Origami-Inspired Radiation Pattern and Shape Reconfigurable Dipole Array Antenna at C-Band for CubeSat Applications

Abstract

This article presents an antenna structure with a reconfigurable pattern and polarization for CubeSat applications. The proposed antenna is based on spatial-mapping origami theory and consists of a center-fed four-way Gysel power divider, delay lines, inside lamina emergent torsion (LET) joints, and four thick planar dipole antennas. The LET joints are used to distribute the mechanical stress of a rigid planar material to form a flexible planar spring structure. The proposed antenna has monopole-like omnidirectional linearly polarized gain patterns in planar mode. Its gain value is about 0.5 dBi at 5.8 GHz. In folded mode, the antenna has about a circularly polarized gain value of about 8.07 dBic and broadside radiation patterns. The measured cross-polarization suppression ratio is about 25 dB, and the axial ratio (AR) value is 1.13 dB at 5.8 GHz. The size of the antenna in planar mode with a cross-shape is $100\times 100\times0.5$ mm3, and its size is in folded mode is $32.5\times 32.5\times32.5$ mm3. The size of the antenna in inactive mode is $35\times 35\times 3$ mm3, and its total weight is only 4.73 g.