A Wideband Metal-Only Patch Antenna for CubeSat (original) (raw)

A Wideband F-shaped Patch Antenna for S-band CubeSats Communications

— A wideband S-band F-shaped patch antenna is proposed for CubeSats communications. To broaden bandwidth, it uses two arms with different lengths to generate a second resonant frequency. The effect of the arm length and width on the return loss, resonant frequency and impedance bandwidth on a 3U CubeSat is studied. The simulation results show that the antenna achieves a wideband of 1121 MHz (1.606-2.727 GHz) with a return loss below-10 dB over the entire frequency band from 1.606 to 2.727 GHz. The antenna has a high gain of 8.51 dB and a small return loss of-32.85 dB at 2.45 GHz.

Antenna Designs for CubeSats: A Review

IEEE Access

Cube Satellites, aka CubeSats, are a class of nano satellites that have gained popularity recently, especially for those that consider CubeSats as an emerging alternative to conventional satellites for space programs. This is because they are cost-effective, and they can be built using commercial offthe-shelf components. Moreover, CubeSats can communicate with each other in space and ground stations to carry out many functions such as remote sensing (e.g., land imaging, education), space research, wide area measurements and deep space communications. Consequently, communications between CubeSats and ground stations is critical. Any antenna design for a CubeSat needs to meet size and weight restrictions while yielding good antenna radiation performance. To date, a limited number of works have surveyed, compared and categorised the proposed antenna designs for CubeSats based on their operating frequency bands. To this end, this paper contributes to the literature by focusing on different antenna types with different operating frequency bands that are proposed for CubeSat applications. This paper reviews 48 antenna designs, which include 18 patch antennas, 5 slot antennas, 4 dipole and monopole antennas, 3 reflector antennas, 3 reflectarray antennas, 5 helical antennas, 2 metasurface antennas and 3 millimeter and sub-millimeter wave antennas. The current CubeSat antenna design challenges and design techniques to address these challenges are discussed. In addition, we classify these antennas according to their operating frequency bands, e.g., VHF, UHF, L, S, C, X, Ku, K/Ka, W and mm/sub-mm wave bands and provide an extensive qualitative comparison in terms of their size, −10 dB bandwidths, gains, reflection coefficients, and deployability. The suitability of different antenna types for different applications as well as the future trends for CubeSat antennas are also presented.

S-band Planar Antenna Designs for CubeSat Communications

2017

iv frequency of 2.4-2.5 GHz band. To this end, this thesis presents a repurposed shorted patch and CPW-fed square slot antennas that have operating frequency of 2.45 GHz. It also compares their performance in the presence of a CubeSat body. Although the repurposed shorted patch and CPW-fed square slot antennas have smaller size, they have low gains and bandwidths. Henceforth, this thesis proposes a wideband S-band F-shaped patch antenna for a 3U CubeSat. The main idea is to use two arms of the upper patch with different lengths and feed them by a folded ramp-shaped patch to generate a second resonant frequency and hence broaden its bandwidth. The results show that the antenna achieves a wideband of 1121 MHz (1.606-2.727 GHz) and a high gain of 8.51 dB. This thesis also presents a high gain coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed slot antenna for use on 3U CubeSats. A key feature is the use of a Metasurface Superstrate Structure (MSS) to significantly improve gain and reduce back-lobe. This ant...

A Low Profile High Gain CPW-fed Slot Antenna with a Cavity Backed Reflector for CubeSats

11th International Conference on Signal Processing and Communication Systems (ICSPCS), 2017

A low profile, high gain, CPW-fed, slot antenna is proposed for CubeSats. The proposed antenna is backed with a low profile metallic reflector. The cavity reflector is utilized to significantly improve gain and reduce back lobe radiation. The antenna has a compact size of 36×36 mm 2 , meaning it is compatible with any CubeSats standard structure. We have simulated the antenna on a 2U CubeSat (10cm×10cm×20cm). Our results show that the antenna achieves good impedance matching with a return loss of-30 dB at the desired frequency of 2.45 GHz, a-10-dB impedance bandwidth of 109 MHz (2.391-2.50 GHz) and has a total gain of of 8.62 dB.

Configuration of 3U CubeSat Structures for Gain Improvement of S-band Antennas

2012

Nano-and pico-satellites in low earth orbit (LEO), unlike their larger counterparts, have more stringent limitations on antenna design due to power constraints that govern the operational frequency and size that defines the mass and volume constraints. High bandwidth applications use higher frequencies and require higher transmission power. High gain antennas can reduce the transmission power requirements. CubeSat's with body-mounted solar cells are limited in power generation due to limited surface area. Deployable solar panels offer a solution to the limited power by maximizing the surface area of solar cells exposed to solar radiation. The metallic deployable solar panel support structure can be exploited to behave as an electrical ground and microwave signal reflector for a high gain antenna in several configurations. This paper presents multiple novel high-gain S-band antennas that exploit the structure of a 3U CubeSat equipped with deployable solar panels for gain improvement. The configuration of the satellite is designed to operate in a low drag configuration by operating outside of the passive gravity gradient stabilized attitude by using passive or active attitude control. Gain improvements of more than 3 dB are obtained through careful packaging. The antenna configurations have a gain of more than 7dBi and bandwidth of more than 10MHz. Analysis is provided with considerations of power, satellite coverage, as well as attitude stability. This technique of improving antenna gain can be extended to higher as well as lower frequency of operation.

Planar Antennas for CubeSat Missions

2018

CubeSats are a type of pico-satellites that have a standardized size of 10 x 10 x 10 cm3 (1U), or 1U multiples, and weigh less than 1.33 kg per cubic unit. A few challenges arise when designing an antenna to be integrated in the CubeSat’s small structure. Miniaturization techniques must be used to shrink antenna size and deployable antennas solutions can be used when bigger antenna apertures are needed e.g., in applications that require a high gain antenna. Also, special challenges arise due to the harsh environment in space. This paper presents two different planar antennas solutions, for CubeSat applications. First, a circularly polarized patch antenna for the ISTsat-1 CubeSat, is developed. Secondly, a reflect array (RA) antenna is developed for a possible ISTsat-2 mission. The antenna for ISTsat-1 operates in the L band, more specifically 1090 MHz, and is for an automatic dependent surveillance broadcast mission (ADS-B). The second antenna operates in the Ka uplink band of 27 31...

Analysis of G-shape Antenna Mounted on a Cubesat

In this paper, the simulation of three monopole with G type structure is proposed consisting of one closed rectangular wire loop and one open rectangular wire loop with maximum horizontal and vertical dimensions approximately of L1 = L2 = L3 =.25λ, h=202λ, w = .1834λ, l =.3487λ and having wire radius of 2mm. Each of the structure is analyzed on perfect ground and on CUBESAT and their various performance parameters such as gain, bandwidth and input impedance is determined. The three structures were designed at centre frequencies of 150MHz, 180MHz and 330MHz. These have the bandwidth of 6%, 32.77% and 41.8%, gain of 3.757dB, 2.691dB and 2.774dB, having input impedance of 234.2+31.886i,55.905-10.93i and 54.633+7.39i at the resonant frequencies respectively when mounted on a CUBESAT. The software used to analyze and simulate the proposed antenna is Numerical Electromagnetic Code (NEC) -Win PRO. The numerical results of the designed wideband antenna are presented and analyzed.

High-Gain S-band Patch Antenna System for Earth-Observation CubeSat Satellites

IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 2015

A novel S-band circularly polarized patch antenna system suited for earth-observing cubesats is presented. The antenna consists of four rectangular patches properly excited in order to have the maximum gain in the boresight direction and produce circular polarization. The antenna has a compact size and its geometry and characteristics are compatible with any cubesat standard structure. A 57 mm wide square window allows to accommodate imaging system optics in its center leading to a very compact overall system. A prototype of the designed antenna system has been used .3 dBi. Experimental measurements confirm that antenna achieves good impedance match at the desired frequency of 2450 M Hzwith a gain of 7.3 dBi, a directivity of 8.3 dBi and 60 • 3dB-beamwidth,

A High Gain S-band Slot Antenna with MSS for CubeSat

Annals of Telecommunications, 2018

Cube satellites, aka CubeSats, are a class of tiny satellites that have become popular for space programs. This is because they can be built relatively cheaply using commercial off-the-shelf components. Moreover, CubeSats can communicate with each other, and assemble into swarms to carry out different functions; e.g., wide area measurements and sensing. Swarms of CubeSats also have the effect of increasing the contact period with ground stations allowing for a longer communications window. These capabilities require CubeSats to be equipped with an efficient, high gain, small antenna to facilitate cross-link or inter-satellite communications. Henceforth, this paper presents a high gain coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed slot antenna for CubeSats. A key feature is the use of a Metasurface Superstrate Structure (MSS) to significantly improve gain and reduce back-lobe emissions. This also has the advantage of minimizing interference to components inside a CubeSat. We have comprehensively evaluated the antenna using the High Frequency Simulator Structure (HFSS) as well as a carrying out testing on a 3U (10 x 10 x 30 cm 3) CubeSat platform. We have studied the effect of MSS element sets and their position and the effect of a 3U CubeSat body on the performance of the proposed antenna. The experimental results confirm that our antenna achieves a return loss of 21.5 dB and a fractional impedance bandwidth (BW) of 55.91% with S11 ≤-10 dB and has a simulated and measured gains of 9.71 and 8.8 dBi respectively at the desired frequency of 2.45 GHz. In contrast, amongst all previous S-band planar antennas that are suitable for CubeSats, the best gain is only 5.96 dB at 2.45 GHz.

Design of 4 × 4 Low-Profile Antenna Array for CubeSat Applications

Micromachines

This paper presents a low-profile microstrip antenna with high gain for fifth-generation (5G) CubeSat applications. The proposed design consists of 16 miniaturized patch antennas distributed in a uniform 4 × 4 topology with a feeding network on Rogers TMM10 substrate. The antenna array was simulated in CST Studio Suite® software and fabricated for performance testing on the CubeSat structure. The prototype works perfectly from 3.46 GHz to 3.54 GHz. The simulated and measurement results reveal remarkable performance. The design obtained a measured gain of 8.03 dBi and a reflection coefficient of −17.4 dB at the center frequency of 3.5 GHz. Due to its reduced dimensions of 10 × 10 cm, this design is an excellent alternative for mounting on a CubeSat structure as it combines efficient performance with a low profile.