Satellite—NASA/JPL-Caltech/Montana State University,

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Transparent
and Nontransparent
Microstrip Antennas
on a CubeSat
Novel low-profile antennas for CubeSats improve mission reliability.

Xinyu Liu, David R. Jackson, Ji Chen,
Jingshen Liu, Patrick W. Fink, Greg Y. Lin,
and Nicole Neveu
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MAP.2017.2655529
Date of publication: 21 February 2017
T
his article reviews the development of some novel low-profile
antennas for CubeSats. The integrated antennas were devel-
oped using microstrip-antenna technology, and the anten-
nas were designed to be low profile while having minimal
(or zero) blockage of the solar panels on the CubeSat. Two types
of designs were investigated: 1) transparent antennas, which are
placed above the solar panels (supersolar) and 2) nontransparent
antennas, which are placed below the solar panels (subsolar). For

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Figure 1. A 1U CubeSat with a wire antenna deployed in
space. (This image is an artist’s rendition of Montana State
University’s Explorer-1 [Prime] CubeSat. Image courtesy of
Montana State University, Space Science and Engineering
Laboratory.)
the transparent antennas that are placed above the solar
panels, meshed structures are used to make a transparent
patch and ground. In particular, this type of antenna can
reach over 90% transparency with
high efficiency. For the nontrans-
parent antennas that are placed
below the solar panels, the patch
antennas need to be designed so The antennas were
the radiating edges are not cov- designed to be low
ered by the ground plane of the
solar panels. This ensures that the profile while having
solar panel above the microstrip minimal (or zero)
antenna does not seriously affect
the radiation performance of the blockage of the solar
antenna. Broadband antennas panels on the CubeSat.
were designed at both 434 MHz
and 2.4 GHz [frequencies corre-
sponding to ­industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands].
INTRODUCTION TO TRANSPARENT AND
NONTRANSPARENT DESIGNS
Wire antennas that require mechanical deployment are
often used on CubeSats (Figure 1) and they can be quite
sophisticated [1], [2]. Microstrip antennas are low pro-
file and can be reconfigurable [3]; therefore, they are
good candidates to replace the wire antennas on CubeSats
to improve mission reliability. These kinds of integrated
antennas are being developed using two approaches: trans-
parent antennas that go above the solar panels (superso-
lar) [4], [5] and nontransparent antennas that go below
the solar panels (subsolar). In either case, the objective
is to maintain antenna performance using a low-profile
microstrip antenna while not sacrificing significant per-
formance of the solar panels on the CubeSat. This article
discusses in detail several novel antenna designs based on
these two technologies.
For transparent patches, there are two main methods for
fabricating a patch antenna that have been explored in the
past: using transparent metal and using a wire mesh design.
The transparent metal indium tin oxide has a comparatively
high sheet impedance, which makes an antenna design less
efficient. Also, there is a tradeoff between conductivity and
transparency [6]. However, a highly conductive thin mesh
structure has demonstrated a reasonable efficiency and a high
transparency [7]. The substrate must then also be transparent,
e.g., glass or quartz.
The transparent antenna designs studied in this article
use the mesh wire structure and obtain around 94%
­t ransparency. The transparency is defined as the ratio
of the area of the transparent part of the substrate rela-
tive to the total area of the substrate as seen from a top
view. Higher transparency can be obtained at the price
of less ground-plane isolation. In the present approach, a
meshed ground plane is used to isolate the antenna from
the solar panels below, though the solar panels can also
be incorporated into the design as part of the antenna
substrate [8].
For a nontransparent antenna, one approach is to use a
miniaturized microstrip antenna [9], which blocks less solar
power when placed above or on
the same board as the solar panel.
An antenna can also be placed on
one of the small faces of a larger
(e.g., 3U) CubeSat [10], where it is
often less desirable to place solar
panels. Another approach, the one
which we have chosen, is to place
the antenna below the solar panels
on the main faces to prevent any
light-blocking issues. This is called
a subsolar antenna. The challenge
here is to ensure that the solar
panel above the microstrip antenna
does not seriously affect its radiation performance. This is done
by making sure that the radiating edges of the patch antenna are
not blocked by the solar panel.
The initial bands being targeted are the ISM bands
at 434 MHz [11] and 2.4 GHz [12], which are ­commonly
used for CubeSats. As the frequency increases, the size of
the antenna becomes smaller. Therefore, the transparent
approach was used for the 2.4-GHz band since the antenna
fits on a 76 mm × 100 mm × 2.25 mm quartz substrate,
which is commonly available. The nontransparent approach
was explored at the 2.4-GHz band and the 434-MHz band.
At the higher frequency, conductive vias can be used to
partition the antenna substrate board so that resonant-size
antennas can be realized even though they are smaller
than the entire face of the CubeSat.
TRANSPARENT (SUPERSOLAR) ANTENNAS
APPROACHES
In the supersolar approach, the microstrip antennas (includ-
ing the patch antenna, the antenna ground plane, and the

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substrate) are designed to be transparent. A linearly polarized
(LP) microstrip antenna with the meshed patch and meshed
ground present (though the meshed patch is barely visible)
that was fabricated recently by our group using a commercial
vendor to deposit the silver epoxy on a quartz substrate [13]
is seen in Figure 2. This antenna is designated as transparent
antenna 1 (TA-1). The transparency is approximately 95%,
and this type of antenna can then be placed directly on top of
the solar panel.
There are different methods to make a transparent patch
and ground plane, as discussed in the “Introduction to Trans-
parent and Nontransparent Design” section. A meshed struc-
ture (Figure 2) can achieve high transparency and good
efficiency simultaneously. For the meshed patch antenna, the
radiation patterns are not significantly affected by meshing the
patch alone, but meshing the ground plane increases the back
radiation, which is consistent with [14]. If the patch is meshed
so the wires of the mesh follow the current distribution of the
desired mode, the cross polarization is reduced, though this
is difficult to achieve when designing for circular polariza-
tion. Meshed patches usually have a higher input impedance
compared with a traditional solid-patch antenna [14], so the
­excitation position needs to be moved closer to the center of the
Figure 2. A transparent LP microstrip patch antenna (called
patch to achieve the same match. TA-1) that was fabricated. Both the patch and ground plane
Usually, the transparent substrates available in the are realized using a silver epoxy mesh.
­market have no copper cladding, so it is not possible to
etch directly onto the substrate. The fabrication technol-
ogy implemented deposits the conductive material directly
onto the substrate, and the conductive material used for 0
Simulation S11
the patch and the ground plane is a deposited silver epoxy Measurement S11
with a conductivity that is close to that of copper. The sub- –5
strates studied here were quartz and Lexan. The relative
S Parameters (dB)

permittivity of quartz is 3.9, and its loss tangent is 0.0009, –10

while the permittivity of Lexan is 2.95, and its loss tangent
is 0.02, which is much higher than for quartz. Fortunately,
–15
if the antennas have a high bandwidth, loss from the sub-
strate does not play a prominent role when considering the
efficiency. In other words, the Lexan material can still work –20
well for our antenna designs. One significant advantage
of using Lexan is its low price, which is another important –25
1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2
factor when choosing a material. The design work in this
Frequency (GHz)
project has been focused on quartz, but Lexan could also be
used. It is not clear, however, how feasible or easy it would
be to print a conductive mesh onto Lexan. Consequently, Figure 3. The simulated and measured S11 for the transparent
this needs to be explored. LP TA-1 shown in Figure 2.
The section “Transparent Antenna 1 (2.4-GHz LP
Design)” presents the simulation and measurement results was designed, fabricated, and then measured [13]. This antenna
for the LP antenna (Figure 2) to prove the feasibility of this was devised for communication with the Iridium constellation
type of antenna. A novel design for a 2.4-GHz broadband of low-earth-orbiting satellites and has a resonance frequency
circularly polarized (CP) transparent antenna is then pro- of 1.644 GHz. Testing was done at the NASA ­Johnson Space
posed in the section “Transparent Antenna 2 (2.4-GHz CP Center (NASA-JSC).
Dual-Linear Design). Figure 3 shows a good input match with the magnitude
of S 11 reaching down to below −20 dB. The bandwidth
TRANSPARENT ANTENNA 1 (2.4-GHz LP DESIGN) (based on a −10 dB S 11 definition) is about 2.2%. The
To test the feasibility of designing a transparent antenna on a ­measured E-plane and H-plane patterns and the experi-
quartz substrate, the simple LP antenna called TA-1 (Figure 2) mental setup for the measurement are seen in Figure 4.

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 Both patterns are close to what a thermal test and a vibration test
was ex pected a nd a re t y pi- (simulating typical vibration at
cal of a microstrip antenna. In These results have launch) at NASA-JSC.
addition, the E-plane pattern
displays a moderate level of scal-
demonstrated the Since good electrical perfor-
mance has been established for
loping near the broadside due to feasibility of obtaining a simple LP quartz antenna, we
edge diffraction from the edges
of the ground plane (Figure 4).
good electrical proceeded with the design of novel
transparent microstrip antennas
The gain for this measurement performance from on quartz, which have improved
setup with a large ground plane
behind the antenna is 4.28 dB
transparent microstrip performance. The goal was to obtain
circular polarization and a band-
at the broadside and is 6.78 dB antennas on quartz width that is large enough to cover
at 30°. If there is no additional
large ground plane such as the
substrates. the entire 2.4-GHz ISM band
(roughly a 4% bandwidth).
one shown in Figure 4 (only the
meshed ground plane), the gain at the broadside is 4.94 dB, TRANSPARENT ANTENNA 2 (2.4-GHz CP DUAL-LINEAR DESIGN)
and the E-plane pattern is smooth, and this behavior is simi- Transparent antenna 2 (TA-2) (Figure 5) is a novel broad-
lar to the traditional solid-patch antenna. band CP antenna that is resonant at 2.4 GHz. It consists of
These results have demonstrated the feasibility of obtaining two patch antennas located on the diagonal of a 76 mm ×
good electrical performance from transparent microstrip anten- 100 mm × 2.25 mm quartz substrate. This diagonal distri-
nas on quartz substrates. The quartz antenna has also passed bution of patches creates a larger separation between the
patch centers and reduces the coupling. The green meshed
parts are the two patches, and the red meshed parts are
the two antenna ground planes. The transparency of this
antenna reaches 94%, as defined in the “Transparent and
Patterns at 1.64 GHz ­Nontransparent Design” section.
00 In this design concept, CP is obtained by using two
30 30
–10 nearly square LP-patch antennas that are rotated 90°
–20
from each other in space and fed 90° out of phase from
60 60
each other. Each LP-patch antenna is dual-band to obtain
–30 dB
a wide bandwidth. The dual-band behavior is obtained by
90 90 proper choice of the patch dimensions, so the resonance
frequencies of the (1,0) and (0,1) modes of each patch are
Measurement Co-Pol, E Plane separated in an optimum manner to obtain the maximum
120 Measurement Co-Pol, H Plane possible bandwidth. The feeding location is almost on
Simulation Co-Pol, E Plane the diagonal line for each patch to excite the two modes
Simulation Co-Pol, H Plane
together on each patch. The impedance bandwidth can
150 180 also be optimized by tuning the feed position. The polar-
ization radiated by each patch changes with frequency,
Figure 4. The simulated and measured radiation patterns as the dominant mode shifts between the (1,0) and the
for the transparent LP TA-1 shown in Figure 2. The inset photo (0,1) mode, but since there are two of the same patches
displays the antenna under test at NASA-JSC. (Photo courtesy
rotated by 90° and fed 90° out of phase, this rotation of
of NASA-JSC.)
the radiated polarization from each patch does not affect
the overall CP performance. The antenna is designed for
right-handed CP (RHCP), but left-handed CP (LHCP) is
equally easy to achieve.
The 90° phase difference at the feed positions is realized
by a commercial 90°-quadrature hybrid coupler. The hybrid
coupler occupies more space than a simple power splitter with
a 90°-delay line. However, compared with the 90°-delay line, a
commercial hybrid coupler can achieve a much larger CP band-
width. This can obviously help to improve the overall antenna-
axial ratio bandwidth. Furthermore, the commercial hybrid
Figure 5. The geometry of TA-2, a broadband transparent coupler can be placed inside the CubeSat, so it does not need to
antenna that is CP. The green parts are the two patches; the occupy any space on the CubeSat surface; thus, it does not inter-
red parts are the two ground planes. fere with the solar panels.

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 Figure 6 illustrates the simulated S parameters of
TA-2 when using quartz as the substrate. The solid red –5
S11
curve shows S 11, while the solid blue curve shows S 22, –10 S22
and these two results are derived from a simulation using S11a
–15
the software HFSS (high-frequency structure simulator). S22a

S Parameters (dB)
–20 S12
The notations S 11a and S 22a denote the active S param-
eters. To be specific, S 11a is the ratio of the outgoing wave –25
to the incident wave on port 1 when both ports are excit- –30
ed simultaneously and coupling is included, while S 11 is
–35
the ratio of the outgoing wave to the incident wave on
–40
port 1 when only port 1 is excited and port 2 is matched
or connected to a semi-infinite transmission line with a –45
50- X characteristic impedance. In actual scenarios, both –50
ports are excited at the same time, so it is important to 2.35 2.4 2.45 2.5 2.55 2.6
evaluate the active S parameters. Frequency (GHz)
In this antenna, simulation port 1 is excited by a 0°-phase
current and port 2 is excited by a −90°-phase current. The active Figure 6. The S parameters for TA-2, from simulation.
reflection coefficients at the two ports are given by

S 11a = S 11 - jS 12 (1)
Patterns for 2.5 GHz
S 22a = S 22 + jS 21 .(2) 00
30 30
–6
Figure 6 shows that the limiting bandwidth comes –12
from S 22a . This bandwidth is around 7.8%, from 2.398 to 60 60
–18
2.592 GHz. For a solid single-mode conventional patch on the
same substrate, the bandwidth would be about 2.7%; hence, –24 dB
this design has improved the bandwidth by roughly a factor of
90 90
three. Based on other results, a solid dual-linear design with-
out a meshed structure can improve the bandwidth by about
a factor of 3.5 to four compared with the traditional single- LHCP, φ = 0°
mode solid patch. However, the design we present for TA-2 120 LHCP, φ = 90°
is not optimized for the largest bandwidth, which would have RHCP, φ = 0°
an S 11 response that barely stays below the −10-dB threshold
RHCP, φ = 90°
line. The reason for this is that we want to leave some toler- 150
ance for fabrication inaccuracy; hence, the S 11 curve in the 180
design stays below the −10 dB line by a safety margin. The
patterns are shown in Figure 7. In this plot, z = 0° is along Figure 7. The radiation patterns for TA-2, from simulation.
the shorter edge of substrate, while z = 90° is along the
longer edge of the substrate. At 2.5 GHz, the RHCP gain is
7.23 dB at the broadside and the axial-ratio bandwidth is large
enough to cover the entire impedance bandwidth (Figure 8).
Lexan was also explored for TA-2. Due to its higher loss
­tangent, the antenna Q will be smaller; therefore, the band-
width increases by a factor of 1.27, at the price of decreasing
Axial Ratio (dB)

2
the gain by 1 dB.
1.7
NONTRANSPARENT (SUBSOLAR) ANTENNAS
1.4
APPROACHES
1.1
In the subsolar approach, the microstrip antenna is fabricated
using conventional etching or milling, starting with a copper-clad
0.8
Teflon-based substrate board. Obviously, such antennas are not 2.4 2.45 2.5 2.55 2.6
transparent, and they cannot be placed above the solar panels on Frequency (GHz)
the CubeSat because they block light. Therefore, the antennas
are placed below the solar panels, i.e., subsolar. Figure 8. The axial ratio for TA-2, from simulation.

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 In this approach, ideally, the
antenna is designed to be large
enough to cover all or most of the The axial-ratio
face of the CubeSat, e.g., the 10 cm
× 30 cm face of a 3U CubeSat [15].
bandwidth is large
Since the patch-antenna surface is enough to cover the
made of solid copper, it acts as a
ground plane to place on the solar
entire impedance
panels. Since the patch is designed bandwidth.
to cover the entire CubeSat face,
the solar panels, which are smaller
than the CubeSat face, do not disturb the radiation properties of
the microstrip antenna, because the radiation from a microstrip
antenna mainly comes from the radiating edges at the boundary
of the patch antenna.
Therefore, the challenge is to design a microstrip antenna
that has the correct size and shape as one of the faces of a
3U CubeSat while being resonant at the desired frequency of
2.4 GHz or 434 MHz. A conventional rectangular microstrip
antenna of this size is not resonant at these frequencies, so
a design modification must be made. If the patch does not
cover the entire surface of the CubeSat, we need to place the
solar panels carefully so that the radiating edges of the patch
are not covered. These scenarios are discussed in the “Non-
transparent Antenna 1 (2.4-GHz CP Design)” and “Non-
transparent Antenna 2 (434-MHz Horizontally Polarized
Design)” sections. “The Nontransparent Antenna 1 (2.4-GHz
(a)
(b)
Figure 9. (a) A top view of NA-1a before adding vias. The
L-shaped set of holes will be filled with copper vias.
(b) A bottom view of NA-1a before adding vias and ground.
Square regions removed from the original solid Duroid
substrate are used to synthesize an artificial substrate that
has a lower permittivity to increase the bandwidth.
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CP Design)” section is focused
on a subsolar CP antenna that is
resonant at 2.4 GHz.
The “Nontransparent Anten-
na 2 (434-MHz Horizontally
Polarized Design)” section intro-
duces a subsolar broadband LP
antenna. This antenna is polarized
with the electric current flow (and
hence the direction of the radi-
ated electric field) parallel to the
long dimension of the 3U CubeSat. This is called horizontal
polarization. It is possible to also have a vertically polarized
antenna at 434 MHz, but the bandwidth will usually be lower
because the resonant dimension will be parallel to the small
dimension of the CubeSat, requiring more miniaturization
[15]. This also results in increased copper and dielectric
losses and hence a lower efficiency. The effects of solar pan-
els are also discussed in section “Nontransparent Antenna
2 (434-MHz Horizontally Polarized Design).” CP antennas
have been explored in the 434-MHz band and it is possible
to obtain a CP antenna in this band, but its gain is very low,
since the CP antenna is miniaturized too much to meet the
space limitation.
NONTRANSPARENT ANTENNA 1 (2.4-GHz CP DESIGN)
Figure 9(a) and (b) shows a 2.4-GHz CP antenna, which is
called nontransparent antenna 1a (NA-1a). The substrate is
Duroid with f r = 2.2 and a loss tangent of 0.0009, and the
Duroid board size is 8 cm × 30 cm × 3.17 mm. Additionally, the
patch covers the entire area of the substrate. The ground plane
that this antenna is mounted on for the measurements, which
is not shown in Figure 9, is slightly larger than the patch and
is chosen based on the launch rails of the CubeSat structure,
which the antenna is not allowed to encroach.
There are two partitioned areas that form radiating
antennas that are located at the two upper corners of the
substrate. Figure 9 highlights one of the partitioned areas,
the area on the upper left corner. The area on the upper
right corner is less visible. Each of these two partitioned
areas forms a radiating patch antenna that has two radiat-
ing edges that are aligned with the edges of the CubeSat.
In addition, conducting vias are used to form shorting walls
along the other two edges. The patch is thus similar to a
quarter-wavelength microstrip antenna, except that the feed
is along the diagonal, so the primary current flow of the
radiating mode is along the 45° line. The patch located on
the upper right corner of the substrate board is the mirror
image of the first patch and has a current flow that is also
along a 45° line, but it is rotated 90° from the current flow
of the first patch. Thus, feeding these two patches 90° out
of phase generates CP. The L-shaped array of holes in the
top view shown in Figure 9(b) is filled with shorting vias
made of copper, connecting the patch and ground to make
the isolated partitioned area. The size of this partitioned area
that forms the patch is chosen so that the antenna is resonant
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at 2.4 GHz. Figure 9(b) shows the inner structure of fabri-
cated NA-1a before adding the vias. This figure shows that 0
S11
each of the two patches (the partitioned regions at the two –5 S22
corners) has square regions removed from the original solid –10 S11a
Duroid substrate (drilled out from below) to synthesize an S22a

S Parameters (dB)
–15 S12
artificial substrate that has lower permittivity and thus obtain Measurement S11
–20
a larger bandwidth. After final fabrication, the top and bot-
–25
tom surfaces of the structure are continuous copper surfaces,
–30
without slots or gaps. A commercial 90° hybrid is then used
to obtain CP. –35
Figure 10 shows the S parameters of NA-1a. Since shorting –40
walls (i.e., the vias) are used to create the partitioned regions, –45
the mutual coupling S21 between the two antennas located at –50
the two corners of the CubeSat is very low. The bandwidth of 2.25 2.3 2.35 2.4 2.45 2.5 2.55 2.6 2.65
this antenna is around 2.3%, covering the range from 2.39 to Frequency (GHz)
2.445 GHz. The bandwidth is smaller than that of the previ-
ous 2.4-GHz transparent antennas because no dual resonances Figure 10. The S parameters for NA-1a.
are used in this case. The frequency shift in the measurement
result is produced because of the fabrication inaccuracy, espe-
cially from the via plating. The patterns of NA-1a are seen in Patterns at Resonant Frequencies
Figures 11 and 12. In these plots, z = 0° is along the shorter 00
30 30
edge of the substrate, while z = 90° is along the longer edge –10
of the substrate. At 2.4 GHz, the broadside LHCP (copolariza-
–20
tion) gain is 3.54 dB. 60 60
The patterns illustrate that there are multiple grat- –30 dB
ing lobes in the z = 90° plane. This makes the antenna
alignment (and hence the satellite alignment) a critical 90 90
issue. These grating lobes are because of the array effect
of the two widely spaced antennas that are located at the
HFSS LHCP, φ = 0°
corners of the Cubesat. To reduce these lobes, we move 120 HFSS RHCP, φ = 0°
the two patches closer together, which results in NA-1b. Measurement LHCP, φ = 0°
Figure 13(a) displays the top view of NA-1b with the solar Measurement RHCP, φ = 0°
150
panels stacked above. The orange square is the antenna,
180
and the blue parts are the solar panels. In this design,
there is a need to allow for a gap between the solar cells
Figure 11. The simulated and measured radiation patterns in
on the solar panel that are on the left and right sides of the z = 0° plane for NA-1a.
the antenna so the solar cells do not block the radiat-
ing edges of the two patches that comprise the antenna.
However, the gap region does not need to be large.
Patterns at Resonant Frequencies
The “Nontransparent Antenna 2 (434-MHz Horizontally
00
Polarized Design)” ­s ection further discusses the solar- 30 30
panel effect. –10
Figure 13(b) shows more information regarding the –20
60 60
geometry and shows that more vias were added for better
isolation between the two antennas. The left edge of the –30 dB
left antenna and the right edge of the right antenna are
90 90
aligned with the left and right solar-cell gap regions in
Figure 13(a). Figure 13(b) displays the inner structure of
fabricated NA-1b before adding the copper foil that covers HFSS LHCP, φ = 90°
up the regions where the square holes were drilled. The 120 HFSS RHCP, φ = 90°
finished NA-1b is shown in Figure 13(c) and (d). Silver Measurement LHCP, φ = 90°
epoxy was also later placed on the vias to improve the con- 150 Measurement RHCP, φ = 90°
ductive connection. The patterns of NA-1b for the z = 90° 180
plane are shown in Figure 14. This result illustrates that the
grating lobes are reduced effectively compared to the results Figure 12. The simulated and measured radiation patterns in
in Figure 12. the z =90° plane for NA-1a.

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 320 mm

15.7 mm 15.5 mm

100 mm

80 mm
(a)

3 mm 2 mm
(a)

10 mm

55 mm
115 mm

20 mm
(b)

Figure 15. (a) The top view of NA-2 with the patch and slot
(b) shown. (b) The top view of NA-2 with the patch invisible to
show the substrate.

NONTRANSPARENT ANTENNA 2 (434-MHz HORIZONTALLY

POLARIZED DESIGN)
The geometry of nontransparent antenna 2 (NA-2) operating
at 434 MHz are seen in Figure 15(a) and (b). The substrate is
Rogers TMM 6, having a size of 8 cm × 32 cm × 3.17 mm. The
relative permittivity is 6.0 and the loss tangent is 0.0023. Two sub
(c) (d) patches, which are the orange parts, are separated by a 3-mm
gap in the middle of the structure. These two sub patches are
Figure 13. (a) The top view of NA-1b (orange) with solar resonant at slightly different frequencies, therefore allowing for
panels (blue) above. (b) A top view of NA-1b without copper dual resonance to increase the bandwidth. This is essentially a
foil. The (c) top and (d) bottom views of NA-1b. nonradiating edge gap coupled microstrip antenna [16].
In Figure 15(b), these two patches are made invisible to
show the substrate structure clearer. The figure also shows
that the substrate is drilled with uniformly distributed
­circular holes to create an artificial substrate and lower the
Patterns at Resonant Frequencies relative permittivity to increase the bandwidth. The ground
00 plane is shown in a lighter orange color. Its size is slightly
30 30
–10 wider than the patch surface, and it is limited in size by the
CubeSat rails. The radiated far field (electric field) is polar-
60 –20 60 ized along the long edge of the substrate, which is called
–30 dB horizontal polarization.
Figure 16 displays the S11 response of NA-2. The bandwidth
90 90 is around 2.3%, from 427.38 to 437.17 MHz. For an ordinary
single-mode patch antenna on the same substrate with the same
ground size operating at the same frequency, the bandwidth is
HFSS LHCP, φ = 90°
1.22%. Thus, this dual-resonance design has improved the band-
120 HFSS RHCP, φ = 90°
Measurement LHCP, φ = 90°
width by about a factor of two. The pattern of NA-2 is shown in
Measurement RHCP, φ = 90°
Figure 17. The gain of the copolarization (horizontally polar-
150 ized) pattern is 3.62 dB at 427 MHz, 3.45 dB at 434 MHz, and
180
2.21 dB at 436 MHz.
Even though NA-2 has a good bandwidth, it has a 3-mm
Figure 14. Radiation patterns on the z = 90° plane for NA-1b. gap at the center that might be blocked by the solar panel.

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 0 Patterns of 434 GHz
S11 Without FR4 Layer 00
–2 S11 with FR4 Layer 30 30
–10
–4
S Parameters (dB)

–20
–6 60 60
–30
–8
–40 dB
–10
90 90
–12

–14 Co-Pol, φ = 0°
–16 120 Cross-Pol, φ = 0°
400 420 440 460 480 500
Frequency (MHz) Co-Pol, φ = 90°
150 Cross-Pol, φ = 90°
Figure 16. The S parameter comparison (simulation) 180
between designs with and without an FR4 cover layer on top
of the copper patches for NA-2. Figure 17. Radiation patterns of NA-2, from simulation.

Fortunately, a practical solar panel usually consists of several widely studied in the past [11], [12], novel designs for small sat-
subpanels and there is some freedom to adjust the location of ellite scenarios were presented here to allow for circular polar-
each subpanel. An additional experiment tested the effect of ization and improved bandwidth. Two categories of designs
the subpanel locations on NA-2. The bottom surface of a solar were explored.
panel is simplified as two flame-retardant 4 (FR4) boards One category of design is the use of transparent anten-
with a spacing of 3 mm. Each FR4 board is of the same size nas that are placed above the solar panels on the CubeSat.
as the subpatch below it, and the The transparent antenna requires
top surface of each FR4 board is a transparent substrate such as
covered with copper. The FR4 quartz or Lexan, and it uses a
layer is used to model the printed meshed metal patch and a meshed
circuit board on which the solar These two sub patches ground plane. A 2.4-GHz broad-
panels are fabricated. However, are resonant at slightly band CP antenna can be achieved
this is an extreme case, since the by this type of design. However,
top faces of the FR4 boards are different frequencies, fabrication methods such as depos-
covered with copper. This creates therefore allowing iting silver epoxy on a transparent
a more severe disturbance to the substrate are expensive. Other fab-
central slot than the disturbance for dual resonance to rication technologies such as ink
produced by an actual solar panel. increase the bandwidth. printing and vacuum sputter depo-
The S parameters will shift a little sition can be explored. Another
bit and have some distortion due interesting variation for the trans-
to the FR4 boards (Figure 16). However, this is easy to com- parent antenna is to utilize the ground of the solar panels
pensate for by adjusting the parameters of the patches or the instead of creating a meshed ground so that the solar panel
feed locations, because the patterns remain almost the same becomes part of the substrate [8]. This allows for a thicker sub-
as the patterns without the FR4 layer. strate and hence a higher bandwidth, though the design needs
to vary depending on the solar panel properties [17].
SUMMARY OF DESIGNS The other type of design, called the subsolar design,
Table 1 is a summary of all the designs presented in this paper. is a nontransparent antenna that is placed below the solar
The table shows the basic design layout and summarizes the panels on the CubeSat. The effects of the solar panel can
performance of each antenna, including results for the antenna be minimized by extending the patch to cover the entire
gain and the impedance bandwidth. face of the CubeSat. Thus, the radiating edges of the patch
antenna are not blocked by the solar panel, and the antenna
CONCLUSIONs performance is not seriously affected by the solar panel.
This article summarized the development of various compact Additionally, metal vias can be used for creating partitioned
patch antennas at the 434-MHz and 2.4-GHz ISM bands for regions within the substrate board to create smaller patch
a CubeSat. Though antennas for these two bands have been antennas of various sizes for different frequencies (e.g.,

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 TABLE 1. A Summary of Antennas.
Copolarization Transparency Bandwidth
Name Band Substrate Polarization Gain (dB) (%) (%)
TA-1 2.4 GHz Quartz LP 4.94 95.9 2.2
^ f r = 3.9 h
TA-2 2.4 GHz Quartz RHCP 7.23 94.2 7.8
^ f r = 3.9 h
NA-1a 2.4 GHz Duroid LHCP 3.54 N/A 2.3
^ f r = 2.2 h
NA-1b 2.4 GHz Duroid LHCP 3.99 N/A 2.5
^ f r = 2.2 h
NA-2 434 MHz TMM6 LP 3.45 N/A 2.3
^f r = 6h

2.4 GHz was studied in this article). The radiating edges
of the patches are aligned with the radiating edges of the
CubeSat to avoid blockage. Alternatively, the solar panels
can be placed judiciously to not cover the radiating edges.
2.4-GHz CP antennas and 434-MHz LP antennas were
achieved using subsolar designs. Future work could include
developing 434-MHz CP subsolar antennas for a CubeSat.
Also, higher-gain antenna arrays could be explored, possibly
ones with steerable beams.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Xinyu Liu (xliu38@uh.edu) is with the Department of Electri-
cal and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Texas.
David R. Jackson (djackson@uh.edu) is with the Depart-
ment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of
Houston, Texas.
Ji Chen (jchen23@central.uh.edu) is with the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston,
Texas.
Jingshen Liu (jliu44@uh.edu) is with the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston,
Texas.
Patrick W. Fink (patrick.w.fink@nasa.gov) is with the NASA
Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas.
Greg Y. Lin (greg.y.lin@nasa.gov) is with the NASA Johnson
Space Center, Houston, Texas.
Nicole Neveu (n.nicolera@gmail.com) is with the Depart-
ment of Physics, Illinois Institute of Technology.
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