Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224083262
CITATIONS
READS
34
2,413
15 authors, including:
Luigi Boccia
G. Amendola
SEE PROFILE
SEE PROFILE
Giuseppe Di Massa
University of Surrey
SEE PROFILE
SEE PROFILE
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
L.
Boc ia
M. Unwi
2
,
5
G. Amendo/a
M. Pointer2,
J.
Zackris on
. W A. Shiroma
5
, G. Massa , C. U n d e r w o d
and
M. N. Swe ting
3
J.
M. A k a g f ,
1
,
M. B r e n c h l e y ,
K. Mayn rcf,
Aerospace Sweden
Sweden
Abstract
Modem small satellites (MSS) are revolutionizing the space industry. They can drastically reduce the mission cost, and can
make access to space more affordable. The relationship between a modern small satellite and a "conventional" large satellite
is similar to that between a modern compact laptop and a "conventional" work-station computer. This paper gives an overview
of antenna technologies for applications in modem small satellites. First, an introduction to modern small satellites and their
structures is presented. This is followed by a description of technical challenges in the antenna designs for modern small
satellites, and the interactions between the antenna and modern small satellites. Specific antennas developed for modern
small-satellite applications are then explained and discussed. The future development and a conclusion are presented.
Keywords: Antennas; satellite antennas; small satellites; micro satellite; cube-sat; GPS antennas; nano-sat
1. Introduction
time scale: conventional satellites may take over five years from
the proposal to final launch, while modem small satellites can be
developed within one year. For example, UoSAT-2, developed by
the University of Surrey in 1984, took only six months [1-3].
The term "modem small satellite" denotes several types of
satellites, including mini, micro, nano, pico, and femto-satellites.
Table 1 shows the classification of each satellite, and the corresponding mass and cost [2, 3]. As shown, significant savings in
mass, cost, and development time can be achieved by using modem small satellites compared to conventional large satellites.
The University of Surrey has been developing modem smallsatellite technology since starting its UoSAT program in 1978.
UoSAT-l, developed by Surrey, was launched in 1981 [1-3]. This
was followed by UoSAT-2 in 1984. UoSAT-l continued to operate
for eight years, while UoSAT-2 was still operational after 18 years
in orbit. During the past 30 years, the University of Surrey's spinoff company, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL), together
with Surrey Space Centre (SSC), have successfully designed,
developed and launched 32 modem small satellites for various
IE Anteas d
noitag porP
,enizag M
Type
Conventional large satellite
Medium satellite
Mini-satellite
Micro-satellite
Nano-satellite
Pico-satellite
Femto-satellite
Mass
(kId
>1000
500-1000
100-500
10-100
1-10
<1
<0.1
Cost
(US $)
0.1-2 B
50-100 M
10-50 M
2-lOM
0.2-2M
20-200 k
0.1-20 k
Time of Development
from Proposal to Launch
>5 years
4 years
3 years
year
year
<1 year
<1 year
Sun
sensor
Earth
observation
,PlatfOrm
High-gain
antenna
8. OBDHmodule
mand (TTC), high-speed payload data downlink, Global Positioning System (GPS)/global navigation satellite systems (GNSS),
inter-satellite cross links, etc. Various antennas for modem smallsatellite applications will be presented. Conclusions and the future
development are presented at the end.
7. TIC module
6. Propulsionsystemmodule
5. Thermal control module
4. Power systemmodule
3. Downlink module
2. Uplink module
1. Battery module
Attach fitting
I GPS I L
noitag porP
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
,enizag M
42
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
noitag porP
zag M
, ine
noitag porP
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
enizag M
-:
IE
44
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
san etnA
and
noitag porP
,enizag M
GIIl_v.ldllJ
10
zs
00
20
00
.]3
-10.0
,U
.,0.0
' 15
20
Gao\_VerlcllJ
" .."--
00
20
00
."0 0
.,.
50
.:I
.' 0
110
.tSo O
.'90
10 0
1"
-1$0
23.
11 5
20 0
-:D .
31 .
-J5.
x..J
Figure S. The radiation pattern of two monopoles separated by
lOA..
IE Anteas d
noitag porP
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
,enizag M
45
IE Anteasd
46
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
noitag porP
,enizag M
Figure 9. S-band quadrifilar-helix antennas at RUAG Aerospace Sweden (two antennas and test hats).
-- .
--.......
',
' -
't:.=
'
"
,..,...
"
..,;/
-,-,.. .
'
'" .
noitag porP
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
enizag M
47
resides on the back side of the antenna, and it can be coupled with
the radiating element through slots.
An example of this high-gain compact antenna was given in
[11], which proposed a stacked shorted-annular-patch design for
the European Student Earth Orbiter (ESEO) small-satellite mission. It achieved a broadside radiation pattern, with a maximum
gain of 12.1 dB and a size of 110 x 130 x 10Omm, while the mass
did not exceed 200 g. It should be noted that the maximum gain
achieved with the ESEO high-capacity antenna was limited by the
ground
physical constrains of that mission. Indeed, when a 2AX
plane is considered, the maximum antenna gain increases to
14.2 dB. Even further enhancement can be reached when the
antenna is placed into a metallic cup.
11
Gain
[dBi]
',:'(,'/ /,. .
9.5
9
34
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
!: ,,-
10(
lo(
36
38
40
42
SAP outer radius a [mm)
;
44
46
Dielectric -
Feed network
Figure 14. An exploded view of the high-gain shorted-annularpatch antenna (from (11)).
IE Anteasd
48
y
i
!.
. ...>---__
noitag porP
enizag M
. . . .- - ,
. . . . ... ... .
:-
-=-
lD
......
..
.50
15
10
20
150
IE Anteas d
noitag porP
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
enizag M
150
Figure 19. X-band helix radiation patterns (700 degree edge-ofcoverage types) (blue: co-polarization, red: cross-polarization).
49
perturbations). SSTL has recently perfected an X-band mechanically steered high-gain hom-antenna mechanism (Figure 15), due
for launch in 2009. The circularly polarized hom has a gain of
15 dBi along boresight, and a 3 dB beamwidth of 27. The associated antenna-pointing mechanism weighs 2.7 kg, moves 270 in
azimuth and 110 in elevation with a pointing accuracy of < 1 ,
and consumes less than 3.2 W.
Figure 16 shows the S-band patch-excited cup antenna,
developed at Saab Space [9]. It consists of three patches , mounted
within a thin aluminum cup with a rim height of about a quarter
wavelength. Two lower patches form a resonant cavity, allowing
broadband or double tuning. The top patch acts as a reflector that
affects the illumination of the aperture, and is used to improve the
aperture efficiency. To achieve circular polarization, the lower
patch is fed in phase quadrature at four points by a stripline net-
50
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
noitag porP
,enizag M
a waveguide-fed helical antenna, which has few parts, and therefore low-cost production and stable performance with small product variations. It features an all-metal design of the radiator part,
which can be adapted to a variety of performance requirements .
This part is combined with a radome and a generic septum polarizer, creating a modular system. Figure 19 shows the radiation
pattern for a 70 edge-of-coverage antenna, where the blue line is
the co-polarization and the red line is the cross-polarization pattern. It operates at X band, achieves a maximum gain of about
5 dBi for a 60 edge-of-coverage antenna, and about 35 dBi for a
70 edge-of-coverage antenna, and weighs less than 400 g.
CubeSats at practically every university have operated in the
UHF through S-band ranges. While sufficient for current CubeSat
missions, future data-intensive missions will require higher frequencies to provide greater data-transmission rates. However,
higher frequencies require a larger transmitter power due to the
greater link loss, making it necessary to use higher-power semiconductor devices. Unfortunately, the RF output power available
1/
from semiconductor devices drops off with a 1/ f to f2 frequency dependence , making it necessary to employ some form of
power-combining scheme to provide adequate transmitter power.
Although a variety of power combiners based on conventional circuit techniques have been developed, they occupy large amounts of
area, and are inefficient for combining large numbers of devices,
making them impractical for use in a CubeSat. Figure 20 shows a
prototype active antenna developed at the University of Hawaii for
a CubeSat [12], using a novel power-combining scheme packaged
in a compact, low-profile structure that can be mounted on the side
of a cube. Known as a grid oscillator, it consists of an array of
semiconductor devices embedded in a metal grid that serves as a
de-bias distribution circuit, RF-embedding circuit, and radiating
structure . The grid is printed on a dielectric substrate, backed by
the metal CubeSat structure, which serves as a mirror to provide
the feedback necessary for oscillation. The vertical leads of the
grating serve as antennas, and the horizontal leads as de-bias lines.
If properly designed, the bias lines do not affect the high-frequency
performance of the active grid, as the radiated electric field is vertically polarized .
When de bias is applied, oscillation is triggered by transients
or noise, and each device oscillates at a different frequency. A noncoherent wave radiates from the grid, reflects off the mirror, and
injection locks the oscillating devices. At the onset of oscillation,
different modes of the cavity compete, as in a laser. The higherorder modes lose most of their power to diffraction, resulting in a
single-frequency, self-locked, coherent oscillation. The output
power from each device is combined in free space, making this
power-combining scheme quite efficient. Unlike typical phasedarray antennas, the spacing between devices is only on the order of
a tenth of a free-space wavelength, making it very compact at
microwave frequencies. Because of its built-in redundancy, a grid
oscillator is also tolerant to single-point failures: about 10% of the
transistors can fail with minimal performance degradation.
noitag porP
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
,enizag M
position, velocity, and time for LEO satellites. For this application,
the antenna needs to be compact, low profile, able to operate at
GPS frequencies in the Ll (1.575 GHz) and L2 (1.227 GHz) bands
with stable performance, and produce low backward radiation
towards the small satellite body (to minimize the interactions with
the satellite). For more precise measurement, the optimum antenna
location on the satellite must be found, balancing the antenna's
coverage against spacecraft interference and multipath errors.
Antenna phase variations must also be reduced.
Figure 22. A circularly polarized, cross-shaped, mlcrostrippatch retrodirective array mounted on one face of a l.5D
CubeS at. The resonant frequency was 10.5 GHz (from (17)).
IE Anteasd
52
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
noitag porP
,enizag M
Retrodirected
proportional to 1/ R 2
Interrogator
Signal
Signal
TTTT
Retrodirective Array
Figure 23a. The relative power levels, represented by the
thickness of the arrows (l.e., a thicker arrow represents a
stronger signal) of the interrogator and retrodirected signals
for a conventional retrodirective array.
Interrogator
Signal
Interrogato r
Signal
TTTT
Retrodirective Array
with PLLs
Figure 23b. The relative power levels, represented by the
thickness of the arrows (l.e., a thicker arrow represents a
stronger signal) of the interrogator and retrodirected signals
for a retrodirective array where the interrogator and retrodirective signals are decoupled (from (18)).
r------------------------------------------,
,
,
,,
veo
Ref
Phase Detector
Down
Up
RF Source
mode and the link is established. The use of coded signals prevents
unauthorized third-party interrogation, and helps in setting up multiple links between nodes .
One of the limitations in many retrodirective array architectures is the power dependence of the retrodirected signal on the
interrogating signal. Since the signal must travel a distance R to the
retrodirective array and back, the power level of the signal will be
proportional to approx imately
IE Anteas d
noitag porP
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
enizag M
1/ R 4
Outgoing RF Signal
,L
Angl e Detecting Ar ay
TransmiUer Ar a y
IF Out
(2.5 GHz)
6. Acknowledgement
IF Ports
(2.5 GHz )
The authors are thankful for the helpful comments from the
reviewers.
7. References
1. Surrey Space Centre home page: http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/
sSC/.
2. Surrey Satellite
www.sstl.co.uk.
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
Ltd.
home
page: http://
3. M. N. Sweeting and C. 1. Underwood, "Small-Satellite Engineering and Applications," in P. Fortescue et al. (eds.), Spacecraft
Systems Engineering, West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2003,
Chapter 18.
4. Utah State University Annual Small Satellite Conference Web
page: http://www.smallsat.org/proceedings.
5. S. Gao, M. Brenchley, M. Unwin, C. Underwood, K. Clark, K.
Maynard, L. Boland, and M. N. Sweeting, "Antennas for Small
Satellites," Proceedings of Loughborough Antennas and Propagation Conference, March 2008, UK, pp. 66-69.
6. J. Cutler and G. Hutchins, "OPAL : Smaller, Simpler, and Just
Plain Luckier," Proceedings of 14th Annual AIAAlUSU Conference on Small Satellites, Logan, UT, September 2000.
7. M. Martin, et al., "University Nanosatellite Program," Proceedings of IAF Symposium, Redondo Beach, California, USA, April
1999.
8. J. P. Suari, C. Turner and W. Ahlgren, "Development of the
Standard Cube-Sat Deployer and a Cube-Sat Class Pico-Satellite,"
http://cubesat.atl.calpoly.edulmediaIDocuments/Papers/cubesat-pa
per.pdf.
IE Anteas d
54
Technology
noitag porP
,enizag M
Martin Unwin received the BSc degree from Lancaster University, UK, and the PhD degree from University of Surrey, UK.
He is Head of the GPS team at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.,
responsible for spaceborne GPS receiver design and operation.
18. G. S. Shiroma, R. Y. Miyamoto, and W. A. Shiroma, "A FullDuplex Dual-Frequency Self-Steering Array Using Phase Detection and Phase Shifting," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory
and Techniques, MTT-54, 1, January 2006, pp. 128-134.
19. M. K. Watanabe, R. N. Pang, B. O. Takase, J. M. Akagi, G. S.
Shiroma, and W. A. Shiroma, "A 2-D Phase-Detecting/Heterodyne
Scanning Retrodirective Array," IEEE Transactions on Microwave
Theory and Techniques, MTT-55, 12, December 2007, pp. 28562864.
20. R. Barrett, et aI., "Deployable Reflectors for Small Satellites,"
21st Annual AIANUSU Conference on Small Satellites, Utah,
USA, August 2007, paper no. SSC07-Xill-4
21. D. Barnhart, T. Vladimirova and M. N. Sweeting, "Very Small
Satellite Design for Distributed Space Missions," Journal of
Spacecraft and Rockets, 44, 6, December 2007, pp. 1294-1299.
IE Anteas d
noitag porP
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
,enizag M
Jan Zackrisson received the BS degree in Electrical Engineering in 1977. He has also studied master courses in physics,
microwaves, antennas, space technology, economics, and business
administration, between 1982 and 1996. Since 1992, he has been
with RUAG Aerospace Sweden (previously Saab Space), Gothenburg, Sweden, where his current position is Senior Engineer
responsible for antenna-measurement techniques and for wide-coverage antenna products.
Wayne A. Shiroma received the BS degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1986, the MEng degree from Cornell
University, Ithaca, NY, in 1987, and the PhD degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1996, all in Electrical Engineering. In 1996, he joined the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where
he is currently an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and
Co-Director of the Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory. His research
interests include microwave circuits, antennas, and small satellites.
55
Justin M. Akagi received the as degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2005. He is currently working towards the MSEE at the same university. His
research includes microwave circuits, phased arrays, and small satellites.
Giandomenico Amendola received the Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Calabria, Rende, Italy. He is currently with the University of Calabria as an Associate Professor.
His main research interests are in the areas of microstrip antennas,
conformal antennas, microwave and millimeter-wave circuits.
Giuseppe Di Massa received the Laurea degree as Doctor in
Electronic Engineering from the University of Naples. He is a full
Professor at the University of Calabria. His main research interests
IE Anteasd
56
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:473 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
noitag porP
,eniZag M