Examples disclosed herein relate to a high gain active relay antenna system. The active relay antenna system comprises a first antenna pair having a first receive antenna and a first transmit antenna to communicate wireless signals in a forward link from a base station to a plurality of users; and a second antenna pair having a second receive antenna and a second transmit antenna to communicate wireless signals in a return link from the plurality of users to the base station. The active relay antenna system further comprises a first active relay section and a second active relay section to provide for adjustable power gain in the wireless signals.

A method for controlling gain of a line amplifier on a cable, the method comprising selecting an unused carrier frequency; transmitting a pulsed pilot signal on the unused carrier frequency into the cable; determining a pilot signal output strength by measuring signal strength of the pilot signal after amplification by the line amplifier; comparing the pilot signal output strength with a target signal strength to determine a difference; and adjusting the gain of the line amplifier corresponding to the difference.

Various methods and circuital arrangements for protection of an RF amplifier are presented. According to one aspect, the RF amplifier is part of switchable RF paths that include at least one path with one or more attenuators that can be used during normal operation to define different modes of operation of the at least one path. An RF level detector monitors a level of an RF signal during operation of any one of the switchable RF paths and forces the RF signal through the at least one path with one or more attenuators while controlling the attenuators to provide an attenuation of the RF signal according to a desired level of protection at an input and/or output of the RF amplifier.

A radio frequency amplifying device according to an embodiment includes load impedance calculating circuitry and controlling circuitry. The load impedance calculating circuitry is configured to calculate a load impedance on the basis of information about a voltage standing wave rate and a phase on an output side of radio frequency amplifying circuitry. The controlling circuitry is configured to adjust a gain and a phase of a signal to be input to the radio frequency amplifying circuitry, in accordance with the load impedance calculated by the load impedance calculating circuitry.

One embodiment is an apparatus comprising a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) chip comprising at least one active component for implementing an amplifier circuit; and a laminate structure comprising a plurality of metal layers, the laminate structure further comprising a plurality of passive components and transmission line-based structures. The semiconductor IC chip is integrated with the laminate structure such that a top layer of the laminate structure comprises a shield over a top of the semiconductor IC chip and the passive components for limiting electromagnetic coupling of signals generated by the amplifier circuit beyond the laminate structure.

This disclosure relates to variable-gain amplifiers that include degeneration circuits configured to adapt to a gain mode that is currently being implemented. For example, a variable-gain amplifier can operate in a plurality of gain modes to amplify a signal with different levels of amplification. The variable-gain amplifier can include a gain circuit configured to amplify a signal and a degeneration circuit coupled to the gain circuit. The degeneration circuit can include an inductor and a switching-capacitive arm coupled in parallel to the inductor. The degeneration circuit can operate based on a current gain mode to change an inductance for the variable-gain amplifier.

Various methods and circuital arrangements for protection of an RF amplifier are presented. According to one aspect, the RF amplifier is part of switchable RF paths that may include at least one path with one or more attenuators or switches that can be used during normal operation to define different modes of operation of the at least one path. An RF level detector monitors a level of an RF signal during operation of any one of the switchable RF paths and may control the attenuators or switches to provide an attenuation of the RF signal according to a desired level of protection at an input and/or output of the RF amplifier. According to another aspect, the RF level detector may control a switch to force the RF signal through a different switchable RF path.

Provided is an amplification circuit for amplifying an input signal. The amplification circuit includes an input stage including an input matching circuit that receives the input signal and an input attenuation circuit that attenuates a gain for the input signal outside an operating frequency band of the amplification circuit, a transistor that amplifies the input signal provided from the input stage, and an output stage including an output matching circuit that receives a signal amplified by the transistor and an output attenuation circuit that attenuates the gain for the input signal outside the operating frequency band of the amplification circuit, and the input attenuation circuit includes a first resistor and a second resistor that are connected to a ground voltage, a first passive element connected between the input matching circuit and the second resistor, and a second passive element connected between the first passive element and the first resistor.

A variable gain amplifier includes input terminals configured to receive a differential input of the variable gain amplifier, output terminals configured to generate a differential output of the variable gain amplifier, the differential output having a gain applied by the variable gain amplifier to the differential input, and an impedance ladder circuit coupled to the input terminals, the impedance ladder circuit comprising a plurality of semiconductor switches configured to receive respective control signals based on a control voltage. The plurality of semiconductors switches are responsive to the respective control signals to adjust the gain of the variable gain amplifier and configured with a predetermined exponential scale such that the impedance ladder circuit causes a slope of the gain of the variable gain amplifier relative to the control voltage to be generally linear.

A variable gain amplifier and an electronic apparatus. The variable gain amplifier includes a first transconductance stage circuit and a second transconductance stage circuit, where the first transconductance stage circuit includes a first amplifying circuit and a second amplifying circuit, the second transconductance stage circuit includes a third amplifying circuit and a fourth amplifying circuit, the first amplifying circuit and the fourth amplifying circuit form a differential input pair, and the second amplifying circuit and the third amplifying circuit form a differential input pair, and where each amplifying circuit of the first amplifying circuit, the second amplifying circuit, the third amplifying circuit, and the fourth amplifying circuit includes a plurality of parallel transistors, and bias control of the plurality of transistors is independent of each other.