E-shaped Aperture Coupled Microstrip Patch Array Antenna for High Speed Downlink Applications in Small Satellites
Abstract
For high speed downlinking of payload data from
small satellites, a new 4×4 aperture coupled microstrip patch
array antenna has been presented. The antenna is designed
for the Ku band and a peak gain of 18.0 dBi is achieved
within the impedance bandwidth from 11.75 GHz to 12.75 GHz.
Wide bandwidth is achieved as the patch elements are excited
through E-shaped slots having asymmetric side lengths and
widths. Each square patch element of the array with truncated
corners and appropriately placed slots generates right hand
circularly polarized (RHCP) radiation with very high cross-
polarization discrimination. A corporate feed network consisting
of T-junctions and quarter-wave impedance transformers is
developed to feed the array elements from a single coaxial port
of 50 Ω. To improve the radiation from the patches and wave-
guiding in the feed network, two types of Rogers substrates with
different dielectric constant and thickness are considered. Our
proposed microstrip patch array antenna of size 7.8 cm × 6.4
cm × 0.3 cm can perform efficiently with a downlink data rate
as high as 4.6 Gbps for small satellites.
Full Text:
PDFReferences
M. T. Islam, M. Cho, M. Samsuzzaman, and S. Kibria, “Compact An-
tenna for Small Satellite Applications”, IEEE Antennas and Propagation
Magazine, 57 (2), pp. 30-36 (2015), doi: 10.1109/MAP.2015.2420471.
F. E. Tubbal, R. Raad, and K. Chin, ”A Survey and Study of Planar
Antennas for Pico-Satellites”, IEEE Access, 3, pp. 2590-2612 (2015),
doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2015.2506577.
T.R. Jones, J.P. Grey, and M. Daneshmand, ”Solar Panel Integrated
Circular polarized Aperture-Coupled Patch Antenna for CubeSat Ap-
plications”, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 17(10),
pp. 1895-1899 (2018), doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2018.2869321.
M. J. Veljovic, and A. K. Skrivervik, ”Aperture-Coupled Low-
Profile Wideband Patch Antennas for CubeSat”, IEEE Transactions
on Antennas and Propagation, 67(5), pp. 3439-3444 (2019), doi:
1109/TAP.2019.2900428.
G. Kumar and K. P. Ray, ”Broadband Microstrip Antennas”(Artech
House Inc., London, UK, 2003, 1st edn.), pp. 331–353.
M. A. B. Kortright and R. N. Simons, ”K-Band Cross-Aperture Cou-
pled Circularly Polarized Dual Frequency Microstrip Patch Antenna
with Single Feed,” 2018 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas
and Propagation & USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting,
Boston, MA, USA, pp. 337-338, July 2018, doi: 10.1109/APUS-
NCURSINRSM.2018.8608618.
C. H. Lai, T. Y. Han, and T. R. Chen, “Broadband aperture-coupled
microstrip antennas with low cross polarization and back radiation,”
Progress In Electromagnetics Research Letters, 5, pp. 187-197 (2008),
doi: 10.2528/PIERL08111805.
K. P. Yang, and K. L. Wong, “Inclined-slot-coupled compact dual-
frequency microstrip antenna with cross-slot,” Electronics Letters, 34(4),
pp. 321-322 (1998). doi:10.1049/el:19980222.
X. F. Zhu and D. L. Su, “Symmetric E-shaped slot for UWB antenna
with band-notched characteristic,” Microwave and Optical Technology
Letters, 52 (7), pp. 1594–1597 (2010), doi: 10.1002/mop.
A. Dastranj and H. Abiri, ”Bandwidth Enhancement of Printed E-Shaped Slot Antennas Fed by CPW and Microstrip Line,” IEEE Transactions
on Antennas and Propagation, 58 (4), pp. 1402-1407 (2010), doi:
1109/TAP.2010.2041164.
S. Chen, and M. Shie, ”A Compact High Gain X-Band Patch Antenna for Cube and Small Satellite Applications”, IEEE International Symposium
on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting,
Atlanta, GA, USA, pp. 1561-1562, July 2019, doi: 10.1109/APUS-
NCURSINRSM.2019.8888759.
M. Samsuzzaman, M. T. Islam, N. Misran, and M. A. Mohd
Ali, ”Dual Band X Shape Microstrip Patch Antenna for Satel-
lite Applications”, Procedia Technology, 11, pp. 1223-1228 (2013),
doi:10.1016/j.protcy.2013.12.317.
F. Nashad, S. Foti, D. Smith, M. Elsdon, and O. Yurduseven, ”Ku-band suspended meshed patch antenna integrated with solar cells for remote area applications”, Progress In Electromagnetics Research, 83, pp. 245-254 (2018), doi: 10.2528/PIERC18020608.
‘ANetworktoConnectthehttps://www.keplercommunications.com/network#tars-slide, accessed December 2020.
R. B. Waterhouse, “Microstrip Patch Antennas: A Designer’s Guide”
(Springer Science+ Business Media, New York, USA, 2003, 1st edn.),
pp. 327-350.
T. T. S. Borel, A. R. Yadav, and U. Shah, ”Design of Rectangu-
lar Patch Array Antenna for Satellite Communication”, 3rd Interna-
tional Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
(ICCMC), Erode, India, pp. 759-764, March 2019, doi: 10.1109/IC-
CMC.2019.8819861.
P. Bouca, J. N. Matos, S. Cunha, and N. B. Carvalho, “Low-
Profile Aperture-Coupled Patch Antenna Array for CubeSat Applica-
tions”, IEEE Access, 8, pp. 20473–20479 (2020), doi: 10.1109/AC-
CESS.2020.2968060.
F. Qin, S. Gao, G. Wei, Q. Luo, C. Mao, C. Gu, J. Xu, and J.
Li, ”Wideband Circularly polarized Fabry-Perot Antenna”, IEEE An-
tennas and Propagation Magazine, 57(5), pp. 127-135 (2015), doi:
1109/MAP.2015.2470678.
‘X-Band16ElementPatchAntennaArray’,
https://satcatalog.com/component/x-band-4x4-patch-antenna/, accessed
January 2021.
’SatellitePlatforms’,https://www.sstl.co.uk/what-we-do/satellite-
platforms, accessed January 2021.
C. E. Lesanu and A. Done, ”Parasitic circular polarized vertical an-
tennas”, International Conference on Development and Application
Systems (DAS), Suceava, Romania, pp. 143-149, May 2016, doi:
1109/DAAS.2016.7492564.
A. T. Joseph, M. Deshpande, P. E. O’Neill, and L. Miles, ”Development
of VHF (240–270 MHz) antennas for SoOp (signal of opportunity) re-
ceiver for 6U Cubesat platforms”, Progress in Electromagnetic Research
Symposium (PIERS), Shanghai, China, pp. 2530-2531, August 2016, doi:
1109/PIERS.2016.7735037.
J. Costantine, Y. Tawk, A. Ernest, and C. G. Christodoulou, ”Deployable antennas for CubeSat and space communications”, 6th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), Prague, Czech Republic, pp. 837-840, March 2012, doi: 10.1109/EuCAP.2012.6206124.
S. Gao, Y. Rahmat-Samii, R. E. Hodges, and X. X. Yang, ”Advanced
Antennas for Small Satellites”, Proceedings of the IEEE, 106(3), pp.
-403 (2018), doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2018.2804664.
K. Devaraj, “Small Satellite Antennas”, in Pelton, J.N., Madry, S. (Ed.):“Handbook of Small Satellites” (Springer, Chapel Hill, NC, USA, 1st
edn.), pp. 203-213 (2020).
“CanX-2: System Overview”, https://www.utias-sfl.net/?page id=172.,accessed February 2021.
J. Huang, “Microstrip Antennas: Analysis, Design, and Application”, in Balanis, C. A. (Ed.): “Modern Antenna Handbook” (John Wiley & Sons
Inc., USA, 2008, 1st edn.), pp. 157–196.
C. A. Balanis, “Antenna Theory - Analysis and Design” (John Wiley
and Sons Ltd., New York, NY, USA, 2005, 3rd edn.), pp. 811–872.
“Circularpolarisationvs.Linearpolarisation-Intelsat”,
http://www.intelsat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/polarisation.pdf,
accessed February 2021.
M. Haneishi and S. Yoshida, “A design method of circularly polarized
rectangular microstrip antenna by one-point feed”, Electronics and
Communications in Japan (Part I: Communications), 64 (4), pp. 46–54
(1981), https://doi.org/10.1002/ecja.4410640407.
K. Carver and J. Mink, ”Microstrip antenna technology”, IEEE Trans-
actions on Antennas and Propagation, 29 (1), pp. 2-24 (1981), doi:
1109/TAP.1981.1142523.
T. A. Miligan, “Modern Antenna Design” (John Wiley and Sons Ltd.,
Hoboken, New Jersey, USA, 2005, 2nd edn.), pp. 293–319.
D. M. Pozar, ”Microstrip antennas”, Proceedings of the IEEE, 80 (1),
pp. 79-91 (1992).
R. Bancroft, “Microstrip and Printed Antenna Design” (SciTech Pub-
lishing Inc., Raleigh, NC, USA, 2009,2nd edn.), pp. 142–176.
R. P. Owens, “Microstrip antenna feeds”, in James, J. R., Hall, P.
S. (Ed.): “Handbook of Microstrip Antennas” (Peter peregrines Ltd.,
London, UK, 1989, 1st edn.), pp. 815–855.
“Linkbudgetcalculations”,https://www.kymetacorp.com/wp-
content/uploads/2019/06/Link-Budget-Calculations-2.pdf,accessed
March 2021.
“CalculationsforSpaceCommunication”,
http://propagation.ece.gatech.edu/ECE6390/project/Sum2015/team5/satellite-downlink.html, accessed April 2021.
D. Roddy, “Satellite Communications” (McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,
New York, NY, USA, 2006, 4th edn.), pp.351–368.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
International Journal of Electronics and Telecommunications
is a periodical of Electronics and Telecommunications Committee
of Polish Academy of Sciences
eISSN: 2300-1933