Mbps) Input matching
Output matching
Eq. (18) network
\............. .....
50n ,

...................................
Fig. 5. Circuit diagram of HBT PA, simulated results are shown
in from Figs. 6 to Fig. 9.

0 0.05 0.1 0.15

IkAhlVAMI (dBldB)
Fig. 3. EVM with single-tone distortion proportional to input power in
dB as given by (16) and (17) and derived fkom (18). In this case, EVM
depends only on gradients of M AM (~A,,A t,) and AM/PM (k~,b,,~,~f).

Simulation Results
A. Simulating Procedures
We compared EVM obtained using (11)-(13) and (15) with
the results of SL simulation (Agilent ADS Ptolemy) to
validate the equations. As shown in Fig. 4(a), the Output power (dBm)
conventional SL simulator obtains EVM by averaging the Fig. 6. Simulated power characteristics of single-tone AiWAM
and AM/PM of HBT PA.
demodulated response to an OFDM signal based on the

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As shown in Fig. 7, the EVM obtained using our scheme
agreed well with that obtained using the SL simulator (error
of 0.6%), which means that the equations are sufficiently
accurate. The HB simulation using the derived equations
reduced the processing time by a factor of ten compared with
the conventional SL simulation (26 vs. 228 s).
The developed method can be used to calculate the effect of
AWAM (EVMAM/AM) and AMRM (EVMAM/~M) concurrently
using (12) and (13). We can then determine whether AWAM
or AMRM is dominant in the EVM. As shown in Fig. 8,
EVM was degraded more by AMPM than by AM/AM when
the quiescent current was 72mA; the relationship was
reversed when the current was 24mA.
HBT, Vccz3.3 V
e5.25 GHz
1
30
Average output power (dBm)
Fig. 7. Comparison of power characteristics of EVM of HBT PA
simulated using conventional SL simulator and HF3 simulator
incorporating (11)-(13) and (15). Both M A M and AMRM are
considered
Average output power (dBm)
Fig. 8. Comparison between EVM due to AM/AM (EVM,,,,M) . and
AM/PM. (EW,M,pM)of HBT PA. Results are obtained using HB
simulation incorporating (11)-(13) and (15).
The developed scheme can also be used to optimize
impedance matching networks for EVM. As shown in Fig. 9,
the-output power with EVM less than 5.6% is increased from
14.1 dBm to 22.4 dBm by optimization. It took only 53 s to
reach the optimum condition of the HBT PA using the HB
simulator incorporating the equations.
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15 I I
OFDM (IEEE802 l l a , 54 Mbps)
HBT, Vcc= 3 3V
1,=72 mA
f=5 25 GHz
10 Equations (I-tone I HB sim )
h
5 Before optimization
(Conjugatematching)
2
2 5
Aner optimization
0 I I
10 15 20 5
Average output power (dBm)
Fig. 9. Optimized performance of HBT PA obtained using HB
simulation incorporating (11)-(13) and (15).
Conclusions.
We derived formulas for predicting the error vecror
magnitude from the power characteristics of single-tone.
amplitude distortion and phase distortion of power amplifiers
in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing systems such
as IEEE 802.1l a WLANs. We demonstrated that a harmonic-
balance simulator using these formulas accurately simulates
EVM (0.6% error). This simulation scheme reduces the
processing time by a factor of ten compared with-
conventional system-level simulation. The formulas also give-
the EVM diagram in weakly non-linear regions. Thus, the
derived formulas provide radio-frequency designers with
useful design tools and insights for improving the linearity of
PAS in OFDM systems.
Acknowledgement
We thank Mr. Takeshi Nishimura and Mr. Yuuichi Aoki for
their helpful discussions with us, and Mr. Masahiro Fujii, Dr.
Nobuyulu Hayama, Dr. Tadashi Maeda, Dr. Masashi Mizuta
and Dr. Masao Fukuma for their encouragement.
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