A classification of methods for efficient power amplification of signals

This paper presents a classification of methods that have been proposed to address nonlinear power amplification of highly fluctuating signals in telecommunications. The classification proposed uses a tree-like representation wherein each branch refers to a group of methods that all have a common characteristic. By virtue of this representation, each node corresponds to a test used to discriminate between different methods. From top to bottom, these tests are "What is the target of the method?," Is the method downward-compatible?," "Is the bit error rate degraded?," "Is there a useful data rate loss?," and "Does the method require changes in the amplification function?" By collating all these requirements, an original classification is proposed that is open enough to allow new methods to be added. It only concerns methods located either only at the transmitter or at both transmitter and receiver. The context of this study generally concerns multicarrier signals (especially orthogonal frequency division modulation) but can be applied to any multiplex of modulated signals.