The development of automatic expandable microwave antennas for CubeSat satellites

Поступила: 10.12.2018. Принята в печать: 14.02.2019.Received: 10.12.2018. Accepted: 14.02.2019.В настоящее время спутники CubeSat передают очень мало информации. Поскольку CubeSat являются малыми спутниками, они не могут иметь большие антенны. Для повышения пропускной способности необходимо использовать более высокие частоты и направленные антенны. В данной работе проводится сравнение трансформируемых антенн и полуволновых диполей при их использовании в качестве антенной системы CubeSat, приводится несколько типов автоматических раскрываемых СВЧ антенн, исследуется возможность их использования для спутников CubeSat.In recent years CubeSat satellites transmit very insignificant amount of information. Since CubeSats are small satellites, they cannot have large antennas. CubeSat project engineers still use half-wave dipoles as the main antenna despite the evolution of communication systems. It is necessary to use higher frequencies and directional antennas to increase the bandwidth. Moreover, the use of the directional parabolic antennas reduces the radiation power of the CubeSat transmitter, increasing the lifetime of the satellite. This paper includes the comparison of transformable antennas and half-wave dipoles in the case of using them as the CubeSat antenna system. Various types of automatic disclosed microwave antennas are given. The possibility of the transformable antennas use for the CubeSat satellites is investigated

Разработка автоматических раскрываемых СВЧ антенн для спутников CubeSat

В настоящее время спутники CubeSat передают очень мало информации. Поскольку CubeSat являются малыми спутниками, они не могут иметь большие антенны. Для повышения пропускной способности необходимо использовать более высокие частоты и направленные антенны. В данной работе проводится сравнение трансформируемых антенн и полуволновых диполей при их использовании в качестве антенной системы CubeSat, приводится несколько типов автоматических раскрываемых СВЧ антенн, исследуется возможность их использования для спутников CubeSat

Spectrum Coexistence of LEO and GSO Networks: An Interference-Based Design Criteria for LEO Inter-Satellite Links

As small satellites become more capable through miniaturized electronics and on-board processing, constellations of low-cost satellites lunched in Low- Earth Orbit (LEO) become feasible. The increase in the number of LEO satellites drives the need for frequency coexistence between the LEO constellation systems with the already existing geostationary (GSO) satellite networks. In this context, it is crucial to design the communication links paying special attention to interference analysis. This is particularly true when the LEO satellite constellation exploit inter-satellite communication links (ISL). In this paper, a radio frequency interference analysis based on simulation of the dynamic satellite constellation is presented and the design parameters of the inter-satellite links are analyzed. The results suggest that carefully choosing the design parameters of the intersatellite links, spectrum coexistence of LEO and GSO networks may be possible.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Spectrum Coexistence of LEO and GSO Networks: An Interference-Based Design Criteria for LEO Inter-Satellite Links

As small satellites become more capable through miniaturized electronics and on-board processing, constellations of low-cost satellites lunched in Low- Earth Orbit (LEO) become feasible. The increase in the number of LEO satellites drives the need for frequency coexistence between the LEO constellation systems with the already existing geostationary (GSO) satellite networks. In this context, it is crucial to design the communication links paying special attention to interference analysis. This is particularly true when the LEO satellite constellation exploit inter-satellite communication links (ISL). In this paper, a radio frequency interference analysis based on simulation of the dynamic satellite constellation is presented and the design parameters of the inter-satellite links are analyzed. The results suggest that carefully choosing the design parameters of the intersatellite links, spectrum coexistence of LEO and GSO networks may be possible.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Optical communication on CubeSats - Enabling the next era in space science

CubeSats are excellent platforms to rapidly perform simple space experiments. Several hundreds of CubeSats have already been successfully launched in the past few years and the number of announced launches grows every year. These platforms provide an easy access to space for universities and organizations which otherwise could not afford it. However, these spacecraft still rely on RF communications, where the spectrum is already crowded and cannot support the growing demand for data transmission to the ground. Lasercom holds the promise to be the solution to this problem, with a potential improvement of several orders of magnitude in the transmission capacity, while keeping a low size, weight and power. Between 2016 and 2017, The Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS), a joint institute of the California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, brought together a group of space scientists and lasercom engineers to address the current challenges that this technology faces, in order to enable it to compete with RF and eventually replace it when high-data rate is needed. After two one-week workshops, the working group started developing a report addressing three study cases: low Earth orbit, crosslinks and deep space. This paper presents the main points and conclusions of these KISS workshops.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, Official Final Report of KISS (Keck Institute for Space Studies) workshop on "Optical communication on CubeSats" (http://kiss.caltech.edu/workshops/optcomm/optcomm.html

Propuestas de enlaces entre satélites para misiones argentinas

La Arquitectura Segmentada es un programa destinado a desarrollar una nueva arquitectura para la construcción de sistemas satelitales. Usando conjuntos de satélites de bajo peso (llamados “segmentos”), trabajando en forma coordinada, en lugar de un único satélite que reúne en sí todos los subsistemas y servicios, se espera poder desarrollar sistemas espaciales con mejores características y prestaciones, y con la capacidad de adaptarse rápidamente ante nuevas circunstancias o requerimientos que no estaban previstos durante la concepción inicial del sistema. Para poder realizar el concepto de Arquitectura Segmentada se requieren de varias “tecnologías habilitantes”. Una de ellas es la comunicación entre satélites. Este trabajo describe las distintas propuestas para las comunicaciones entre satélites, pruebas de concepto en vuelo realizadas a la fecha así como el estado de dos propuestas inicializadas en nuestro país.Facultad de IngenieríaCentro de Investigaciones Óptica

Spectrum Coexistence of LEO and GSO Networks: An Interference-Based Design Criteria for LEO Inter-Satellite Links

As small satellites become more capable through miniaturized electronics and on-board processing, constellations of low-cost satellites lunched in Low- Earth Orbit (LEO) become feasible. The increase in the number of LEO satellites drives the need for frequency coexistence between the LEO constellation systems with the already existing geostationary (GSO) satellite networks. In this context, it is crucial to design the communication links paying special attention to interference analysis. This is particularly true when the LEO satellite constellation exploit inter-satellite communication links (ISL). In this paper, a radio frequency interference analysis based on simulation of the dynamic satellite constellation is presented and the design parameters of the inter-satellite links are analyzed. The results suggest that carefully choosing the design parameters of the intersatellite links, spectrum coexistence of LEO and GSO networks may be possible.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Optical communication on CubeSats — Enabling the next era in space science

CubeSats are excellent platforms to rapidly perform simple space experiments. Several hundreds of CubeSats have already been successfully launched in the past few years and the number of announced launches grows every year. These platforms provide an easy access to space for universities and organizations which otherwise could not afford it. However, these spacecraft still rely on RF communications, where the spectrum is already crowded and cannot support the growing demand for data transmission to the ground. Lasercom holds the promise to be the solution to this problem, with a potential improvement of several orders of magnitude in the transmission capacity, while keeping a low size, weight and power. Between 2016 and 2017, The Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS), a joint institute of the California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, brought together a group of space scientists and lasercom engineers to address the current challenges that this technology faces, in order to enable it to compete with RF and eventually replace it when high-data rate is needed. After two one-week workshops, the working group started developing a report addressing three study cases: low Earth orbit, crosslinks and deep space. This paper presents the main points and conclusions of these KISS workshops

Power Budgets for CubeSat Radios to Support Ground Communications and Inter-Satellite Links

CubeSats are a class of pico-satellites that have emerged over the past decade as a cost-effective alternative to the traditional large satellites to provide space experimentation capabilities to universities and other types of small enterprises, which otherwise would be unable to carry them out due to cost constraints. An important consideration when planning CubeSat missions is the power budget required by the radio communication subsystem, which enables a CubeSat to exchange information with ground stations and/or other CubeSats in orbit. The power that a CubeSat can dedicate to the communication subsystem is limited by the hard constraints on the total power available, which are due to its small size and light weight that limit the dimensions of the CubeSat power supply elements (batteries and solar panels). To date, no formal studies of the communications power budget for CubeSats are available in the literature, and this paper presents a detailed power budget analysis that includes communications with ground stations as well as with other CubeSats. For ground station communications we outline how the orbital parameters of the CubeSat trajectory determine the distance of the ground station link and present power budgets for both uplink and downlink that include achievable data rates and link margins. For inter-satellite communications we study how the slant range determines power requirements and affects the achievable data rates and link margins