Abstract
This paper presents the design and characterization of an aperture-coupled microstrip antenna array to be installed onto a nanosatellite. The proposed antenna array has been optimized to operate at 2.26 GHz (S-Band), which is the operating frequency of the downlink channel of the Brazilian System for Meteorological Data Acquisition. The electromagnetic analyses are done by using the HFSS electromagnetic simulator. For the design validation, prototypes of single elements and antenna array were manufactured. The comparison between simulations and measurements indicates good performance of the designed antennas.
Highlights
In the last decades, the use of small satellites by the space industry has had an increase in popularity, especially in the military area, commercial business, universities, medium-sized companies and governmental research institutions
The satellites of the Brazilian Meteorological Data Collecting System are in operation for more than fifteen years, which is beyond their expected lifetime
For transmitting the data from the ground to the satellites, the uplink channel works at 401 MHz (UHF) and a fourelement microstrip antenna array with extended ground plane has been designed for this purpose [11]
Summary
The use of small satellites by the space industry has had an increase in popularity, especially in the military area, commercial business, universities, medium-sized companies and governmental research institutions. The SBCD must deliver this information to the Data Collection and Mission Control Center (in Portuguese, Centro de Missao e Coleta de Dados CMCD) [2] For this purpose, two independent communication channels are used: the uplink channel operates at UHF and the downlink at 2.26 GHz (S-Band). Along with other important components of a satellite, the antenna must present high performance whilst exhibiting low weight and low volume. These are typical features of microtrip antenna technology, which, among other advantages, present design flexibility [3]. The design and the performance of an antenna array for the downlink installed onto a nanosatellite is described.
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