Real-Time FPGA-based Digital Predistortion for Improved Amplifier Performance in Next Generation Phased Arrays

In pursuit of digital-at-every-element phased array radars, research is ongoing investigating the application of memory-polynomial predistortion for correcting nonlinear distortion effects in high-power radar front-end amplifiers operating in saturation. This paper discusses our custom implementation of baseband memory polynomial predistortion for an FPGA target. Through analysis of the model's compute structure and data flow, a variety of optimizations points were found and exploited. Implemented in high-level synthesis, our design achieves optimal throughput while retaining numerical accuracy, favorable model performance, and acceptable resource consumption.