Cross-Linked Small-Sat Communication System using a Spherical Phased Array Line Feed

We demonstrate a prototype cross-linked small-sat communication system at 4 GHz. A single prototype satellite consists of a reflecting spherical surface and transceiver system. The spherical antenna is built from a Zorb balloon in which a metal adhesive vinyl is applied to create a reflecting antenna along with two oppositely polarized linear grids for communication cross-linking. The transceiver system uses a phased array line feed that corrects the focus of the spherical antenna and provides electronic steerability. The electronics including the transceivers and phase shifters are contained in a box approximately the size of a 2U form factor making this design suitable for deployment in a CubeSat. We present s-parameter measurements from the phased array line feeds and using a second prototype we demonstrate cross-linked communications through measured line spectra at 4 GHz. This design is easily scalable to higher frequencies for large bandwidth communications.