Enhancing small satellite communication through effective antenna system design

A Cube-Satellite (CubeSat) is a small satellite weighing no more than one kilogram. CubeSats are used for space research, but their low-rate communication capability limits functionality. As greater payload and instrumentation functions are sought, increased data rate is needed. Since most CubeSats currently transmit at a 437 MHz frequency, several directional antenna types were studied for a 2.45 GHz, larger bandwidth transmission. This higher frequency provides the bandwidth needed for increasing the data rate. A deployable antenna mechanism maybe needed because most directional antennas are bigger than the CubeSat size constraints. From the study, a deployable hemispherical helical antenna prototype was built. Transmission between two prototype antenna equipped transceivers at varying distances tested the helical performance. When comparing the prototype antenna´s maximum transmission distance to the other commercial antennas, the prototype outperformed all commercial antennas, except the patch antenna. The root cause was due to the helical antenna´s narrow beam width. Future work can be done in attaining a more accurate alignment with the satellite´s directional antenna to downlink with a terrestrial ground station.