This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/LCOMM.2017.2710339, IEEE
Communications Letters
IEEE COMMUNICATION LETTERS VOL. X, NO. X, JANUARY 2017
Predistortion for wideband nonlinear satellite
downlinks
Kelvin J. Layton, Member, IEEE, Azam Mehboob, Assad Akhlaq, Member, IEEE, Flaviano Bagaglini
William G. Cowley, Member, IEEE, and Gottfried Lechner, Member, IEEE
AbstractIn this letter, an efficient predistortion scheme is
proposed to compensate imperfections in a satellite channel
due to the nonlinear power amplifier and output channel filter.
The predistorter is a Wiener system consisting of a linear
and nonlinear component, which are trained independently. The
predistorter is well suited to systems where the data bits are
generated onboard the satellite. The proposed setup effectively
compensates the distortions and has lower complexity compared
to other strategies.
Index TermsNonlinear satellite channels, digital predistor-
tion, Volterra series, equalization, OMUX filter.
I. I NTRODUCTION
P OWER efficiency is becoming increasing important in
modern communication systems and thus it is desirable
to operate power amplifiers close to saturation. At these
operating points, nonlinear distortions become significant and
system performance will degrade. In satellite transmitters, the
distortions are exacerbated by the inclusion of a channel filter
at the amplifier output. Consequently, several predistortion
techniques have been proposed in recent years to compensate
for these effects at the transmitter [1].
This work focuses on signal predistortion, which operates
at the sample level after the transmit pulse-shaping filter.
Signal predistortion is flexible and has the ability to easily
compensate for memory effects, e.g., from the channel filter
[2]. Models for the predistorter typically involve variations
of the Volterra series, such as the memory polynomial (MP)
[3]. Multiple models can also be combined to form two-
box or three-box models [4]. One example is the Wiener
system, which involves a linear filter cascaded with a static
nonlinearity [1]. More recently, iterative algorithms have been
proposed to minimize the error between the transmitted signal
after the distortions and the target signal [5].
The state-of-the-art models achieve improved performance
at the expense of increased complexity and computation. Two-
box models, for example, either estimate the parameters of
both components jointly or separate the static nonlinearity
component in an additional step [6]. Likewise, iterative algo-
Manuscript received November 19, 2016; revised December 26, 2016. This
research was supported under Australian Research Councils Linkage Projects
funding scheme (project number LP140101010) with industry partners Thales
Alenia Space and Thales Australia.
K. J. Layton, A. Mehboob, A. Akhlaq, W. G. Cowley and G. Lech-
ner are with the Institute for Telecommunications Research, Univer-
sity of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia. e-mail:
kelvin.layton@unisa.edu.au.
F. Bagaglini is with Thales Alenia Space, Rome, Italy.
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1
?9 %43; 1.2,(23+4- '()(*+,-
@.634 ".6=,+*.4 %& !"#$
0(,*34 3<=+,(>34 5436(7*.4*(.2 *.-/0
%+4+83*34- /0-*.-
39*4+:*(.2 '()(*+,
Fig. 1. Block diagram of the satellite transmitter including the proposed
predistortion stages.
rithms perform multiple evaluations of the behavioral model
and additional computations to update the signal [5].
In this letter, we consider a two-stage Wiener predistorter to
compensate for distortions introduced by the amplifier nonlin-
earity and the output channel filter. Although Wiener models
have been well studied for amplifiers with memory effects
[1], here we demonstrate their utility in compensating for the
channel filter in satellite transmitters. For this application, a
simple training scheme is proposed to learn each component
of the predistorter. The scheme achieves minimal degradation
at a reduced complexity compared to state-of-the-art methods.
The proposed predistorter is evaluated through simulation of
a wideband transmission scenario with high data rates.
II. S YSTEM MODEL
This work considers downlinks for earth observation satel-
lites, where the data bits are generated by the imaging equip-
ment onboard the satellite. This application is different from
bent pipe satellites e.g. in digital video broadcasting (DVB)
[2], as there is no IMUX filter and we can assume access
to the signal at all stages along the transmit chain. Figure 1
illustrates the main components of the satellite transmitter.
The information bits are encoded onboard the satellite and
converted to symbols by the modulator. Coding and modu-
lation is implemented according to the standard proposed by
the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS)
[7]. A signal predistortion scheme consisting of a linear pre-
equalizer followed by a nonlinear predistorter is employed
to compensate for the distortions introduced by the power
amplifier (PA) and output multiplexing filter (OMUX).
In this letter, we focus on distortions from a traveling-wave
tube amplifier (TWTA) although our results are applicable to
other nonlinear amplifiers such as solid-state power amplifiers.
We simulate the TWTA using the memoryless model proposed
by Ghorbani and Sheikhan [8], where we assume that any
memory effects from the amplifier are small compared to the
OMUX. The parameters of the model were fit to AM/AM
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Communications Letters
IEEE COMMUNICATION LETTERS VOL. X, NO. X, JANUARY 2017 2

0 0
multiple time points to form a vector d = [d(1), . . . , d(N )]T
-2 -10 such that,
d = (v)c

Output phase (deg)

(3)
Output level (dB)
-4 -20

-6 -30 where the matrix (v) is defined as

(0,1) (M,K)
-8 -40 . . . 1
Measured magnitude
1. .. ..
-10 Model magnitude -50 = .. . .
(4)
Measured phase
Model phase (0,1) (M,K)
-12
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5
-60 N ... N
Input level (dB)
This formulation includes memoryless (polynomial) models
(a)
when M = 0 and models with memory when M > 0.
20 180 The linear pre-equalizer is implemented as an FIR filter,
0 120
which follows the same form in (1)(4), with K = 1. This
reduces to a simple convolution,
-20 60
Magnitude [dB]

-40
-60
-80
-100
0 100 200
Frequency [MHz]
Fig. 2. System model illustrating (a) AM/AM and AM/PM curves for
the TWTA measurements and simulation model; and (b) the channel filter
(OMUX) magnitude and phase response.
and AM/PM data acquired from a TWTA (Thales Alenia
Space, Rome, Italy) using a nonlinear least squares algorithm
(Fig. 2a). The model in [8] was chosen as it provides a superior
fit to our measured TWTA data compared to other models in
the literature. The analog OMUX was simulated with an IIR
digital filter (Fig. 2b).
III. P ROPOSED COMPENSATION
Since the TWTA is commonly modeled by a memoryless
nonlinearity [2] and the OMUX filter is a simple linear filter,
the combination of TWTA followed by the OMUX filter cre-
ates a well-known Hammerstein model [1]. The inverse system
in this case is a Wiener system a linear pre-equalizer to
compensate for the OMUX followed by a nonlinear model to
compensate for the TWTA. Nonlinear predistortion is typically
implemented using a memory polynomial (MP) model [3],
where the input v(n) is related to the desired output d(n) by,
K X
X Instead of inverting the linear systems directly, we use L2 -
d(n) =
k=1 m=0
where the basis functions n
delay m,
(m,k)
n = v(n m)|v(n m)|k1 .
The double sum can be written as a scalar product d(n) =
(0,1) (M,K) T
Tn c, by defining the basis vector n = [n , . . . , n ] ,
T
and a vector of coefficients c = [c0,1 , . . . , cM,K ] . We collate
M
Phase [deg]
X
0 d(n) = wk v(n k). (5)
k=1
-60
where we denote the weight vector w to distinguish from
Magnitude
-120 the memory polynomial coefficients. Equivalently, as in (3),
Phase
-180
d = (v)w holds with defined by a convolution matrix.
300 400 500 600 700
This type of linear equalizer is commonly implemented at the
(b) receiver; however, the proposed pre-equalizer has the advan-
tage that the OMUX characteristics can be easily learnt by
measuring the input/output onboard the satellite. Importantly,
both components of the predistorter are linear with respect
to the unknown coefficients/weights so standard inversion
techniques can be used.
A. Parameter extraction
An important aspect of our application is that the parameters
for the linear and nonlinear components (w and c) can be
estimated separately since the appropriate signals are directly
available. This is not possible when the predistortion is ap-
plied at the ground station, e.g., as in [2]. This avoids the
cumbersome and error-prone methods of jointly identifying
the compensation blocks. In the first step, the parameters of
the nonlinear predistorter are learnt using an indirect learning
architecture [9]. The second step computes the inverse of the
OMUX filter in a similar way, using the signal before and
after the filter. We assume the signal on the satellite can be
measured with negligible loss in output power or SNR using a
high-quality directional coupler. Once both models have been
learnt the parameters are copied to the predistortion blocks in
the transmitter. Like other predistortion schemes, the training
procedure needs to be repeated whenever there are changes to
the modulation or amplifier characteristics.
M
cm,k (m,k)
n . (1)
regularization (also called Tikhonov regularization [10]) to
improve the stability of the parameter extraction. For example,
(m,k)
, are indexed by order k and the polynomial coefficients are found by solving the following
optimization,
min kd (v)ck2 + kck2 (6)
(2) c
where the parameter controls the strength of the regulariza-
tion. This optimization preferences solutions with small norm,
so large coefficients are avoided and the performance of the
predistorter is improved.

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/LCOMM.2017.2710339, IEEE
Communications Letters
IEEE COMMUNICATION LETTERS VOL. X, NO. X, JANUARY 2017
B. Power constraints
Once the parameters are learnt, the nonlinear predistortion
model can be implemented using (1). However, the output
from the model may contain large signal values due to the
high polynomial order, which are impractical to implement. To
avoid this situation and to constrain the peak-to-average power
ratio (PAPR), the large values are clipped to the maximum
before predistortion. Furthermore, the signal power is normal-
ized to maintain a constant power after the predistortion. These
steps are necessary to ensure the predistortion does not change
the operating point of the amplifier.
IV. S IMULATIONS
All simulations were performed in MATLAB (The Math-
works, Natick, MA). The information bits were generated by a
pseudorandom number generator, followed by modulation us-
ing a 64-APSK scheme specified by the CCSDS standard [7].
A total of 50 CCSDS-compliant frames were simulated for a
total of 107 information bits each run. The standard includes
serial concatenated convolution codes with puncturing for a
code rate of 0.74. A symbol rate of 500 MHz was assumed and
the signal was synthesized with a root-raised-cosine (RRC)
filter with a rolloff factor of 0.35 and 8 samples per symbol.
The signal was pre-compensated and then distortions from the
TWTA and channel filter were simulated. The OMUX filter
was implemented using a fifth-order elliptical IIR filter with a
passband frequency of 300 MHz, passband ripple of 0.35 dB
and stopband attenuation of 80 dB (Fig. 2b). Gaussian noise
was added to achieve a given Es /N0 before being processed
by the receiver. The receiver software includes symbol timing
estimation, frequency estimation, gain and phase correction,
demodulation and decoding using standard algorithms.
Four pre-compensation strategies were compared:
1) No predistortion.
2) A predistorter using a complexity-reduced memory poly-
nomial model (MP) [11] with K = 9 and M = 6.
3) Iterative signal-based predistortion [5]. The system
model includes the amplifier and OMUX filter, which
were modeled using a polynomial model with K = 9
and FIR filter (length of 10 symbols), respectively.
4) The proposed two-stage Wiener system consisting of a
linear pre-equalizer with a filter length of 10 symbols
and a memoryless polynomial with order K = 9.
The predistortion parameters were extracted using the signal
from the first 2000 symbols, branched from different points
in the transmit chain. The iterative algorithm performed up to
10 iterations to minimize the difference between the desired
signal and the predicted signal after the nonlinearity [5].
A. Performance
The performance of the different strategies was examined
using the total degradation (TD), which is the sum of the
performance loss compared to a linear channel (to achieve
a target BER of 106 ) and the output backoff (OBO) [12].
This metric gives an indication of performance across a range
of amplifier operating points. Figure 3 displays the TD for
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3
8
7
6
TD (dB)
5
None
MP
4 Iterative
Proposed Wiener
3
2
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
OBO (dB)
Fig. 3. Total degradation (TD) of different predistortion solutions for a 64-
APSK modulation scheme. The proposed predistortion algorithm approaches
the iterative method but requires fewer computations.
the various schemes. The proposed Wiener model and the
iterative algorithm substantially improve on the MP model.
The minimum TD of the proposed algorithm is within 0.3dB
of the state-of-the-art iterative algorithm. Similar results (not
shown) were obtained for 32-APSK and 128-APSK modula-
tion with code rates of 0.88 and 0.77, respectively, highlighting
the generality of the approach.
Figures 4a and 4b demonstrate the AM/AM and AM/PM
characteristics with and without the proposed compensation
algorithm for an OBO of 3 dB. The Wiener predistorter is
reasonably effective at linearizing the amplifier though slightly
increased amplitude variation is visible for high input ampli-
tudes close to saturation. A scatter plot of the received symbols
(Fig. 4c) also demonstrates the amplitude and phase distortion
through warping of the symbol centroids, while ISI is depicted
as a clustering around each centroid. The predistortion algo-
rithm corrects the centroid locations and reduces the clustering
(Fig. 4d). This is quantified by estimating the Es /N0 using
the received symbols and the known transmit symbols. The
obtained Es /N0 was 26 dB when predistortion was used,
compared to 21 dB without predistortion, representing a 5 dB
improvement. Likewise, the uncoded BER was reduced from
1.3 102 to 5.8 104 with predistortion.
B. Complexity
The number of complex multiplications for a block of
D samples is compared. The iterative algorithm requires
two steps: an initial behavioral modeling step, where the
amplifier and OMUX characteristics are learnt (requires Nfit
multiplications); followed by an iterative algorithm, which
applies the system model (Nfwd multiplications per sample)
and weights the error between the predicted and target signals
(1 multiplication). Thus the total number of multiplications
for L iterations is Nfit + LD(Nfwd + 1). On the other hand,
the proposed Wiener model requires inverse modeling of the
amplifier and OMUX (Nfit ) and implementation (Nfwd per
sample) for a total of Nfit +DNfwd multiplications. Assuming
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IEEE COMMUNICATION LETTERS VOL. X, NO. X, JANUARY 2017
(a)
(c)
Fig. 4. Compensation of nonlinear power amplifier with 64-APSK modulation
using a Wiener predistorter: (a) AM/AM curves; (b) AM/PM curves; and
scatter plots (c) without and (d) with compensation. Black circles are ideal
symbols, blue dots are received symbols and red crosses are symbol centroids.
the training and forward operations are comparable, the Wiener
model requires much fewer computations than the iterative
algorithm.
C. Regularization
The performance of the predistortion algorithms depends on
the regularization parameter, . Figure 5 illustrates the total
degradation for the Wiener predistorter with different regular-
ization parameters between 0.005 and 50. The degradation is
up to 2 dB higher for suboptimal values of the regularization
parameter. When the regularization is too small, the inversion
problem is ill-conditioned and resulting coefficients are overfit
to the training data, resulting in degraded performance. Con-
versely, when the regularization parameter is too large, the
model coefficients are strongly biased and dont capture fine
details of the inverse model. A similar analysis was performed
for the linear pre-equalizer and the MP predistorter. For the
current simulation scenario, the optimal regularization is = 2
for both components of the Wiener predistorter as well as
the MP predistorter. These results highlight the importance
of choosing an appropriate regularization parameter, where
the optimal parameter will ultimately depend on the model,
training strategy and number of training samples.
V. C ONCLUSION
In this letter, we have developed a two-stage predistorter us-
ing a Wiener model to compensate for the nonlinear amplifier
and channel filter in a satellite downlink. A pragmatic training
approach results in a predistorter that is computationally
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Communications Letters
4
TD (dB)
5
4 No predistortion
= 50
(b) = 10
=5
3
=2
= 0.5
= 0.005
2
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
OBO (dB)
Fig. 5. Total degradation (TD) for different values of the regularization
parameter, , using the proposed Wiener predistorter.
efficient and suitable for wideband communications with high
order modulation schemes. The simple predistorter reduces
(d) the total degradation by 3 dB compared to a system with
no predistortion and approaches the performance of a more
complex iterative algorithm.
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