Reconfigurable Antenna Design for Nanosatellites

Innovative Antenna Design has recently become as one of most vital subsystem of Satellite Communication. In small satellites however, this subsystem is often overlooked, either due to consideration of weight or available space. Using traditional design approach is not feasible and does not offer any significant benefits. With increasing availability of "Commercial Off the Shelf" (COTS) components in S and higher bands it is now possible to design Antenna and RF subsystem which comply with given requirements. Space is a vast unexplored territory and it is important not to lose track and control of a satellite. As payloads become more demanding in terms of bandwidth requirements it is desirable to have a high data rate communication link. This calls for use of more directive and narrower beamwidth antennas with sufficient bandwidth. On the contrary, for the purpose of tracking and identification it is preferred to have a less directive and wider beamwidth antennas. Therefore, such an antenna subsystem is required that can address solution for this problem. Such provision is made in the antenna design of "AraMis" (Italian acronym for Modular Architecture for Satellites) nanosatellites project which is a modular based architecture. The aim is to design a non-mission specific antenna which provides dynamic reconfigurable solution, making it flexible from application stand point. Thus, allowing the reuse of same design architecture for even future missions needs.