MaxLinear Inc. and Qorvo announced a combined solution that addresses the critical challenges for 32x32 and 64x64 massive MIMO radios – the size, weight and power consumption. This solution reduces the radio's power, weight and volume by enabling high-efficiency power amplifiers (PAs), making massive MIMO radios more practical Additionally, this solution saves hundreds of watts per multi-element radio in both power consumption and wasted dissipated power. The combination of MaxLIN Linearization Technology and Qorvo's GaN high efficiency power amplifier, QPD0011J Doherty power amplifier driven by QPD0006, provides breakthrough line up power efficiency of 55.14% with excellent linearized performance (ACLR < -51dBc and EVM < 3%) at 41.5dBm (14W) with 30dB of gain and operating from 3.4GHz to 3.6GHz with 2xNR100MHz carriers.

This combination increases the overall power efficiency of the radio and allows for more compact radio designs through the reduction of the size of the heat sink and relaxed thermal design. The power amplifier was tested with a full 1T/1R RF front-end reference design incorporating Qorvo's transmit and receive products. The companies will showcase this solution at Booth 3030 at International Microwave Symposium in Denver on June 19 - 24.