Miniaturized Pixel Antenna for Implantation on the ARGOS CubeSat 4U

Today, the dimensions of wireless equipment are constantly decreasing; hence, embedded antennas are increasingly being miniaturized. For example, the emergence of nanosatellites called “CubeSats” requires design of antennas compatible with footprints divided by three or four compared to those of conventional satellites for the same operation. Due to their property of transverse evanescence [1] of the internal EM fields and their broadband nature [1], the “Pixel” antennas are good candidates for miniaturization. The antenna presented in this paper is designed to be used alone but usually such element is introduced in the ARMA (Agile Radiating Matrix Antenna), in which case it is referred to as a “Pixel” Antenna [4]. Thus, the objective of this paper is to design a miniaturized planar antenna for ARGOS beacon, implanted on a CubeSat 4U (20cm × 20cm); this antenna must make it possible to realize the Tx and Rx links in circular polarization in the UHF band.