Advanced Antennas for Small

Satellites
This paper presents a comprehensive review of recent development in antennas for
wireless systems (telemetry, tracking and control, high-speed data downlink,
radars, navigation and remote sensing, intersatellite links) onboard small satellites
(MiniSat, MicroSat, NanoSat, CubeSat).
By S t e v e n G ao , Senior Member IEEE, Ya h ya R a h m at -S a m ii , Life Fellow IEEE,
R ic h a r d E. H od ge s , Senior Member IEEE, a n d X u e -X i a Ya ng , Senior Member IEEE

ABSTRACT  |  Antenna is one of the key components onboard and femtosatellite (<0.1 kg) [1]–[5]. Modern technology
small satellites as its design determines the performance of developments such as integrated circuits, miniaturization,
all the wireless systems including telemetry, tracking and and microelectricalmechanical systems (MEMS) have
control, high-speed data downlink, navigation, intersatellite improved their capabilities, enabling satellites to become
communications, intrasatellite communications, wireless small and capable. During recent years, small satellites
power transfer, radars and sensors, etc. This paper presents a have become increasingly important for space industries
review of recent development in advanced antennas for small due to the advantages of low mass, fast development, flexi-
satellites (MiniSat, MicroSat, NanoSat, CubeSat, etc.). A number bility, and low cost. There are numerous research programs
of recent examples of antennas for small satellite applications on small satellite research and development world-
are shown and discussed. A conclusion and future development wide. For example, the National Aeronautics and Space
in antennas for small satellites are given in the end. Administration Small Spacecraft Technology Program
(NASA SSTP) develops and demonstrates new capabili-
KEYWORDS  | Antennas; small satellites; CubeSat; MiniSat; ties employing the unique features of small satellites for
MicroSat; NanoSat; PicoSat science, remote sensing of Earth, exploration, and space
operations [1]. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
I.  I N T RODUC T ION (JAXA) has conducted a series of research and develop-
ment programs on small low-cost satellites since the first
Small satellite is one of the fast growing sectors in space
small satellite “Micro-LabSat” was launched in 2002
industries. Small satellites usually refer to satellites below
[6]. Similar programs exist in the United Kingdom and
500 kg, including minisatellite (100–500 kg), microsatellite
Europe where the U.K. Space Agency and the European
(10–100 kg), nanosatellite (1–10 kg), picosatellite (0.1–1 kg),
Space Agency (ESA) have many programs on small satel-
lites and/or related technologies. One example is ESA’s
Manuscript received September 30, 2017; revised December 29, 2017; accepted “Fly Your Satellite!” program which allows student teams
January 28, 2018. Date of current version February 26, 2018. The work of S. Gao was
supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under of ESA Member States to participate in the conception,
Grant EP/N032497/1, CHIST ERA WISDOM project under EPSRC Grant EP/P015840/1, and development, and integration of a small satellite project
the European Union. Some portions of the research reported in this paper were carried
out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, ahead of testing and, eventually, launching into orbit [7].
CA, USA), under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Recently, small satellites, in particular the CubeSat, have
(NASA). (Corresponding author: Steven Gao.)
S. Gao is with the University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NZ, U.K. (e-mail: [email protected]). shown explosive growth worldwide. As of January 2016,
Y. Rahmat-Samii is with the University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles,
CA 90095 USA (e-mail: [email protected]).
45 countries have launched <50-kg satellites.
R. E. Hodges is with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Antennas are key components that enable small satellites
Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA (e-mail: [email protected]).
X.-X. Yang is with the Key Laboratory of Specialty Fibre Optics and Optical Access
to receive and transmit electromagnetic signals. Onboard
Networks, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China (e-mail: yang.xx@ small satellites, there are a number of antennas for different
shu.edu.cn).
functions. Due to limited volume onboard small satellites, it is
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/JPROC.2018.2804664 important to optimize the antenna designs, which directly
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. For more information, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Gao et al. : Advanced Antenna s for Small Satellites

Table 1  Key Challenges of Small Satellite Antennas Development and the Reasons

determine the performance of all wireless systems onboard

satellites, such as telemetry, tracking, and control (TTC), high-
speed data downlink, navigation, intersatellite communications,
intrasatellite communications, wireless power transfer, radars
and sensors, etc. Table 1 summarizes some of the key challenges
of small satellite antennas development and the reasons. As
shown, it is necessary to achieve miniaturization of antennas
with optimum performance while the use of materials in anten-
nas needs to take into account space environments.
This paper is organized as follows. Section I provides an
introduction to small satellites and antennas. In Section II,
several small satellite missions are explained. A number of
recent examples of antennas for small satellite applications
(MiniSat, MicroSat, NanoSat, CubeSat, etc.) are shown and
discussed in Section III. A conclusion and future develop-
ment in antennas for small satellites are given in Section IV.

II.  SM A L L S AT EL L I T E M IS SIONS
Fig. 1. DMC-3 satellite, courtesy of SSTL, U.K. [9].
There are several small satellite missions such as the Disaster
Monitoring Constellation (DMC), Small Demonstration
Satellite (SDS), NovaSAR, Constellation of Small Satellites a short time, due to the use of multiple small satellites in
for Mediterranean basin Observation (COSMO-SkyMed), orbit ready to cross over a point of interest, and the large
The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) [8], images produced. This delivers the responsiveness needed
etc. Some of them are summarized below. for emergencies and for disaster support, with images pro-
Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) consists of vided across the internet from the responsive satellite and
a system of remote-sensing minisatellites operated for the a member country’s ground station within one day or less
Algerian, Turkish, Nigerian, Chinese and U.K. govern- after a request being made. The DMC has monitored the
ments. The DMC provides emergency Earth imaging for effects and aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004),
disaster relief. It can provide large areas of imagery within Hurricane Katrina (2005), and many other floods, fires,

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 Gao et al. : Advanced Antenna s for Small Satellites

and S-band antennas onboard SDS-4 satellite are indicated

in Fig. 2. SDS-4 is JAXA’s first zero-momentum three-axis
controlled 50-kg class microsatellite, launched in 2012.
Integrated Solar Array and Reflectarray Antenna
(ISARA) is a mission funded by NASA SSTP with the goal
of demonstrating >100-Mb/s data downlink capability on a
3U (​10 × 10 × 34​ cm3) bus [11], [12]. Launched in November
2017, the key enabling technology is a folded panel reflectar-
ray (FPR) high gain antenna that provides 33.5-dBi gain at
26 GHz [13]. As shown in Fig. 3(a), the antenna comprises
Fig. 2. SDS-4 microsatellite in launch configuration (left) and in three 33.9-cm ​×​8.26-cm reflectarray panels and a microstrip
deployed configuration (right) [10]. patch feed. The panels are stowed by wrapping around three
sides of the CubeSat bus and deployed by means of spring
loaded hinges [Fig. 3(b)]. An important advantage of the
and disasters. It has progressed into its second generation ISARA design is that the FPR panels are stowed in the empty
since its first DMC satellite launched in 2002. Fig. 1 shows a volume that exists between the launch rails and consequently
DMC-3 satellite launched in 2015. This satellite has a mass do not use any spacecraft stowed volume. In addition, an
of 447 kg and provides 1-m high-resolution imagery with array of solar cells mounted on the opposite side of the FPR
high-speed downlink (320 Mb/s) and 45° off pointing [9]. panels provides more than 20 W of prime spacecraft power.
Small Demonstration Satellite (SDS): SDS-4 is a fol- Thus, ISARA technology enables high data rate telecom and
low-on technology demonstration mission of SDS-1 herit- provides spacecraft power while leaving available payload
age, based on the SDS standard bus of the Japan Aerospace volume for science instruments. The mission demonstrates
Exploration Agency (JAXA). The main mission of the SDS-4 this by including a secondary payload known as the CubeSat
microsatellite is to demonstrate the space-based automatic Multispectral Observation System (CUMULOS) [14], an
identification system (AIS) experiment, quartz crystal micro-
experimental Aerospace Corporation remote sensing payload
balance (QCM), flat-plate heat pipe on-orbit experiment
used to test the performance of passively cooled commercial
(FOX), and In-flight experiment of Space materials using
sensors for weather and environmental monitoring missions.
THERME (IST) technologies developed by a JAXA-CNES
The ISARA technology, developed by the Jet Propulsion
joint research project. In addition, the SDS-4 project seeks to
Laboratory (JPL), will be validated during a five-month
demonstrate the various bus components which were devel-
mission that uses a spacecraft and ground station network
oped for microsatellites, such as: OBC, PCU, TRx, the small
developed by The Aerospace Corporation. The mission will
MEMS rate sensor, and the QPSK communication technol-
perform a calibrated antenna gain and radiation pattern
ogy. Fig. 2 shows the SDS-4 microsatellite in deployed con-
measurement by transmitting from LEO orbit to a Ka-band
figuration and in launch configuration [10]. AIS antennas
ground station at JPL. It is worthwhile to note that this mission
includes a number of technical advancements, including the
first reflectarray antenna flown in space, first demonstration
of a high gain antenna integrated with solar panels, and the
first space calibrated antenna gain measurement.
Radar in a CubeSat (RainCube) is a mission funded by the
NASA Science Mission Directorate’s Research Opportunities
in Space and Earth Science program with the goal of dem-
onstrating Ka-band precipitation profiling radar technology
on a low-cost 6U CubeSat platform [15]. There are two key
elements of the technology demonstration, both developed
by JPL: a new architecture for miniaturized Ka-band radar
and a deployable 0.5-m Ka-band parabolic reflector antenna
that stows in 1.5U. The 35.75-GHz nadir-pointing radar will
measure precipitation profiles up to 18 km above Earth with a
horizontal resolution <10 km and vertical resolution ​<​250 m.
Payload data and spacecraft telemetry are downloaded via
ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) or S-band links. The RainCube
antenna, a slightly modified version of the Ka-band antenna
discussed in Section III-B, achieves 42.6-dBi gain and 52%
Fig. 3. ISARA antenna: (a) key components; and (b) illustration of aperture efficiency [16]. The RainCube mission, sched-
reflectarray panel stowage and deployment. uled to launch after April 2018, is based on a 6U CubeSat

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Gao et al. : Advanced Antenna s for Small Satellites

Fig. 4. Illustration of RainCube spacecraft with 0.5-m deployable

mesh reflector antenna.

bus developed by Tyvak Nanosatellite Systems, who is also

responsible for mission operations. RainCube is expected to
be the first space flight demonstration of a CubeSat radar and
will succeed in raising the technology readiness level (TRL)
from the current 4–5 to 7. Fig. 4 illustrates an artist concept
of the RainCube spacecraft and the antenna.
Following the successful demonstration by JPL [17] of
the 0.5-m RainCube reflector concept, it has been planned
to evolve the design for the next generation of CubeSats.
Challenging Ka-band remote sensing applications require an
antenna aperture of at least 1 m, spurring on a collaborative
effort between NASA, JPL, and the University of California
at Los Angeles (UCLA) in targeting a next generation of
large aperture high-gain CubeSat mesh reflector anten-
nas. Mechanical constraints coupled with millimeter-wave
(mm-wave) frequency sensitivities prohibited scaling of the
0.5-m umbrella reflector designs, mainly because an effi-
Fig. 5. Illustration of 1-m offset-fed deployable mesh reflector
cient 1-m reflector design requires more than 30 ribs, which
antenna. (a) An artist on-orbit rendition [18]. (b) Prototype antenna
greatly increases the risk of rib jamming during deploy- pattern test with gravity offload fixture at JPL near-field measurement
ment. Attempts were subsequently made to develop a com- facility. (c) A representative E-plane far-field pattern comparison
pletely new 1.0-m reflector design that stows in roughly a 3U between the measured and simulation results at 35.75 GHz.
(​10  × 10 ×  34​ cm3) CubeSat volume.
Though a symmetric reflector configuration has its advan-
tages, the feed deployment mechanism also becomes com- Particle swarm optimization (PSO) [20]–[21] was used to
plex since the feed has to deploy and face either the reflector obtain the optimal design for the horn.
or the subreflector. To balance these tradeoffs, a single offset- The goal has been to package the entire antenna system
fed reflector configuration was chosen. The offset configu- into a roughly 3U volume for a 12U CubeSat, as illustrated
ration alleviates some of the difficulties encountered during by the artist’s rendition in Fig. 5(a). The offset reflector
the deployment of symmetric reflectors. Fig. 5(a) shows an geometry uses an F/D of 0.75 with a clearance height of
illustration of the offset deployable mesh reflector concept 0.13 m. These design values are a nice compromise between
developed by Tendeg [18]. mechanical complexity, RF performance, and feed design
A challenge for the CubeSat system is designing a feed simplicity. A photo of the first prototype reflector mounted
that optimally illuminates the reflector while satisfying the in the JPL antenna range is shown in Fig. 5(b). This antenna
mechanical constraints imposed by the CubeSat standard achieved a measured gain of 49.2 dB at 35.75 GHz, cor-
at a reasonable cost. In order to ensure minimum spillover, responding to a 59% aperture efficiency. The antenna has
the sidelobes and backlobes of the horn must be minimized. nearly equal E-plane and H-plane half-power beamwidths
Further, the S11 must be as low as possible. A novel spline- (HPBWs) of 0.57° and 0.53°, respectively. A representative
profiled smooth walled horn design (developed at UCLA) was E-plane far-field pattern comparison between the measure-
employed to strike a balance between ease of fabrication, cost, ment and simulation is shown in Fig. 5(c). Excellent agree-
desired radiation characteristics, and overall volume [19]. ment is observed.

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 Gao et al. : Advanced Antenna s for Small Satellites

III.   A N T EN NA S FOR SM A L L
S AT EL L I T E S
A. Antennas for Small Satellite TTC Subsystems
Small satellite TTC subsystems require antennas to
receive the uplink signals for telecommand purposes and
transmit downlink telemetry signals. TTC antennas should
achieve their performance whatever the attitude of the
small satellite, thus the antennas need to have compact
size, full spherical coverage, low loss, and high reliability.
The full spherical coverage is often achieved by combining
the radiation patterns of several antennas located at differ-
ent areas of small satellites, as one single antenna is una-
ble to provide the full spherical coverage. The frequency
bands include very high frequency (VHF), UHF, S, X, Ku,
and Ka bands. Since TTC data rates are generally low, nar-
Fig. 7. Antenna pointing mechanism with horn antenna, courtesy
row bandwidth antennas are acceptable. Typical antennas of SSTL.
include monopoles, microstrip patches, helices, and turn-
stile antennas. For TTC of microsatellites and minisatel-
high-gain antennas are usually required to achieve high-
lites, microstrip patch antennas are often employed and
speed data transmission.
Fig. 6 shows an S-band patch antenna [22]. The antenna
High-gain antennas requires accurate pointing of their
is robust and can be easily integrated with satellite body.
beams. Thus, for small satellites without high-precision atti-
For TTC of CubeSats and NanoSats, monopoles are often
tude determination and control system (ADCS), a medium
employed, and one example is the deployable antenna sys-
gain (up to ~
​ ​12 dBi) is often used. With the recent advances
tems from Innovative Solutions in Space (ISIS) which con-
of ADCS for small satellites, antennas with much higher
tain up to four tape spring antennas of up to 55-cm length
gain are expected to play roles in data downlink. To com-
[23]. The deployment system relies on a thermal knife com-
posed of one wire and two redundant heating elements per pensate for the differences in free-space propagation losses
tape. Radio-frequency (RF) phasing and balun circuitries caused by the curvature of Earth’s surface, the ideal radia-
tie the antennas together in a monopole and dipole con- tion pattern is an isoflux coverage. The frequency bands typ-
figuration. The antenna is useful for CubeSat TTC at UHF ically use S-band and X-band. Recent trends are to employ
and/or VHF bands. Ka-band and higher frequencies, due to the need for wider
bandwidth for downloading more data at higher speed.
Figs. 7–9 show some antennas for microsatellites and
B. Antennas for Small Satellite High-Speed Data minisatellites, while Figs. 10–13 show some antennas for
Downlink CubeSats and NanoSats.
After the satellite achieves stabilization, it will need Fig. 7 shows the X-band high-gain horn antenna from
the high-speed data downlink subsystem to download a SSTL [24]. The antenna can be mechanically steered toward
large amount of data to the ground station. Compact-size the ground station while satellite is moving. This antenna
can radiate either right- or left-hand circularly polarized
signals by altering the position of the feed. It operates at
X-band, providing a gain of 15 dBi at boresight and 3-dB
beamwidth of 25°. The antenna can achieve a wide scanning
range, is robust, and has low cost.
Planar antennas are attractive for small satellites as
they can be easily integrated with the satellite body. Fabry–
Perot cavity can be employed to improve the gain of planar
antennas, and one example of wideband circularly polar-
ized planar antenna using Fabry–Perot cavity is shown in
Fig. 8 [25]. It has a two-layer partially reflective surface
with positive reflective phase gradient which improves
the gain bandwidth of the antenna. The X-band prototype
demonstrates a 3-dB gain bandwidth of 28.3% from 8.8 to
11.7 GHz with a peak gain of 14.7 dBi. The antenna has a
Fig. 6. S-band patch antennas, courtesy of SSTL. low profile, a simple feed network, and low cost.

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Gao et al. : Advanced Antenna s for Small Satellites

Fig. 8. Fabry�Perot cavity antenna for small satellites.

Fig. 9 shows the antenna developed within the

European project GaNSat funded by the European Fig. 10. Deployable reflectors for CubeSats.
Commission [26], [27]. A parabolic reflector is fed by a
planar active phased array integrated with high power
This antenna has been adapted for both CubeSat telecom
amplifiers (HPAs) and low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) in
and radar applications. The telecom version is compatible
GaN. Due to the advantage of high power density of GaN
with NASA’s deep-space network (DSN) at the Ka-band
technology, the HPA module is significantly reduced
downlink (31.8–32.3 GHz) and uplink (34.2–34.7 GHz) fre-
in size and mass. The single GaN HPA chip obtains an
quency bands. It achieves 42.0-dBi gain and 57% aperture
output power of 10 W and a gain of 16 dB from 18 to
efficiency at 32 GHz. The radar antenna design has been
20 GHz. The radiating element of the phased-array feed
fully flight qualified (i.e., thermal and vibration testing) and
is wideband dual-CP stacked patches with multilayer con-
is planned to fly on the RainCube radar in mid-2018.
figuration. The patch is fed by two microstrip lines which
Folded panel reflectarray (FPR) technology provides
are connected to the outputs of the branch line couplers
another way to realize a deployable high gain antenna [29].
printed in different PCB layers.
A reflectarray antenna consists of a special reflecting sur-
Limited space available onboard small satellites is a key
face along with an illuminating feed [30]. The reflecting sur-
problem for high-speed data downlink and radar payloads.
face comprises an array of phase control elements, such as
Recently, a variety of deployable antenna technologies have
microstrip patches, printed on a circuit board using stand-
been developed to address this need. Deployable reflectors
ard photo etching processes. The phase control elements are
enable an antenna to be compact in stowed configuration
adjusted to collimate the reflected feed illumination, much
and become fully deployed in orbit. Fig. 10 shows a 0.5-m
as a parabolic reflector would. However, unlike a parabolic
mesh deployable parabolic reflector designed to fit in a 1.5U
reflector, the reflectarray panels are flat, which permits them
(​10 × 10 × 15​ cm3) CubeSat stowage volume [28]. The
to be folded and stacked for compact stowage. FPR anten-
reflector surface consists of a knitted gold-plated tungsten
nas offer several notable advantages compared to deployable
wire mesh with a surface density of 40 openings-per-inch
parabolic reflectors, including stowage efficiency, beam
(OPI) that is supported by 30 hinged ribs. Deployment is
pointing and beam shaping flexibility, rapid development,
driven by a motorized planetary gear system along with a
and lower cost. Further, the printed circuit board construc-
spring loaded “pop out” feed and subreflector assembly.
tion readily accommodates solar cells, enabling integration
of the antenna with solar array panels, either on the back
side as done for ISARA [13] or on the reflectarray side by
using optically transparent reflectarray elements [31]–[35].
However, FPR antennas are narrow band devices (typically
a few percent bandwidth) and the aperture size is limited by
the practical number of folds.
As an example, Fig. 11(a) shows the reflectarray antenna
designed for the NASA Mars Cube One (MarCO) mission
[36]. The MarCO CubeSat is planned to fly to Mars and pro-
vide a real-time bent-pipe telecom link during the InSight
mission’s entry, descent, and landing (EDL) phase. Scheduled
to launch in 2018, MarCO will likely be the first interplan-
etary CubeSat mission. The antenna design challenge was
to develop a flight-qualified 28-dBi gain X-band antenna
Fig. 9. Antenna in GaNSat. (a) Antenna configuration. (b) Feed that used a small fraction of the 6U (​10 × 20 × 34​ cm3)
structure and beam coverage on Earth. CubeSat bus volume with less than 2-kg mass at low cost

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 Gao et al. : Advanced Antenna s for Small Satellites

Fig. 12. Inflatable antenna for CubeSats: Development of the

X-band prototype [38], courtesy of JPL.

The two surfaces are metallized to create a reflectarray. A

flat surface is comparatively easier to fabricate, package, and
maintain than a curved surface. The antenna can employ
inflatable/self-rigidizable technology in its primary structural
members, thus allowing the reflectarray antenna to be col-
lapsed and packaged into a small launch volume. This con-
Fig. 11. MarCO antenna. (a) Spacecraft assembly illustrating
cept has received interest as a potential high gain antenna for
deployed reflector antenna. (b) Illustration of reflectarray panel
stowage. small satellites and was also used to successfully demonstrate
an S-band microstrip patch array [44].
Fig. 13(a) shows a Ka-band lens antenna for CubeSats
in one year. To do this, a three-panel FPR was designed to and nanosatellites [45]. A waveguide E-plane bend is used
fold onto the side of the 6U bus and fit between the bus and
to couple the transmitting signal into a circular polarizer
the launch canister [Fig. 11(b)]. A microstrip patch feed
fits below the FPR and pops out during panel deployment.
Compact spring-loaded hinges enable the unit to fold into
a 1.25-cm-thick package which only consumes ~ ​ ​4% of the
usable spacecraft payload volume with a mass of <1 kg. The
antenna provides a gain of 29.2 dBic (an efficiency of ​~​42%)
with right-hand circular polarization (RHCP).
There are several other notable methods to stow a
high gain antenna. Inflatable antennas were the subject
of research for many years as a way to create large (​>​5-m
diameter) reflectors with very high stowage efficiency.
However, only the 1996 Inflatable Antenna Experiment, a
14-m diameter parabolic reflector, has flown in space [37].
The key challenges with inflatable antenna technology are
surface accuracy and the method used to rigidize after infla-
tion so that gas leakage does not pose reliability problems.
Although these problems were not adequately addressed for
large reflectors, there is renewed interest in inflatables for
small satellites resulting from their shorter mission lifetime,
risk tolerance, and smaller apertures. Fig. 12 illustrates a
recent example of a 1-m inflatable antenna for X-band [38].
Realizing the parabolic surface shape proved to be challeng-
ing, but a spherical reflector has shown promise [39].
A tensioned membrane inflatable reflectarray offers an
alternative antenna architecture that permits the use of a flat,
instead of a curved, antenna surface [40]–[42]. This antenna
concept uses two thin Kapton membranes which are pulled
flat by a perimeter truss structure, similar to a drum head [43]. Fig. 13. Ka-band lens antenna, courtesy of SAGE Millimeter, Inc.

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Gao et al. : Advanced Antenna s for Small Satellites

and lens antenna for efficient power radiation. The antenna

assembly has 23-dBi gain, which allows the transmitter mod-
ule to deliver over +50-dBm EIRP for the final transmitted
signal. Fig. 13(b) shows the radiation pattern of the antenna.
It demonstrates symmetric patterns in both E- and H-planes.
Other examples include the printed monofilar square
spiral antenna [46], reconfigurable/deployable helix [47],
polarization-reconfigurable cavity-backed slot antenna for
CubeSat [48], shorted annular patches [49], etc.

C. Antennas for Synthetic Aperture Radars (SARs)

Onboard Small Satellites
SAR has become increasingly important for small satellites
due to strong needs of Earth observation during all days and
nights and under all weather conditions. Small satellite SAR Fig. 15. Deployable waveguide slot antenna.
usually requires antennas to have multiple frequency bands,
dual polarizations, electronic beam steering in both planes,
system requires an antenna of several meters in orbit while
high efficiency, beam-shaping capability, compact size, low
the stowed size of the satellite should be < ​ 0 . 7 × 0 . 7 
mass, and low power. SAR antennas are typically quite large
× 0 . 7  ​m​ 3​​for piggyback launch. The antenna employed is
and require narrow azimuth and wide elevation beamwidths.
a deployable planar antenna using seven sections of single-
NovaSAR-S is a SAR mission operating at S-band and
layer slotted waveguides. Fig. 15(b) shows one section of the
designed for low-cost programs [50]. It is a joint technol-
antenna structure. The slot array antenna consists of dielec-
ogy demonstration initiative of SSTL, U.K., and Airbus,
tric honeycomb core plate and metal skins, which work as
U.K. Fig. 14 shows the antenna in Nova-SAR [51]–[52].
a dual-plate guide for RF. Its size is about 70 cm × ​ ​70 cm​
The antenna array in the NovaSAR-S system is a microstrip
×​0.6 cm. The front surface with a slot array works as an
patch active phased array consisting of 18 subarrays. The
antenna radiator. Waveguides are installed at two sides of the
total size of the antenna array is 3 m​×​1 m. Multiple polari-
rear surface in order to feed positive-direction and negative-
zations, including VV, HH, VH, and HV, can be achieved
direction traveling wave into the dual-plate through slots at
using this antenna system. To obtain electronic beam steer-
the waveguide wall. Right-hand and left-hand circular polar-
ing, the antenna is integrated with microwave phase shifters
izations are radiated through the slots at the skin. Thus, one
which are controlled by direct current (dc) voltages. GaN
aperture surface can work as a dual-polarization antenna.
technology is employed in NovaSAR-S to reduce the size,
The antenna operates at 9.65 GHz with a bandwidth of
mass, and cost of the SAR antenna system due to the high
130 MHz. An aperture efficiency of 55% is achieved.
power density capability of GaN devices in comparison to
Fig. 16 shows the antenna developed in the European pro-
conventional GaAs technologies.
ject DIFFERENT funded by the European Commission [54].
Fig. 15 shows the 100-kg class SAR satellite from
JAXA [53]. Fig. 15(a) shows both the stowed and the deployed
configurations of satellites with the SAR antenna. The SAR

Fig. 16. Antenna of DBF-SAR in the DIFFERENT project.

Fig. 14. Antenna in NovaSAR-S. (a) Configuration of antenna system. (b) DBF feed.

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The antenna system is a deployable reflector fed by a highly

integrated dual-band (Ka/X) digital beam forming (DBF) pla-
nar feed array. The parabolic reflector is defined in a Cartesian
coordinate system where ​x​-axis coincides with an along-track
(azimuth) and ​y​-axis with a cross-track (elevation) direction
of the imaging platform, as shown in Fig. 16(a). To facilitate
the DBF-SAR system, the X- and Ka-band radiation elements
onboard are divided into separated channels, as shown in
Fig. 16(b). As can be seen, the X-band and Ka-band radiation
elements are interlaced with each other, sharing the same
aperture. Each X-band element is connected to one channel
whereas ​2 × 2​ Ka-band elements are combined as a subarray
and connected to one channel. Both X- and Ka-band antennas Fig. 17. Null-scanning retro-directive array antenna for CubeSat [52].
operate at two orthogonal polarizations. The antennas employ
crossed dipoles for X-band and dual-fed slot-coupled patches Fig. 18 shows the “Bull’s Eye” antenna for CubeSat appli-
for Ka-band. The active circuits are fabricated in SiGe technol- cations [58]. The antenna consists of a number of annu-
ogy, leading to low cost. lar ring slots, and is fed by a subwavelength aperture in the
Recently, there have also been some developments of center which is coupled to a WR-15 rectangular waveguide on
circularly polarized SAR for microsatellites (and unmanned the backside. It has a maximum side length of 100 mm and a
aerial vehicles) [55]–[56]. In [50], a deployable mesh reflec- thickness of 3.2 mm, thus suitable for integration with a 1U
tor at L-band is developed for SAR onboard a microsatellite CubeSat. The antenna achieves 19.1-dBi gain at 60 GHz and​
for Earth observation. >​16.7 dBi over the 5.06-GHz bandwidth. The antenna has
low cost and can be easily manufactured by milling machines.
D. Antennas for Intersatellite Links Other antennas for CubeSat intersatellite links are also
reported. In [59], a low-profile multibeam “Bull’s Eye”
Intersatellite links are very important for small satel-
antenna is reported. Pinho et al. [60] present an antenna
lites. Swarms of many small satellites with intersatellite
system for intersatellite links in the GAMANET project,
links can enable small satellite systems to achieve the func-
which aims to create a large ad hoc network in space using
tions and capabilities far beyond that of one single small sat-
ground stations and satellites as nodes with intersatellite
ellite. Antennas for intersatellite links usually need to have
links at S-band. In order to achieve complete coverage for
high gain, for overcoming the high loss due to radio propa-
intersatellite communications, the antenna system consists
gation over a large distance between small satellites. Also,
of multiple microstrip patch antennas with one patch per
the antennas need to have compact size and beam steering
face of the CubeSat [60].
capability.
Researchers at the University of Hawaii (UH) recently
developed a retrodirective array (RDA) based on a null- E. Antennas for Navigation and Remote Sensing
scanning approach with several hardware and software Applications
optimizations motivated by size, weight, and power con- Antennas are also required for other applications such
straints [57]. The four-element, 1-D RDA was designed as navigation, remote sensing, AIS, intrasatellite links, wire-
to fit within a 1.5U CubeSat structure, which measures less power transfer, and various science missions.
10 cm × ​ ​10 cm ​×​15 cm, with a mass of no more than
1.5 kg. The design consisted of two four-layer printed cir-
cuit boards: one dedicated to full-duplex communication,
the other for power detection. The two boards were inter-
faced by the UH CubeSat Stackable Interface for digital
and power signals, and Tensolite cables for RF signals.
Full-duplex retrodirectivity was reported at 9.59 and 9.67
GHz for transmit and receive, respectively. Fig. 17 shows
the assembled CubeSat prototype with dimensions of
4 cm × ​ ​10 cm ​×​ 14 cm. The RDA hardware has a mass
of 186 g. The dc power consumption of the various com-
ponents of the CubeSat RDA prototype is 1 W, which is
well within the power-generation capabilities of CubeSats
equipped with either body-mounted or deployable solar
panels, together with batteries for operation in eclipse. Fig. 18. V-band ªBull's Eyeº antenna for CubeSat applications.

Vol. 106, No. 3, March 2018 | Proceedings of the IEEE   399

Gao et al. : Advanced Antenna s for Small Satellites

One example of antennas for navigation applications antenna. One shared-aperture triband array antenna using
is the patch-excited-cup (PEC) antenna consisting of two Fabry–Perot cavity is reported in [66]. Another technique
metallic patches placed in a circular cup [61]. To achieve is to develop reconfigurable antennas with multiple func-
stable RF performance over the GNSS frequency bands, it tions integrated. One example is the multifunctional min-
uses a four-point feed with capacitive coupling of the bot- iaturized slot antenna system developed at EPFL [67]. The
tom patch and an isolated feed network. The antenna is antenna makes use of the satellite structure allowing a high
suited for precise orbit determination applications, in which integration level within the satellite body. It can be recon-
the stability of antenna phase center is critical. The antenna figured to operate in three different modes for different
covers both L1 and L2 bands of GNSS frequencies. It has a functions. Another example is to integrate some circuitry
wide coverage. The antenna has a mass of 345 g and a diame- functions (e.g., filtering, duplexing, and impedance match-
ter of 160 mm. For navigation application, it is important to ing) with the antennas [68]–[69]. Active antennas which
achieve low backward radiation for multipath mitigation. A integrate antennas with active circuits (amplifiers, mixers)
compact multipath-mitigation ground plane for multiband can further reduce the size, power consumption, and cost of
GNSS antenna is reported in [62]. RF front ends [70]. It will also be useful to consider the inte-
For GNSS reflectometry and remote sensing applica- gration of antenna with other components such as solar sail,
tions, a multiband antenna with high gain and wide beam solar panels, or thermal radiators. To make the antennas
coverage is required. Maqsood et al. [63] report a dual-band smarter, the antenna needs to be electronically reconfigur-
beam-switching planar antenna which integrates a low cost, able in radiation patterns, polarization, and frequency bands
broadband, and low-loss beam switching feed network with of operation. Traditional phased arrays are too expensive
a dual-band antenna array to achieve antenna gain >10 dBi and power hungry for small satellite applications, thus low-
and continuous beam coverage of ±25° around the bore- cost small smart antennas are needed [71]. A low-cost beam-
sight at both L1 and L2 bands. Other antennas for GNSS steerable reflectarray using 1-b phase shifters is reported
reflectometry are reported in [3]. in [72]. A dual-band electronically beam-scanning antenna
Some interesting antennas for CubeSat are summarized using slot active frequency selective surfaces is reported in
in [64]. The Special Issue on “Antenna Innovations for [73]. It is also necessary to investigate low-loss tunable mate-
CubeSats and SmallSats,” published in the IEEE Antennas rials (ferroelectric thin films, piezoelectric materials, liquid
and Propagation Magazine in April 2017, contains some crystals, MEMS, etc.) and their integration with antennas
recent examples of antennas. for forming low-cost beam-steerable antennas. To make the
antennas cheaper and faster, it is important to simplify the
antenna structure and consider manufacturing technologies
I V.   CONCLUSION A N D F U T U R E WOR K such as 3-D printing, which has the advantages of rapid pro-
This paper presents an overview of recent developments of totyping at low cost [74]. In order to achieve the optimum
antennas for small satellite applications. Many examples performance with minimum size and cost, future antenna
of antennas for various applications (TTC, high-speed data engineers will need to have a clear understanding of both
download, SAR, navigation, remote sensing) are discussed. the RF system and the whole satellite system. To achieve
Looking into the future, the trends are to make anten- this, efficient multiphysics/multiscale modeling and optimi-
nas “smaller, smarter, cheaper, and faster.” To make the zation of antennas with the satellite system (EM, thermal,
antennas smaller, one possibility is to move into higher mechanical, etc.) will be needed [75], [21]. 
frequencies such as Ka- and V-bands and THz. To enable
a single-antenna aperture to operate over an ultrawide- Acknowledgment
frequency range, one promising technique is to employ Y. Rahmat-Samii would like to thank the JPL CubeSat team,
“tightly coupled array” into reflectarray [65]. An alternative Tendeg, LLC, and his students V. Manohar and J. Kovitz for
technique is to develop a shared-aperture multiband array fruitful collaboration.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Steven Gao (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Yahya Rahmat-Samii (Life Fellow, IEEE) received
Ph.D. degree from Shanghai University, China. the B.S.E.E. degree with the highest distinction
He is a Professor and Chair of RF and Micro- from the University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran and
wave Engineering, and the Director of Postgrad- the M.S.E.E. and Ph.D. degrees from the University
uate Research at the School of Engineering and of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
Digital Arts, University of Kent, Canterbury, U.K. He is a Distinguished Professor, holder of the
He coedited/coauthored two books including Northrop-Grumman Chair in electromagnetics,
Space Antenna Handbook (New York, NY, USA: member of the U.S. National Academy of Engi-
Wiley, 2012) and Circularly Polarized Antennas neering (NAE), and the former chairman of the
(New York, NY, USA: Wiley-IEEE, 2014), over 300 papers and four patents. Electrical Engineering Department at the University of California Los Angeles
His main areas of expertise are in smart antenna, phased array, small (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA. Before joining UCLA, he was a Senior Research
antennas, MIMO, broadband and multiband antennas, RF front ends, FSS, Scientist at Caltech/NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA,
and their applications into satellite communication, small satellites, 5G USA. He has authored or coauthored over 1000 technical journal articles
mobile communications, and radars. and conference papers and has written over 35 book chapters and five
Prof. Gao is an Associate Editor of four journals including the IEEE books. He has over 15 cover-page IEEE publication papers. He has had pio-
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Radio Science, IEEE Access, and IET neering research contributions in diverse areas of electromagnetics, anten-
Circuit, Devices and Systems; and the Editor-in-Chief for Wiley Book Series nas, measurement and diagnostics techniques, numerical and asymptotic
on ªMicrowave and Wireless Technologies.º He was a Distinguished Lec- methods, satellite and personal communications, human/antenna inter-
turer of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (2014�2016), General actions, RFID and implanted antennas in medical applications, frequency
Chair of the 2013 Loughborough Antenna and Propagation Conference, selective surfaces, electromagnetic band-gap structures, applications of
a Guest Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation Special the genetic algorithms and particle swarm optimizations, etc., His original
Issue on ªAntennas for Satellite Communicationº (2015), and a Guest Edi- antenna designs are on many NASA/JPL spacecrafts for planetary, remote
tor of the IET Circuits, Devices & Systems Special Issue on ªPhotonic and sensing and Cubesat missions (visit http://www.antlab.ee.ucla.edu/).
RF Communications Systemsº (2014). He is a member of the editorial Dr. Rahmat-Samii is a Fellow of the Antenna Measurement Techniques
boards of the International Journal of Space Science and Engineering, the Association (AMTA), the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society
International Journal of RF and Microwave Computer-Aided Engineering, (ACES), the Electromagnetics Academy (EMS), and the International Union
IET Circuits, Devices and Systems, Chinese Journal of Electronics, Chinese of Radio Science (URSI). He was the 1995 President of the IEEE Anten-
Journal of Radio Science, etc. He was a Plenary Speaker at AES'2014, an nas and Propagation Society and the 2009�2011 President of the United
Invited Speaker at IWA'2017 (Greece), UCMM'2017 (U.K.), IWAT'201 (Syd- States National Committee (USNC) of URSI. He has also served as an IEEE
ney, 2014), SOMIRES'2013 (Japan, 2013), APCAP'2014 (China, 2014), etc. Distinguished Lecturer presenting lectures internationally.In 1984, he
He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), U.K., received the Henry Booker Award from URSI, which is given triennially
and the Royal Aeronautical Society, U.K. He received the 2017 CST Univer- to the most outstanding young radio scientist in North America. In 1992
sity Publication Award for a paper in the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and and 1995, he received the Best Application Paper Prize Award (Wheeler
Propagation, and the 2016 IET Premium Award for the Best Paper in IET Award) of the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. In 1999, he
Microwave, Antennas and Propagation. received the University of Illinois ECE Distinguished Alumni Award. In

402  Proceedings of the IEEE | Vol. 106, No. 3, March 2018

 Gao et al. : Advanced Antenna s for Small Satellites

2000, he received the IEEE Third Millennium Medal and the AMTA Distin- performing research on electromagnetic modeling of complex radiators
guished Achievement Award. In 2001, he received an Honorary Doctorate mounted on arbitrarily shaped bodies using the hybrid electric/magnetic
Causa from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. In 2001, he field integral equation method and also worked as a consultant to industry.
became a Foreign Member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for From 1997 to 2001, he was with Raytheon's Antenna/Nonmetallics Tech-
Science and the Arts. In 2002, he received the Technical Excellence Award nology Center in McKinney, TX, USA, where he was the technical lead on
from JPL. He received the 2005 URSI Booker Gold Medal presented at the Raytheon's DARPA RECAP program, which resulted in development of the
URSI General Assembly. He is the recipient of the 2007 Chen-To Tai Distin- world's first decade bandwidth (10:1) electronic scanned array antenna. At
guished Educator Award and the 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award Raytheon he also worked on a military airborne radar reflector antenna
of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society. He is the recipient of the design and space-based electronic scanned array research. In 2001, he
2010 UCLA School of Engineering Lockheed Martin Excellence in Teaching returned to JPL where he has performed research and development on
Award and the 2011 campus-wide UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award. space-based antennas for radar and telecommunications. He has served as
He is the winner of the 2011 IEEE Electromagnetics Field Award. In 2015, the Technical Group Supervisor of JPL's Spacecraft Antennas Group since
he received the Distinguished Engineering Educator Award from The 2002 and is currently the Principal Investigator for the Integrated Solar
Engineer's Council. In 2016, he received the John Kraus Antenna Award Array and Reflectarray (ISARA) CubeSat mission, which in 2017 successfully
of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) and the NASA Group deployed the first reflectarray antenna flown in space. His current research
Achievement Award. In 2017, he received the ACES Computational Elec- interests include space borne deployable reflectarray antennas, deploy-
tromagnetics Award and IEEE Antennas and Propagation S. A. Schelkunoff able reflectors, and waveguide slot array antennas.
Best Transactions Prize Paper Award. He is the designer of the IEEE AP-S Dr. Hodges was awarded the Sergei A. Schelkunoff Transactions Prize
logo which is displayed on all IEEE AP-S publications. Paper Award by the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society in 2017.

Richard E. Hodges (Senior Member, IEEE) Xue-Xia Yang (Senior Member, IEEE) received
received the B.S.E.E. degree from the University the B.S. and M.S. degrees from Lanzhou Univer-
of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA, the M.S.E.E. sity, Lanzhou, China, in 1991 and 1994, respec-
degree from California State University, North- tively, and the Ph.D. degree in electromagnetic
ridge, CA, USA, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical field and microwave technology from Shanghai
engineering from the University of California Los University, Shanghai, China, in 2001.
Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA. From 1994 to 1998, she was a Teaching
From 1978 to 1984, he was with the Hughes Assistant and a Lecturer at Lanzhou University.
Aircraft Company Radar Systems Group in Cul- From 2001 to 2008, she was a Lecturer and an
ver City, CA, USA, where he performed design and analysis of electronic Associate Professor at Shanghai University. She is currently a Professor
scanned array antennas, bandpass radomes, radiating elements (slots, and the Head of the Antennas and Microwave R&D Center at Shanghai
printed circuit radiators, polyrods, etc.), and RF feed networks. In 1984, he University. She has authored or coauthored over 150 technical journal and
joined the Adams-Russell Microwave Products Division in Chatsworth, CA, conference papers. She is also a frequent reviewer for over ten scientific
USA (now Rantec Microwave Systems) where he developed waveguide-fed journals. Her research interests include antennas theory and technology,
slot antennas for military radar applications. From 1988 to 1992, he was computational electromagnetics, and microwave power transmission.
with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, USA, where Prof. Yang is a member of the Committee of Antenna Society of China
he developed reflector antenna analysis software for the Deep Space Net- Electronics Institute and Senior Member of the China Electronics Institute.
work, and coupled finite element/integral equation code for the Parallel She is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Shanghai University (Science
Computational Electromagnetics group. From 1992 to 1997, he was at UCLA edition).

Vol. 106, No. 3, March 2018 | Proceedings of the IEEE   403