A study on conformal antenna solutions for cube satellites

This master's thesis presents a study on a slot and microstrip patch as the two main types of antennas for the use on Cube Satellite (CubeSat). A study on the fundamentals of the slot antenna is researched and a circularly polarized (CPd) cavity-backed cross slot antenna and its two-element array for the CubeSat are designed and fabricated. Fabricated two-element phased array cross slot antenna has higher radiation gain and steered radiation pattern compared to the fabricated single cross slot antenna. A CPd square microstrip patch antenna for the application of the CubeSat is designed and compared with a commercial CPd microstrip patch antenna. It is concluded that our designed microstrip patch antenna has a better performance compared to the commercial one. The last part of the research focuses on the design of miniaturized slot antennas for the CubeSat working at an ultra high frequency (UHF) band. The different techniques and challenges that we face through the miniaturization are articulated throughout the research and expanded upon in this thesis.;The antenna simulations were performed using Ansoft High Frequency System Simulator (HFSS) and the final designs for the CPd cavity-backed single and two-element cross slot antennas and CPd microstrip patch antenna were fabricated using a circuit board milling machine. These were then measured inside an anechoic chamber for the radiation pattern. Both antennas had high radiation gain and good CPd radiation quality.