Inter-CubeSat Communication with V-band "Bull's eye" antenna

Vourch, C. J. and Drysdale, T. D. (2014) Inter-CubeSat Communication with V-band "Bull's eye" antenna. In: 8th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation, The Hague, The Netherlands, 6-11 Apr 2014,

Abstract

We present the study of a simple communication scenario between two CubeSats using a V-band “Bull's eye” antenna that we designed for this purpose. The return loss of the antenna has a -10dB bandwidth of 0.7 GHz and a gain of 15.4dBi at 60 GHz. Moreover, the low-profile shape makes it easily integrable in a CubeSat chassis. The communication scenario study shows that, using 0.01W VubiQ modules and V-band “Bull’s eye” antennas, CubeSats can efficiently transmit data within a 500 MHz bandwidth and with a 10-6 BER while being separated by up to 98m, under ideal conditions, or 50m under worst case operating conditions (5° pointing misalignment in E- and H-plane of the antenna, and 5° polarisation misalignment).

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Drysdale, Dr Timothy
• Authors: Vourch, C. J., and Drysdale, T. D.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2014 The Authors
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the authors