SCPA vs MCPA-difference between SCPA and MCPA Power Amplifiers

This page compares SCPA vs MCPA and mentions difference between SCPA and MCPA. The term SCPA stands for Single Carrier Power Amplifier and MCPA stands for Multi Carrier Power Amplifier.

Introduction:
Amplifiers are used to compensate for higher rate of insertion loss in wireless systems due to hybrid combiners, diplexers, triplexers etc. The amplification helps in expanding their utility, power as well as range.

Following are the two types of Power Amplifiers based on their functionalities.
• SCPA: Single Carrier Power Amplifier
• MCPA: Multi Carrier Power Amplifier

SCPA | Single Carrier Power Amplifier

SCPA-Single Carrier Power Amplifier

• It operates on single carrier.
• Advantages: Highly efficient with regard to power consumption. It is lower in cost.
• Disadvantages: It can not operate on multiple carriers.

MCPA | Multi Carrier Power Amplifier

MCPA-Multi Carrier Power Amplifier

• It operates on multiple carriers as input and provides single amplified output.
• The input circuits of MCPA can accommodate about 2 to 8 ports or more.
• It can be used to increase coverage or capacity of particular base station by amplifying input signals and compensating loss due to other circuits.
. As a result, it is very easy to integrate MCPA with more than one technologies. Figure-2 depicts MCPA receiving input signals from GSM and UMTS based systems.
• Advantages: Its ability to interface with multiple technologies.
• Disadvantages: It consumes more power and hence power consumption is higher. This leads to more operational cost.

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