Abstract
While a number of novel patch antennas have been designed and integrated into a cube satellite (CubeSat), very few attempts have been made to exploit the self-similarity features of the so-called fractals in the antenna design to improve the satellite communications performance. This research work presents an initial attempt to utilize these fractal properties in the design of a patch antenna, adopting a geometry that allows it to be incorporated into a standard 10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm (or 1U) CubeSat. Prior to fabrication, a preliminary design was analyzed and simulated using a commercial finite element method (FEM) solver for electromagnetic structures software, High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS)™. The proposed antenna was designed at a solution frequency, \(f\)= 920 MHz and resonates well from 800 MHz to 1 GHz. The antenna was fabricated on an FR4 substrate (\(t\) = 1.6 mm, \({\varepsilon }_{r}\)= 4.3, and \(tan\delta\)= 0.02) of size 0.2λ × 0.2λ. Comparison of the simulated and measured results showed a good agreement in terms of reflection coefficient and voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of the proposed antenna at the frequency of interest. For comparison, a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) antenna was also characterized and measured. The measured peak gain of the proposed fractal antenna is at 3.148 dBi as confirmed by the radiation pattern results. It also exhibits a reflection coefficient of −26.110 dB, a VSWR of 1.104, and a wide bandwidth (BW) across the ultra-high frequency (UHF) band. This type of antenna has the potential to provide a reliable link between a CubeSat and a ground sensor terminal (GST) as confirmed by the long-range communication tests. The proposed fractal antenna is expected to meet the satellite data rate requirement of a CubeSat-based Internet of Things (IoT) for low-earth orbit (LEO) mission.
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Acknowledgements
This research is financially supported by the Philippine Space Agency Advanced Degrees for Accelerating Strategic Space R&D and Applications (PhilSA AD ASTRA) Research Grant. The authors would like to thank the Laboratory of Lean Satellite Enterprises and In-Orbit Experiments (LaSEINE) and the Center for Nanosatellite Testing (CeNT) of Kyushu Institute of Technology (KyuTech) for allowing the use of measurement equipment and facilities for testing the fabricated prototype. Special thanks to the members of LaSEINE for their assistance during laboratory measurements and field tests.
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Inojosa, R.A., Co, C.B., Cho, M. (2023). Integration of a UHF Fractal Antenna into a 1U CubeSat for Low-Earth Orbit Mission. In: Iwendi, C., Boulouard, Z., Kryvinska, N. (eds) Proceedings of ICACTCE'23 — The International Conference on Advances in Communication Technology and Computer Engineering. ICACTCE 2023. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 735. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37164-6_8
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