Antenna Design for University Low Cost Student-Built CubeSat Missions

Abstract

This paper focuses on the selection criterion of S band patch antenna for university student led low cost nanosatellite missions. These nanosatellites are most often known as Cube Satellites (CubeSats). Different design challenges are categorized and discussed here based on the design considerations and limitations of previous research works. And a novel S band (2 – 4 GHz) operated coaxial feed patch antenna is also proposed in the following manuscript. The simulated results show good agreement for the operating frequency of 2.69 GHz and desirable performance in gain and directivity. The antenna is simulated in a Far-field region and the directivity is measured at 7.114 dBi which is convenient for most of the ground communications, high speed data download links, inter-satellite communications, remote sensing, and other satellite applications. As the proposed antenna design is focused on low cost solution for the CubeSat antennas, Rogers RT5870 is used as substrate material for mitigating the electrical loss at its best. The reflection parameter is observed as −11.116 dB, which is very feasible comparing with other existing CubeSat antennas.