Design and compatibility analysis of a solar panel integrated UHF antenna for nanosatellite space mission

Abstract

A compact UHF antenna has been presented in this paper for nanosatellite space mission. A square ground plane with slotted rectangular radiating element have been used. Coaxial probe feeding is used to excite. The rectangular slot of the radiating patch is responsible for resonating at lower UHF bands. One of the square faces of the nanosatellite structure works as the ground plane for the slotted radiating element. The fabricated prototype of the proposed antenna has achieved an impedance bandwidth (S11< -10dB) of 7.0 MHz (398 MHz– 405 MHz) with small size of 97 mm× 90 mm radiating element. The overall ground plane size is 100 mm × 100 mm × 0.5 mm. The proposed antenna has achieved a gain of 1.18 dB with total efficiency of 62.5%. The proposed antenna addresses two design challenges of nanosatellite antenna, (a) assurance of the placement of solar panel beneath the radiating element; (b) providing about 50% open space for solar irradiance to pass onto the solar panel, enabling the solar panel to achieve up to 93.95% of power under of normal conditions.

Near-zero metamaterial inspired UHF antenna for nanosatellite communication system

“…35 Deployable helix Helix heigh:5003658High performance antenna but not compatible with 1U structureAlam et al . 36 3D-type antenna398 MHz – 405 MHz1.18compatible with 1U and 2U structure but have design complexityBIRDS-I CubeSat antenna 31,37,38 Printed patch 72 × 32 × 1.575418–4480.55compatible with 1U and 2U structure but mission incomplete due to low efficiency and frequency shifting issueProposed antennaPrinted patch 80 × 45 × 1.575391 MHz – 405.921.77compatible with 1U and 2U structure Free from deployable complexity…”

Feasibility analysis of additive manufacturing method for graphene based super solar body mounted patch antenna for satellite applications

“…The ground plane, for the antenna to radiate effectively is of great concern, since it could also affect the solar panel efficiency. Some solutions so far used were meshed ground plane with coaxial feeding [1,5], body of the satellite as ground plane [11], separate ground plane that need to be electrically isolated from the solar panel [6,10] and the solar cell itself as ground plane [8] with line feeding or electromagnetic coupling. All these methods are complex in fabrication and feeding.…”

“…For super-solar approach both transparent and opaque patch antennas were used. Transparent antenna includes meshed antenna [4,5], conformal slot antenna [6] and patch antenna printed with Transparent Conductive Oxides (TCO) like Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) [6] and silver coated polyester film(AgHT) [7][8][9] whereas opaque antenna comprises of slot antenna [10,11] with small dimension of antenna shadowing the solar cells and patch antennas placed in the gap between the solar cells. Apart from these, this super-solar approach also include inverted F-shaped patch antennas that are placed vertically [12,13] on the solar panel.…”

Feasibility analysis of additive manufacturing method for Graphene nano-conductive ink based super solar body mounting printed patch antenna structures in cubesat and aerospace applications

“…The ground plane, for the antenna to radiate effectively is of great concern, since it could also affect the solar panel efficiency. Some solutions so far used were meshed ground plane with coaxial feeding [1,5], body of the satellite as ground plane [11], separate ground plane that need to be electrically isolated from the solar panel [6,10] and the solar cell itself as ground plane [8] with line feeding or electromagnetic coupling. All these methods are complex in fabrication and feeding .So, in order to reduce the fabrication complexity CPW feeding [7] is used.…”

“…Transparent antenna includes meshed antenna [4,5], conformal slot antenna [6] and patch antenna printed with Transparent Conductive Oxides(TCO) like Indium Tin Oxide(ITO) [6] and silver coated polyester film(AgHT) [7][8][9] whereas opaque antenna comprises of slot antenna [10,11] with small dimension of antenna shadowing the solar cells and patch antennas placed in the gap between the solar cells. Apart from these, this super-solar approach also include inverted F-shaped patch antennas that are placed vertically [12,13] on the solar panel.…”