Open Access

ARTICLE

Low Profile UHF Antenna Design for Low Earth-Observation CubeSats

by Md. Amanath Ullah¹, Touhidul Alam^2,3, Ali F. Almutairi^4,*, Mohammad Tariqul Islam⁵

1 School of Electrical and Data Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo NSW, 2007, Australia
2 Space Science Centre (ANGKASA), Institute of Climate Change (IPI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, 43600, Selangor, Malaysia
3 Department of CSE, International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC), Chattogram, 4318, Bangladesh
4 Electrical Engineering Department, Kuwait University, 13060, KuwaitCity, Kuwait
5 Department of Electrical, Electronic and Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, 43600, Selangor, Malaysia

* Corresponding Author: Ali F. Almutairi. Email:

Computers, Materials & Continua 2022, 71(2), 2533-2542. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmc.2022.021852

Received 17 July 2021; Accepted 03 September 2021; Issue published 07 December 2021

Abstract

This paper reveals a new design of UHF CubeSat antenna based on a modified Planar Inverted F Antenna (PIFA) for CubeSat communication. The design utilizes a CubeSat face as the ground plane. There is a gap of 5 mm beneath the radiating element that facilitates the design providing with space for solar panels. The prototype is fabricated using Aluminum metal sheet and measured. The antenna achieved resonance at 419 MHz. Response of the antenna has been investigated after placing a solar panel. Lossy properties of solar panels made the resonance shift about 20 MHz. This design addresses the frequency shifting issue after placing the antenna with the CubeSat body. This phenomenon has been analyzed considering a typical 1U and 2U CubeSat body with the antenna. The antenna achieved a positive realized gain of 0.7 dB and approximately 78% of efficiency at the resonant frequency with providing 85% of open space for solar irradiance onto the solar panel.

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Keywords

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