The Higher Technical School of Engineering (ETSI) has awarded the prize to the scientific article of the quarter (July-September 2024) to the work entitled “Implementation of Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers for Solving Power Expansion Linearization Problem: Theoretical Foundations” , signed by Elías Marqués Valderrama, Juan Antonio Becerra and María José Madero.

In the field of mobile communications, the search for sustainability is increasingly necessary, being a critical block the power amplifier (PA) within the radio frequency chain. In this context, digital predistortion (DPD) is a technique widely used to mitigate distortion that is linked to the need to operate to an entry power to the PA high enough to make it energetically efficient. Volterra series -based models are usually used due to their ability to explain non -linear behaviors with memory, where its resolution is typically addressed by the classic regression technique by minimum squares (LS). This work proposes the implementation of the alternate management method of multipliers (ADMM) for the resolution of the modeling and linearization of power amplifiers. A detailed theoretical formulation of the method to better understand its advantages and how to integrate the technique into the standard direct learning architecture (DLA) for DPD is provided. In addition, it is demonstrated that the implicit regression for modeling and PA linearization can be carried out in a distributed way with a precision similar to LS, which allows the use of devices with limited resources for DPD and enables the use of the Edge Computing paradigm in this field. The technique has been experimented experimentally with 5G-NR signals up to 100 MHz in a commercial PA DOHERTY observing how it reaches a similar performance to the classic LS, and how it is capable of satisfactorily linear a case characterized by numerical instabilities. 

It should be noted that, previously, the jury had issued a different ruling, granting the award to the article “Analysis of Indirect Power Cycles for a novel Methanol-To-Methane Tces-CSP System” , by Da Rodríguez-Pastor, I. Marqués-Vmderrama, VM Single and R. Chacartegui, published in Energy Conversion and Management . However, after receiving an allegation pointing out the breach of the bases of the call-which prevent rewarding as the first author who has already been awarded in one of the previous three editions-and verify that Rodríguez-Pastor had been awarded in the quarter January-March 2024, the jury decided to annul said ruling and award the award to the current winning work.

The jury of the contest has highlighted the high quality of the publications presented, underlining both the scientific level of the magazines in which they were published and the relevance of the appointments received by the different works. In this context, and after applying various bibliometric indicators, the awarded work was unanimously selected for its theoretical contribution to the field of engineering.

This recognition is part of ETSI's effort to foster and make excellence in the scientific production of its research community.