Wideband Circularly Polarized Antenna for Multiband GNSS Receiver on IMECE

This paper presents the wideband circularly polarized single-fed Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver antenna on Türkiye's first sub-meter resolution earth observation satellite (IMECE). The proposed antenna basically aims to meet the functional requirements of the multi-band GNSS receiver system on the IMECE with a wideband antenna covering the all frequency bands of all known GNSS providers. This not only provides a high performance GNSS antenna for IMECE, but also makes it possible to obtain a strong GNSS antenna candidate with space heritage for possible future satellite projects utilizing different GNSS frequency bands. Considering these advantages, a single feed RHCP crossed-dipole antenna is designed and fabricated. The manufactured antenna is also exposed to qualification-level thermal vacuum and vibration tests. The results show that the measured functional performances of the antenna in the initial state are quite consistent with the measurements obtained after each environmental test.