Optimized Design and Multiphysics Analysis of a Ka-Band Stacked Antenna for CubeSat Applications

Abstract

Nowadays, the use of CubeSats for telecommuni-1 cations and interplanetary missions is ever-increasing, thanks 2 to their appealing low-cost character, as well as the space 3 environment, which poses challenging multiphysics constraints 4 on the antenna design. In this framework, the use of Ka-band 5 for communication is explored. We present the design of a 6 stacked patch antenna working across the down-and uplink 7 Ka-bands. Materials and geometry of the radiator have been 8 selected by accounting for the trade-off between electromagnetic, 9 thermal and mechanical requirements. The design of the antenna 10 is performed with a particle swarm optimization algorithm 11 developed to control the bandwidth and matching. A bandwidth of 5.53@33.185 GHz has been obtained, with a gain around 8 13 dB. Furthermore, a multiphysics thermal analysis is performed 14 to verify the operational stability of the optimized array, mounted 15 on a 1U satellite, in a case-study mission. The temperature 16 patterns in the array are evaluated during the orbital period, 17 and the influence of the operative temperature on the antenna 18 responses and gain was considered. We found that the thermal 19 loads can affect the antenna matching. However, thanks to the optimized design, the proposed stacked antenna can operate from 21 -100 • C to 100 • C, with an almost constant gain. Finally, following 22 a damage-tolerant approach, the level of mechanical deformation, 23 which could be induced on the communication system, was 24 studied. The stress analysis reveals that the stacked geometry 25 can be used in a space mission. From the investigation of the 26 strain and displacement field, we found a negligible impact on 27 the antenna performances. 28 Index Terms-CubeSat, multiphysics, Particle Swarm Opti-29 mization, stacked antenna, thermal stresses, Ka-band 30 I. INTRODUCTION 31 CubeSats are low-cost, cube-shaped (10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm) 32 nano-satellites (1-10 kg) used for remote sensing, telecommu-33 nications, deep-space communication and interplanetary mis-34 sions [1]-[6]. Despite being firstly conceived for educational 35 purposes, the cost-effective features of CubeSats lead to the 36 wide adoption of these spacecraft systems [1], [2], [4]. In the

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

“…12b. By relying on the multiphysics numerical model reported in [6], we performed simulation by solving the unsteady heat transfer balance for study the dynamics of the temperature ( = ( , , , )) in the case of a 1U CubeSat, on which the proposed stacked patch antenna is deployed (Fig. 1), and derive the deformation and Von Mises stresses ( ) distributions using the finite element method (FEM) commercial software Comsol Multiphysics 5.5 (Comsol Inc., MA, US).…”

“…4. The thermal and mechanical properties of solar cells were taken from [6]. The thermal and mechanical properties of ABS were derived from the experimental characterization.…”

“…CubeSats are compact modular nano-satellites (1-10 kg) that can be realized with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, qualified for spaceflights [2], [4], and whose elementary unit (1U) consists of a cubic module of 10 × 10 × 10 cm 3 size [1], [3]. They are born for educational purposes and soon they came under the spotlight of the space industry for their low cost, lightweight, and low power consumption [5], [6]. These CubeSats features perfectly fit the new space economy paradigm of democratizing the space sector so that innovative systems with short development times (12-18 months) and capable of ensuring a high economic return are needed [7].…”

Metamaterial Based Ku-Band Antenna for Low Earth Orbit Nanosatellite Payload System

“…Smooth data communication is very crucial for nanosatellite missions, where the antenna plays a key role in establishing communication between the satellite and the earth. The nanosatellite antenna design becomes complex to antenna researchers due to the inverse proportionality relation between antenna performance and size [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. Most nanosatellite payloads demand high gain, compact and circular polarized antenna for a smooth communication system [ 2 ].…”