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Design of a Deployable Helix Antenna at L-Band for a 1-Unit CubeSat: From Theoretical Analysis to Flight Model Results

The [Formula: see text] Cat-4 mission aims at demonstrating the capabilities of a CubeSat to perform Earth Observation (EO) by integrating a combined GNSS-R and Microwave Radiometer payload into a 1-Unit CubeSat. One of the greatest challenges is the design of an antenna that respects the 1-Unit Cub...

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Autores principales: Fernandez, Lara, Sobrino, Marco, Ruiz-de-Azua, Joan Adria, Calveras, Anna, Camps, Adriano
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9144964/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35632038
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22103633
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author Fernandez, Lara
Sobrino, Marco
Ruiz-de-Azua, Joan Adria
Calveras, Anna
Camps, Adriano
author_facet Fernandez, Lara
Sobrino, Marco
Ruiz-de-Azua, Joan Adria
Calveras, Anna
Camps, Adriano
author_sort Fernandez, Lara
collection PubMed
description The [Formula: see text] Cat-4 mission aims at demonstrating the capabilities of a CubeSat to perform Earth Observation (EO) by integrating a combined GNSS-R and Microwave Radiometer payload into a 1-Unit CubeSat. One of the greatest challenges is the design of an antenna that respects the 1-Unit CubeSat envelope while operating at the different frequency bands: Global Positioning System (GPS) L1 and Galileo E1 band (1575 MHz), GPS L2 band (1227 MHz), and the microwave radiometry band (1400–1427 MHz). Moreover, it requires between 8 and 12 dB of directivity depending on the band whilst providing at least 10 dB of front-to-back lobe ratio in L1 and L2 GPS bands. After a trade-off analysis on the type of antenna that could be used, a helix antenna was found to be the most suitable option to comply with the requirements, since it can be stowed during launch and deployed once in orbit. This article presents the antenna design from a radiation performance point of view starting with a theoretical analysis, then presenting the numerical simulations, the measurements in an Engineering Model (EM), and finally the final design and performance of the Flight Model (FM).
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spelling pubmed-91449642022-05-29 Design of a Deployable Helix Antenna at L-Band for a 1-Unit CubeSat: From Theoretical Analysis to Flight Model Results Fernandez, Lara Sobrino, Marco Ruiz-de-Azua, Joan Adria Calveras, Anna Camps, Adriano Sensors (Basel) Article The [Formula: see text] Cat-4 mission aims at demonstrating the capabilities of a CubeSat to perform Earth Observation (EO) by integrating a combined GNSS-R and Microwave Radiometer payload into a 1-Unit CubeSat. One of the greatest challenges is the design of an antenna that respects the 1-Unit CubeSat envelope while operating at the different frequency bands: Global Positioning System (GPS) L1 and Galileo E1 band (1575 MHz), GPS L2 band (1227 MHz), and the microwave radiometry band (1400–1427 MHz). Moreover, it requires between 8 and 12 dB of directivity depending on the band whilst providing at least 10 dB of front-to-back lobe ratio in L1 and L2 GPS bands. After a trade-off analysis on the type of antenna that could be used, a helix antenna was found to be the most suitable option to comply with the requirements, since it can be stowed during launch and deployed once in orbit. This article presents the antenna design from a radiation performance point of view starting with a theoretical analysis, then presenting the numerical simulations, the measurements in an Engineering Model (EM), and finally the final design and performance of the Flight Model (FM). MDPI 2022-05-10 /pmc/articles/PMC9144964/ /pubmed/35632038 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22103633 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Fernandez, Lara
Sobrino, Marco
Ruiz-de-Azua, Joan Adria
Calveras, Anna
Camps, Adriano
Design of a Deployable Helix Antenna at L-Band for a 1-Unit CubeSat: From Theoretical Analysis to Flight Model Results
title Design of a Deployable Helix Antenna at L-Band for a 1-Unit CubeSat: From Theoretical Analysis to Flight Model Results
title_full Design of a Deployable Helix Antenna at L-Band for a 1-Unit CubeSat: From Theoretical Analysis to Flight Model Results
title_fullStr Design of a Deployable Helix Antenna at L-Band for a 1-Unit CubeSat: From Theoretical Analysis to Flight Model Results
title_full_unstemmed Design of a Deployable Helix Antenna at L-Band for a 1-Unit CubeSat: From Theoretical Analysis to Flight Model Results
title_short Design of a Deployable Helix Antenna at L-Band for a 1-Unit CubeSat: From Theoretical Analysis to Flight Model Results
title_sort design of a deployable helix antenna at l-band for a 1-unit cubesat: from theoretical analysis to flight model results
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9144964/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35632038
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22103633
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