A Compact 118-GHz Radiometer Antenna for the Micro-Sized Microwave Atmospheric Satellite

Author

Osaretin, Idahosa A. ; Shields, Michael W. ; Martinez Lorenzo, Jose A. ; Blackwell, William J.

Author_Institution

Lincoln Lab., Massachusetts Inst. of Technol., Lexington, MA, USA

Volume

13

fYear

2014

fDate

2014

Firstpage

1533

Lastpage

1536

Abstract

A linear polarized 118-GHz antenna is designed for a radiometer payload hosted aboard a 3U atmospheric CubeSat. The radiometer antenna is a horn-fed offset parabolic reflector. The antenna has a maximum +37 dBi realized gain, 2.4^° half-power beamwidth, and a minimum 95% beam efficiency within the operational bandwidth. The antenna is compact, meeting the MicroMAS mission requirement for a highly integrated and ultra-compact radiometer. CubeSats present stringent size/volume and weight constraints on overall component design. We present our design, along with simulated and measured results, that meet the size/volume, weight, and electrical requirements for the radiometer antenna and comply with CubeSat standards.

Keywords

antenna feeds; horn antennas; linear antennas; microwave antennas; millimetre wave antennas; radiometers; reflector antennas; satellite antennas; 3U atmospheric CubeSat standard; MicroMAS mission requirement; beam efficiency; compact radiometer antenna; frequency 118 GHz; gain 37 dB; half-power beamwidth; horn-fed offset parabolic reflector; linear polarized antenna; microsized microwave atmospheric satellite; operational bandwidth; radiometer antenna; size constraint; volume constraint; weight constraint; Antenna measurements; Antenna radiation patterns; Microwave antennas; Microwave radiometry; Payloads; Reflector antennas; CubeSat; horn antennas; low Earth orbit satellite; microwave radiometry; radiometers; reflector antennas;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1536-1225

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LAWP.2014.2343155

Filename

6866127