Design and Research of an Antenna Array for a Satellite Communication System in the 435 MHz Band

In one of the previous articles of our research team, it was described the development and research of a ground-based tracking antenna system for receiving information from low-orbit spacecraft using two Yagi-Uda antennas of different ranges. This article is devoted to the design of an antenna array of four 435 MHz antennas in order to improve the efficiency of information reception by increasing the gain and directivity. During the preliminary stage, basic calculations were carried out to determine the number of required elements in the array, after which the proposed array was modeled using Ansys HFSS software tools. The model showed a realized gain of 17 dB with a beamwidth of approximately 17 degrees in the horizontal and vertical planes at half power. The article also includes the design of an antenna adder and the calculation of the distance to the spacecraft, at which it is possible to receive signals from its transmitter.