Dual-Band Folded-End Dipole Antenna for Plastic CubeSats

Liu, Sining; Raad, Raad; Theoharis, Panagiotis Ioannis; Tubbal, Faisel

doi:10.1109/jmass.2020.3022457

Cited by 11 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The downlink operated at 437 MHz and the uplink at 145 MHz, and these were implemented using a VHF monopole antenna. A dual-band folded-end dipole antenna was proposed in [150] for plastic CubeSats. The folded dipole does not require any deployment mechanism as it has a low profile and wraps around the CubeSat's body.…”

Section: Monopole and Dipole Antennasmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Survey on CubeSat Missions and Their Antenna Designs

Theoharis

Raad

et al. 2022

Electronics

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CubeSats are a class of miniaturized satellites that have become increasingly popular in academia and among hobbyists due to their short development time and low fabrication cost. Their compact size, lightweight characteristics, and ability to form a swarm enables them to communicate directly with one another to inspire new ideas on space exploration, space-based measurements, and implementation of the latest technology. CubeSat missions require specific antenna designs in order to achieve optimal performance and ensure mission success. Over the past two decades, a plethora of antenna designs have been proposed and implemented on CubeSat missions. Several challenges arise when designing CubeSat antennas such as gain, polarization, frequency selection, pointing accuracy, coverage, and deployment mechanisms. While these challenges are strongly related to the restrictions posed by the CubeSat standards, recently, researchers have turned their attention from the reliable and proven whip antenna to more sophisticated antenna designs such as antenna arrays to allow for higher gain and reconfigurable and steerable radiation patterns. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of the antennas used in 120 CubeSat missions from 2003 to 2022 as well as a collection of single-element antennas and antenna arrays that have been proposed in the literature. In addition, we propose a pictorial representation of how to select an antenna for different types of CubeSat missions. To this end, this paper aims is to serve both as an introductory guide on CubeSats antennas for CubeSat enthusiasts and a state of the art for CubeSat designers in this ever-growing field.

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Section: Monopole and Dipole Antennasmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Survey on CubeSat Missions and Their Antenna Designs

Theoharis

Raad

et al. 2022

Electronics

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“…Extensive work has been undertaken to provide antennas for cognitive radio applications [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ], but most of them do not fit with CubeSat regarding operating frequency, size, and compatibility. Although several designs have been employed for the CubeSat [ 34 ], such as slot antennas [ 8 , 35 ], the spiral antenna [ 36 ], helix [ 37 ], aperture antennas [ 38 , 39 ], superstrate antenna [ 40 ], solar cell-integrated antennas [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ], dipole antenna [ 44 ], and folded dipole antenna [ 45 ], they do not support the UHF band with compact size and simple structure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-Profile Antenna System for Cognitive Radio in IoST CubeSat Applications

Aljaloud

Sultan

Ikram

et al. 2023

Sensors

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Since the CubeSats have become inherently used for the Internet of space things (IoST) applications, the limited spectral band at the ultra-high frequency (UHF) and very high frequency should be efficiently utilized to be sufficient for different applications of CubeSats. Therefore, cognitive radio (CR) has been used as an enabling technology for efficient, dynamic, and flexible spectrum utilization. So, this paper proposes a low-profile antenna for cognitive radio in IoST CubeSat applications at the UHF band. The proposed antenna comprises a circularly polarized wideband (WB) semi-hexagonal slot and two narrowband (NB) frequency reconfigurable loop slots integrated into a single-layer substrate. The semi-hexagonal-shaped slot antenna is excited by two orthogonal +/−45° tapered feed lines and loaded by a capacitor in order to achieve left/right-handed circular polarization in wide bandwidth from 0.57 GHz to 0.95 GHz. In addition, two NB frequency reconfigurable slot loop-based antennas are tuned over a wide frequency band from 0.6 GHz to 1.05 GH. The antenna tuning is achieved based on a varactor diode integrated into the slot loop antenna. The two NB antennas are designed as meander loops to miniaturize the physical length and point in different directions to achieve pattern diversity. The antenna design is fabricated on FR-4 substrate, and measured results have verified the simulated results.

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“…In this framework, the cost and weight of these satellites can be further reduced through unconventional development approaches, such as emerging fast-prototyping technologies like 3D printing, if suitable materials are employed. This is why plastic CubeSats have been proposed and investigated [8]. In this respect, few 3D printable plastic filaments have proven to fully comply with the stringent requirements of the CubeSat design specifications, hence can be regarded as available materials for space applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, one of the main specifications is the low outgassing criterion, according to which CubeSat materials shall have a Total Mass Loss (TML) ≤ 1.0 % and a Collected Volatile Condensable Material (CVCM) ≤ 0.1 % [9]. The Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) is a promising material for plastic CubeSats, further lowering their overall cost and mass, being lighter in weight and less expensive than aluminum [8], [10]. It can be proficiently used in vacuum or even high-vacuum environments (e.g., space applications), as shown in [11], where scientists from the National Institute of Standard and Technologies (NIST) reported the outgassing rate of 3D printed ABS in vacuum.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Curved 3D-Printed S-Band Patch Antenna for Plastic CubeSat

Muntoni

Montisci

Melis

et al. 2022

IEEE Open J. Antennas Propag.

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The new space economy paradigm demands for cost-effective systems for its development. Plastic CubeSats are appealing candidates. To enable the use of this new generation of space systems, the challenge of designing suitable communication sub-systems must be faced. In this work, a 3D-printed ABS antenna easily embeddable in a plastic CubeSat is proposed. The 3D-printed material has been characterized in terms of dielectric, mechanical and thermal properties, and the compliance with space requirements has been assessed. In particular, thermogravimetric and calorimetric tests have been carried out. Static and dynamic mechanical analysis were performed. To comply with the stringent weight and space requirements, the unique antenna design of a curved stacked patch has been proposed. The patch covers the uplink (2.025-2.11 GHz) and downlink (2.2-2.29 GHz) bands for Telemetry Tracking and Command (TT&C) applications, with an overall bandwidth of about 300 MHz (14%). Additionally, taking advantage of the curved shape, the proposed antenna shows a size reduction of the resonant length of about 34%. The size of the antenna is 71.5 x 71.5 x 13 mm 3 and is characterized by a weight of only 51 g . Also, in silico tests, by relying on the measured physical properties and a non-linear numerical model, have been carried out to assess the performances of the final antenna layout during a typical CubeSat mission. The proposed design strategy could be used to develop plastic CubeSats embedding performing antennas.

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Dual-Band Folded-End Dipole Antenna for Plastic CubeSats

Cited by 11 publications

References 20 publications

A Survey on CubeSat Missions and Their Antenna Designs

A Survey on CubeSat Missions and Their Antenna Designs

Low-Profile Antenna System for Cognitive Radio in IoST CubeSat Applications

A Curved 3D-Printed S-Band Patch Antenna for Plastic CubeSat

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