A low distortion compression amplifier comprising an amplifier circuit having
an
input and an output, wherein an input signal is received at the input and amplified
in accordance with a gain to form an output signal at the output. The amplifier
circuit further comprises a comparator circuit operable to receive the output signal
and generate a first control signal in response thereto. A digital gain control
circuit is coupled to the amplifier circuit, and is operable to generate a digital
gain control signal based at least in part on the first control signal. The gain
control signal is then employed to modulate the gain of the amplifier circuit in
a digital fashion. The invention also comprises a method of digitally controlling
a gain associated with an amplifier circuit. The method comprises comparing an
output signal to a threshold and modulating the gain in a digital fashion, wherein
the gain is modulated up in a plurality of rates or down in a plurality of rates
in response to the comparison.
