Comprehensive behavioural model for an electronic amplifier used in an optical communications systems

Abstract

Correctly modelling the behaviour of power ampli ers to include the nonlinear aspects of their response has been a matter of interest in the elds of electronic and wireless communications for a considerable amount of time. Throughout the last decades, numerous techniques that succeed in accurately representing these nonlinearities and that provide ways to reduce their impact on system performance have been derived. An essential application of these techniques is the construction of ampli er models that can be used to obtain a deeper understanding of the phenomena that make these devices more or less nonlinear. These models have been used in numerous scenarios to comprehend and devise ways to mitigate the impact of nonlinearity in the response of many ampli ers. However, ultra-broadband RF electronic drive ampli ers used in optical communications environments represent a small niche in which extensive derivation of these ampli er models has not yet been accomplished. In this thesis, a device-speci c behavioural model for one such electronic drive ampli er will be constructed based on existing modelling techniques and extensive lab measurements. In addition, changes in the performance of a communications system when these behavioural models are integrated within it will also be studied. Ultimately, this thesis will strive to determine the speci c phenomena that are linked to the nonlinearity present in the response of an ultra-broadband RF electronic drive ampli er and how variation of these factors a ects the behaviour of this device.