Generalized LINC

Achieving a power-efficient and a linear amplification at the same time is a considerable challenge, especially when the signals present large envelope fluctuations, as is the case of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals. The linear amplification with nonlinear components (LINC) technique is an alternative where two amplifying branches are combined to obtain a power-efficient amplification. In this work, we propose the generalized LINC, a technique which involves several amplification branches that can be combined either in the transmitter (multi-branch LINC (MB-LINC)) or in the channel (multi-antenna (MA-LINC)), both presenting advantages over conventional LINC schemes. We also study theoretically the nonlinear distortion effects in the generalized LINC techniques, showing that they are comparable to those of conventional LINC.