Odisha University of Technology and REsearch,

Bhubaneswar

RFSoC AND DIGITAL PRE-DISTORTION

Submitted by:
Subham Subhashis
1801106552
Electronics & Instrumentation
8th Semester
Section B
Contents
Company Overview

Basics of RF Design

RFSoC

Digital Pre-Distortion

References
Company Overview

 VVDN - an acronym for Voice, Video, Data, Network [1]

 Main focus is to help customers with their next technology innovation in the space of
5G, Wireless, AI/ML on Vision-based solutions, IoT, Cloud & Apps.

 Domains we serve to:-

• 5G
• Networking and Wi-Fi
• Vision
• Internet Of Things
• Cloud and Application
Basics of RF Design

Fig. 1 Lumped Elements Representation [2]

 Travelling Wave Equation on a Transmission Line

V(z)= Vo+e-ℽz + Vo- e ℽz

Vo+ is the amplitude of the wave travelling in the +z direction and Vo- is amplitude of the wave travelling in
the -z direction.

 Characteristic Impedance(Zo)
It is defined as the ratio of the positive travelling wave to the current wave at any point on the line.
Zo= ===
 Fig. 2 Transmission Line Circuit with Load[2]

Voltage Reflection Coefficient(

= Vo-/Vo+ = (ZL -Zo )(ZL+Zo)

The voltage reflection coefficient(at the load) is defined as the ratio of the voltage reflected wave to the
voltage incident wave.[4]

If =0 then, the load is said to be matched.

If 𝛤≠ 0then, not all of the power from generator is transferred to the load. The loss obtained is called
Return
Loss(RL).
RL=-20log | | dB
Insertion Loss
Consider a tranmission line of characteristic impedance Z o feeding a line
characteristic impedance Z1.

The Transmission Coefficient (T) can be expressed as :

T=2Z /(Z +Zo)

1 1

Insertion Loss(IL)= -20log|T| dB

Units in RF Design
In RF design absolute power is expressed in dBm instead of watts.
To express the signal power, Psig, in dBm, we write

Psig|dBm= dBm
Scattering Parameters

Fig. 3 Two Port Network Representation [5]

V1- =S11V1+ + S12V2+

V2- =S21V1+ + S22V2+
S11= |V2+ =0 S12= |V1+=0 S21= | V2+=0 S22 = | V1+=0

S11 signifies the accuracy of the input matching

S12 signifies how much of the output signal couples to the input network.
S21 signifies the gain of the circuit.
S22 signifies the accuracy of the output matching
Gain Compression

Fig. 4 1-dB Compression [5]

 The “1-dB compression point”,defined as the input signal level that causes the gain to drop by
1-dB.
 This point is known as P1 dB point.
RFSoC
Xilinx’s Zynq Ultrascale+ Radio Frequency System-on-Chip(RFSoC) family is a breakthrough
architecture integrating the front end of the RF signal chain, enabling you to achieve a major
step forward in performance and density- meaning fewer boards and less power.

Combining the processing system with UltraScale architecture programmable logic and RF-
ADCs, RF-DACs, and soft-decision FECs, the Zynq Ultrascale + RFSoC family is capable of
implementing a complete software defined radio including RF sampling data converters,
enabling CPRI and gigabit Ethernet to RF on a single, highly programmable RFSoC.

Features of RFSoC
• High speed, high precision and power efficient data converters
• A processor system for memory interfacing
• Logic, storage and signal processing blocks

Fig. 5 RFSoC Architecture

Fig. 6 Transciever before RFSoC [6]
RFSoC Target Applications

 Aerospace and Defence: Tactical Radio, Cockpit Radios, UAV

 3G/4G/5G Commercial wireless communications : Software defined radio, Digital
Pre-Distortion
Test and Measurement / Instrumentation : Cellular Testers, Channel Sounding
Digital Pre-Distortion

Digital Pre-Distortion (DPD) is a technique to increase linearity or

compensate for non-linearity in power amplifiers. 
DPD is a cost-effective linearization technique which aims to provide
improved linearity, better efficiency, and take full advantage of power
amplifiers.

Fig. 7 Illustration of Digital Pre Distortion [7]

Need for Digital Pre-Distortion

An Ideal Amplifier should be always linear such that the output signal is an
exact copy of the input signal.
However, the power amplifier is somehow non-linear in nature.

This non-linearity generates spectral regrowth and leads to degradation of the

bit-error rate.
Digital Pre-Distortion can be used to improve the efficiency and linearity of the
amplifier.
References
[1] https://www.vvdntech.com

[2] Sadiku, M. N. O. (2001). Elements of electromagnetics. New York: Oxford University Press

[3] Pozar, David M. (2012). Microwave engineering. Hoboken, NJ :Wiley

[4] Razavi, B. (1998). RF microelectronics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

[5] https://www.xilinx.com/products/silicon-devices/soc/rfsoc.html

[6] https://rahsoft.com

[7] https://www.everythingrf.com/community/what-is-digital-pre-distortion
THANK YOU