Session
Advanced Technologies Research & Academia 2
Location
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Abstract
This paper presents the structural development, fabrication, and broadband design of a 5.8 GHz two-layer textile deployable reflectarray antenna for small satellite applications. Conductive patterns are directly formed on woven textile membranes using printing and plating technologies, enabling the textile surface to function as reflectarray elements while maintaining high stowage efficiency and low mass. For the structural design, an updated configuration incorporating crossbars and multiple catenary segments is proposed to improve robustness against fabrication imperfections and reduce boom loads. A full-scale 4.5 m2 prototype is fabricated and successfully deployed, achieving a root-mean-square (RMS) surface error of 0.7 mm under gravity-compensated conditions. For the antenna design, a broadband large-aperture reflectarray antenna is designed. The primary radiator employs an electromagnetically coupled feeding structure and consists of a 2 × 2 element array. To achieve broadband performance, parasitic elements are placed above the driven elements. Simulations show that the resulting primary radiator achieves a fractional bandwidth of 35.7% for a reflection coefficient below −15 dB. The reflectarray element has a single-layer structure composed of square patches and slotted square patches. Measurement results demonstrate a boresight realized gain of 38.3 dBi at 5.8 GHz.
Document Type
Event
Development of 4.5 m2 Two-Layer Textile Deployable C-Band Reflectarray Antennas for 100 kg Satellites
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
This paper presents the structural development, fabrication, and broadband design of a 5.8 GHz two-layer textile deployable reflectarray antenna for small satellite applications. Conductive patterns are directly formed on woven textile membranes using printing and plating technologies, enabling the textile surface to function as reflectarray elements while maintaining high stowage efficiency and low mass. For the structural design, an updated configuration incorporating crossbars and multiple catenary segments is proposed to improve robustness against fabrication imperfections and reduce boom loads. A full-scale 4.5 m2 prototype is fabricated and successfully deployed, achieving a root-mean-square (RMS) surface error of 0.7 mm under gravity-compensated conditions. For the antenna design, a broadband large-aperture reflectarray antenna is designed. The primary radiator employs an electromagnetically coupled feeding structure and consists of a 2 × 2 element array. To achieve broadband performance, parasitic elements are placed above the driven elements. Simulations show that the resulting primary radiator achieves a fractional bandwidth of 35.7% for a reflection coefficient below −15 dB. The reflectarray element has a single-layer structure composed of square patches and slotted square patches. Measurement results demonstrate a boresight realized gain of 38.3 dBi at 5.8 GHz.
