UHF/VHF Tightly Coupled Dipole Array for CubeSat Constellations Based on Synthetic Aperture Concepts
Conference
Mubasshir Hossain, M, Carvalho, M, Bojja Venkatakrishnan, S et al. (2022). UHF/VHF Tightly Coupled Dipole Array for CubeSat Constellations Based on Synthetic Aperture Concepts
. 1626-1627. 10.1109/AP-S/USNC-URSI47032.2022.9886213
Mubasshir Hossain, M, Carvalho, M, Bojja Venkatakrishnan, S et al. (2022). UHF/VHF Tightly Coupled Dipole Array for CubeSat Constellations Based on Synthetic Aperture Concepts
. 1626-1627. 10.1109/AP-S/USNC-URSI47032.2022.9886213
A deployable, two-layer Tightly Coupled Dipole Array (TCDA) is presented for CubeSat constellations based on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) concepts. The proposed SAR system will perform a coherent integration along the constellation of CubeSats to synthesize a large array. The synthetic aperture offers finer resolution and drastically reduces cost as compared to existing airborne platforms. Our goal is to achieve 1m slant range and along-track resolutions using a large, and wideband effective aperture. In this perspective, we propose accordion-like foldable sub-arrays that operate across 130 MHz to 550 MHz with VSWR < 3. The entire antenna array is folded across the two sides of a 6U CubeSat chassis for minimal space usage. This design also introduces a ground plane that fits within the 6U CubeSat's standard height, providing a 16 dB front-to-back gain ratio in both E-and H-planes.
