Miniaturized patch antenna for the S-band communication subsystem of the 3U University CubeSat

Abstract

This paper introduces a miniaturized patch antenna for the reception module of the 3U University CubeSat in the S-band communications subsystem. In order to reduce the physical characteristics of the antenna (dimensions, mass) and achieve circular polarization (CP), as well as increasing its performances, two techniques are used: the first consists of introducing semicircle truncation on both sides of the square patch, and the second consists of modifying the ground plane with networks of symmetrical slots along the main axes (x,y). The fabricated antenna prototype has overall dimensions of 55×55×3.27 mm and a total mass of 20.59 g. The developed antenna spans the uplink band (2.025 to 2.110 GHz) for payload and telemetry operations. The designed antenna achieves a reflection coefficient below minus 10 dB across the target frequency band, along with a minus 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth that is well appropriate to space communication links. The comparisons of the prototype results to the simulation results using CST and HFSS provide close agreement of around 90%.