2026-04-14T04:57:54Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request

oai:recercat.cat:2117/3703152026-01-30T09:23:43Zcom_2072_1033col_2072_452950

Design of a deployable helix antenna at L-Band for a 1-Unit CubeSat: from theoretical analysis to flight model results Fernández Capón, Lara Pilar Sobrino Hidalgo, Marco Ruiz de Azua, Joan Adria Calveras Augé, Anna M. Camps Carmona, Adriano José Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria de la telecomunicació Artificial satellites Astronomy--Observations CubeSat Nanosatellite Helix Deployable Antenna L-Band Earth Observation Satèl·lits artificials Astronomia--Observacions The 3Cat-4 mission aims at demonstrating the capabilities of a CubeSat to perform Earth Observation (EO) by integrating a combined GNSS-R and Microwave Radiometer payload into a 1-Unit CubeSat. One of the greatest challenges is the design of an antenna that respects the 1-Unit CubeSat envelope while operating at the different frequency bands: Global Positioning System (GPS) L1 and Galileo E1 band (1575 MHz), GPS L2 band (1227 MHz), and the microwave radiometry band (1400–1427 MHz). Moreover, it requires between 8 and 12 dB of directivity depending on the band whilst providing at least 10 dB of front-to-back lobe ratio in L1 and L2 GPS bands. After a trade-off analysis on the type of antenna that could be used, a helix antenna was found to be the most suitable option to comply with the requirements, since it can be stowed during launch and deployed once in orbit. This article presents the antenna design from a radiation performance point of view starting with a theoretical analysis, then presenting the numerical simulations, the measurements in an Engineering Model (EM), and finally the final design and performance of the Flight Model (FM) This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, “Sensing with Pioneering Opportunistic Techniques”, grant RTI2018-099008-B-C21/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, also funded in part by the Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca del Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya 2017 SGR 219. Finally, this research was possible thanks to the FI-2019 grant from AGAUR-Generalitat de Catalunya. Peer Reviewed Postprint (published version) 2022-05-01 Article https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/22/10/3633 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020/RTI2018-099008-B-C21/ES/SENSING WITH PIONEERING OPPORTUNISTIC TECHNIQUES/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Open Access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)