Dipole Antenna Array Cluster for CubeSats

CubeSats are attracting interest from both the industry and academia because of their affordability. Specifically, they are made of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) electronic circuit chips and are thus seen as a cost effective replacement of traditional expensive satellites. Moreover, they are expected to have higher capabilities to better support demanding missions. To date, most CubeSats rely on a single element antenna that usually has a relatively low gain and are not steerable. Thus, they are not suitable for long-distance communications and for use by missions requiring high-speed links and adjustable radiating patterns. Existing single element antennas also increase the probability of failures when establishing communication links; a failure leads to a disconnection. In this paper, we propose a cluster of 3x3 dipole antenna arrays for CubeSats. Each arran can theoretically be used on a separate frequency. Advantageously, all three arrays can be combined to enhance directivity. Our simulation results show that the proposed antenna cluster has a high gain of 6.06 dB and wide directivity.