Design, Fabrication and Measurements of a Single-Layer X-Band Miniaturized Patch Antenna with Metasurface for 0.5U and 1U CubeSat Missions

In order to satisfy the needs of the smallest cube satellite unit with nearly insignificant air drag altitude, we construct, reduce in size, and optimize an innovative single-layer metasurface antenna in this research. One of the primary goals of this research is to improve antenna performance and therefore enhance data reception time throughout the day while applying a highly efficient energy system. In order to achieve all of this, a new patch antenna shape was chosen, and it was made as small as possible while still maintaining good operating characteristics in line with all of the earlier goals. This eliminated the need for an antenna deployment procedure once the satellite was in orbit. To further improve the final X-band antenna characteristics and, consequently, the overall efficiency of the accomplished cube satellite, a completely new unit cell shape was chosen and optimized to create the metasurface, which is integrated in the same layer as the developed patch antenna. The created metasurface-integrated patch antenna yielded good measured results in X-band for CubeSat communication after being manufactured and validated in an anechoic chamber and with a vector network analyzer. It has an ultra-wide bandwidth of 7.55 to 9.93 GHz (– 10 dB BW of 2.38 GHz), a unidirectional radiation pattern, is lightweight, and has an adequate realized gain of around 7.0 dBi at 8.4 GHz. The total computed and measured findings, and the reduced dimensions and volume demonstrate that the geometrical, mechanical, and electrical criteria of the 0.5U and 1U CubeSat missions at X-band are satisfied by this new single-layer wide-band metasurface antenna.