compression point

{{Expand German|date=May 2024}}

{{short description|A characteristic of an electronic amplifier}}

File:Kompressionspunkt P1dB.jpg (in German). An ideal amplifier will produce a straight line ({{langx|de|ideale Kennlinie}}). A real-world amplifier has an output power limit and will therefore exhibit gain compression ({{langx|de|reale Kennlinie}})]]

The compression point is a metric describing an aspect of electronic amplifiers. For example, the 1-dB compression point (sometimes notated as P1dB{{Cite web|url=https://www.electronicdesign.com/resources/whats-the-difference-between/article/21799714/whats-the-difference-between-the-third-order-intercept-and-the-1-db-compression-points|title=What's The Difference Between The Third-Order Intercept And The 1-dB Compression Points?|first=Lou|last=Frenzel|date=October 24, 2013|website=Electronic Design}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.techplayon.com/1db-compression-point/|title=1dB Compression Point (P1dB Point)|date=May 16, 2015}}) is the output power of the amplifier (for the signal of interest) at which it differs from an ideal linear amplifier by more than 1 dB. So a larger 1-dB compression point means that the amplifier can produce larger outputs (for the same amount of distortion).{{cite book |doi=10.1016/B978-0-7506-8210-7.00006-0 |chapter=Transceiver System Analysis and Design Parameters |title=Signal Processing for Software-Defined Radio |date=2009 |last1=Rouphael |first1=Tony J. |pages=161–198 |isbn=978-0-75-068210-7 }} It will often be quoted by manufacturers of amplifiers{{Cite web|url=https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/ni-rfsa/page/nirfsa/gain-compression-point.html|title=Product Documentation - NI|website=www.ni.com}}..{{cite book |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-378640-1.00004-4 |chapter=System Nonlinearity |title=Wireless Receiver Architectures and Design |date=2014 |last1=Rouphael |first1=Tony J. |pages=179–261 |isbn=978-0-12-378640-1 }}

The compression point is sometimes used (interchangeably with the third-order intercept point) to define the upper limit of the dynamic range of an amplifier. A rule of thumb that holds for many linear radio-frequency amplifiers is that the 1 dB compression point point falls approximately 10 dB below the third-order intercept point.{{cn|date=May 2024}}