Monopole-like meander microstrip antenna onboard microsatellite for telecommand applications

Indonesia requires microsatellites for surveillance & remote sensing applications including disaster management such as forest fire, volcanic activity, flood, or even for communication purpose. The first generation Indonesia microsatellite, called LAPAN-A1 (LAPAN-TUBSAT), has been launched on 10
^th
January 2007 as the starting point to further develop microsatellite technology in Indonesia. The satellite is operated in 400 MHz UHF band. Due to its lightweight and small size requirement, a microsatellite requires an antenna for communication systems (e.g. payload data and data telemetry & telecommand) that suits to the satellite size. In LAPAN-A1, its telecommand system uses a wire antenna that works at the center frequency 437,325 MHz, hence, it requires a relatively large space when its launching process. In order to have more compact UHF antenna for next generation of microsatellite, in this paper we propose a novel small antenna design for telemetry and telecommand applications onboard microsatellite in the UHF band 430–450. The proposed antenna is monopole-like meander-type microstrip antenna, which operates in linear polarization and omnidirectional pattern. We conduct numerical simulation on single antenna design, which able to resonate at 461–481 MHz. The gain of 2.6 dBi is obtained for a single construction. Further, two similar antennas are placed independently onboard on satellite body on −X directed panel (first antenna) and +Y directed panel (second antenna). The simulated results show both antennas are able to work in 428–468 MHz, with the gain of 2.9 dBi & 2.43 dBi for the first and the second antenna, respectively.