Inflatable antenna for CubeSat: A new spherical design for increased X-band gain

Babuscia, Alessandra; Sauder, Jonathan; Chandra, Aman; Thangavelautham, Jekan; Feruglio, Lorenzo; Bienert, N. L.

doi:10.1109/aero.2017.7943897

Cited by 33 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…We build up on our previous work [6,[20][21][22] on inflatable beam elements which have been chosen as the structural unit for our analysis. To study the structural behavior as an assembly we construct Euler-Bernoulli beam networks of individual membrane elements.…”

Section: Inflatable Membrane Beam Elementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modular Inflatable Composites for Space Telescopes

Chandra

Thangavelautham

2019

2019 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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There is an every-growing need to construct large space telescopes and structures for observation of exo-planets, main-belt asteroids and NEOs. Space observation capabilities can significant enhanced by large-aperture structures. Structures extending to several meters in size could potentially revolutionize observation enabling technologies. These include star-shades for imaging distant objects such as exo-planets and high-resolution large aperture telescopes. In addition to size, such structures require controllable precision surfaces and high packing efficiencies. A promising approach to achieving high compaction for large surface areas is by incorporating compliant materials or gossamers. Gossamer structures on their own do not meet stiffness requirements for controlled deployment. Supporting stiffening mechanisms are required to fully realize their structural potential. The accuracy of the 'active' surface constructed out of a gossamer additionally also depends on the load bearing structure that supports it. This paper investigates structural assemblies constructed from modular inflatable membranes stiffened pneumatically using inflation gas. These units assembled into composites can yield desirable characteristics. We present the design of large assemblies of these modular elements. Our work focuses on separate assembly strategies optimized for two broad applications. The first class of structures require efficient load bearing and distribution. Such structures do not need high precision surfaces but the ability to efficiently and reliably transmit large loads. This can be achieved using a hierarchical assembly of inflatable units. They also need to be stiffer as a collective assembly as compared to their constituent modules. Preferential placement of varying modular units leads to local stiffness modulation. This in-turn helps modify load transmission characteristics. Applications of such structures also extend to deployable drag-chutes or aero-breaking devices for atmospheric maneuvering. The second are structures with precision surfaces for optical imaging and high-gain communication apertures. We demonstrate over-constrained modular assemblies exhibiting elastic averaging when assembled with a very large number of modules. Averaging effects are amplified with the number of sub-units approaching required surface precision with a large enough number. Our work includes fundamental structural studies to evolve feasible sizing schemes for both classes of structures. A structural analysis strategy using discrete finite elements has been developed to simulate the assembled behavior of modular units. The structural model of each inflatable unit has been extended from our previous work to approximate each unit as a 3dimensional truss system. Analysis results are compared with full scale simulations on commercial analysis package LS-Dyna. Our analysis leads to an understanding of the extent to which inflatables can be scaled up effectively. Critical geometric design considerations are identified for stowed and dep...

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Section: Inflatable Membrane Beam Elementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modular Inflatable Composites for Space Telescopes

Chandra

Thangavelautham

2019

2019 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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“…Accordingly, high-gain X-band CubeSat antennas have received much attention. With the main feature of high gain, reflector antennas [5,6] and reflectarray antennas [7] have been popular choices for CubeSat high-speed data downloading. The sizes of these antennas are normally much larger than the CubeSat bodies, and therefore, the methods to stow the antennas are required.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sizes of these antennas are normally much larger than the CubeSat bodies, and therefore, the methods to stow the antennas are required. Inflatable and deployable methods [5][6][7] enable stowing an antenna inside a small volume and fully deploying in orbit. However, these methods are usually accompanied by increases in the structure complexity and the realization cost of the satellites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Planar Wideband Two-Level Sequentially Rotated Array Antenna for X-Band Cubesat

Ta¹,

Kiem²

2019

PIER C

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A planar wideband circularly-polarized (CP) antenna array is designed for an X-band CubeSat. The design is a two-level sequential phase architecture, consisting of a 4 × 4 element array composed of sequentially rotated of 2 × 2 subarrays. Each subarray consists of sequentially rotated 2 × 2 antennas using metasurface. These antenna elements are incorporated with a two-level sequentially rotated phase network in order to obtain wideband characteristic and high gain. The final prototype with a size of 100 mm × 100 mm × 2.032 mm yields a measured |S 11 | < −10 dB bandwidth of 50% (6-10 GHz) and measured axial ratio < 3-dB bandwidth of 40.7% (6.45-9.75 GHz). Additionally, the proposed design achieves a good broadside right-hand CP radiation with a peak gain of 17.0 dBic, 3-dB gain bandwidth of 20.4% (7.5-9.2 GHz), and radiation efficiency of > 82%. With these features, the proposed antenna can be compatible with any CubeSat standard structure, as well as other small satellites.

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“…The dish is ultra-compact and fits a 1m diameter dish in a 0.5U volume and weighs 0.5 kg. New iterations of the design has modified the antenna to a spherical shape and a smaller diameter of 0.7m [51]. However, for the purposes of this paper, it will be assumed that a parabolic shaped inflatable antenna of the original is feasible.…”

Section: Drag/solar Sailsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the spherical dish would differ in shape from the parabolic dish, feed solutions can be employed to compensate for the inaccuracies of the spherical dish shape. This concept is detailed in Babuscia's latest paper [51].…”

Section: Antenna Shape Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Concept of a Deep Space Solar-Powered Small Spacecraft

Crowley¹

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These spacecraft were very expensive and primarily designed to study planets during gravitational assist maneuvers. They were not designed to explore space past Pluto and their study of this environment is at best a secondary mission. These spacecraft rely on radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) to provide power, an expensive yet necessary approach to generating sufficient power. With Cubesats graduating to interplanetary capabilities, such as the Mars-bound MarCO spacecraft[1], matching the modest payload requirements to study the outer Solar System (OSS) with the capabilities of low-power nano-satellites may enable much more affordable access to deep space. This paper explores a design concept for a low-cost, small spacecraft, designed to study the OSS and satisfy mission requirements with solar power. The general spacecraft design incorporates a parabolic reflector that acts as both a solar concentrator and a high gain antenna. This paper explores a working design concept for a small spacecraft to operate up to 100 astronomical units (AU) from the sun. Deployable reflector designs, thermal and radiation environments, communications and power requirements, solar system escape trajectory options, and scientific payload requirements are detailed, and a working system is proposed that can fulfill mission requirements with expected near-future innovations in a few key technologies. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I'd like to thank several people for helping me with this project. First of all, I'd like to send out a huge thank you to Professor Jordi Puig-Suari and Robert Staehle from JPL for helping me with all the intricacies of this project. They were immensely helpful in every aspect of this paper and always provided excellent advice and suggestions for the design. I would also like to thank my family and friends for providing the emotional support for getting through this stressful project. Without them, I would have had the motivation to put in the momentous amount of hours into this program. I also would like to thank my peers in this program for providing me with engineering help on this project, even going to lengths of designing parts of this spacecraft through group class projects. v

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Inflatable antenna for CubeSat: A new spherical design for increased X-band gain

Cited by 33 publications

References 5 publications

Modular Inflatable Composites for Space Telescopes

Modular Inflatable Composites for Space Telescopes

A Planar Wideband Two-Level Sequentially Rotated Array Antenna for X-Band Cubesat

Exploring the Concept of a Deep Space Solar-Powered Small Spacecraft

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