Reflectarrays for LEO CubeSat telecommunication applications

立方体卫星和小型卫星的其他衍生产品正在彻底改变从太空提供科学和电信任务的方式，因为它们固有的较低的发射和开发成本。在加拿大等地理上幅员辽阔的国家，天基电信系统可以极大地帮助连接人员和设备。在对加拿大很重要的应用中尤其如此，如智能航运、智能农业、互联交通和远程远程信息处理，这些应用需要到互联网的高带宽链路，但可能涉及地面连接较差的农村地区的运营。在这种情况下，天基通信网络，如开普勒通信公司正在开发的网络，可能会改变游戏规则。然而，许多应用的数据密集度需要使用进出卫星的高吞吐量链路，这反过来又产生了对这些平台上的高增益天线孔径的需求，以支持更高数据速率所需的更高信噪比。该项目和伙伴关系旨在通过探索在立方体卫星上需要大天线孔径的情况下使用专门的“反射天线”作为主要任务天线来满足这一需求。作为利用平面来模拟曲面天线的工程化电磁表面，反射阵列因其低轮廓、可伸缩以及在卫星通信频段中的效率而成为天线阵列和反射体的诱人的解决方案。该伙伴关系的目标将是结合学术和工业专业知识，为未来几代商业立方体卫星任务提供实用可行的可部署反射阵列天线解决方案。特别是，该项目旨在将反射镜的技术准备水平(TRL)提高到允许开普勒和其他卫星制造商进行商业开发的水平。高素质人员在该项目中获得的技能将使他们做好准备，不仅可以为高科技部门作出贡献，而且还可能为天基职业做出贡献，在这些职业中，他们可以帮助在最后前沿为人类知识和技术作出进一步贡献。

CubeSats and other derivatives of miniaturized satellites are revolutionizing the way in which scientific and telecommunication missions are being provided from space, due to their inherently lower launch and development costs. In geographically large countries such as Canada, space-based telecommunication systems can greatly assist in connecting people and devices. This is especially true in applications important to Canada, such as intelligent shipping, smart agriculture, connected transportation, and remote telematics, which need high-bandwidth links to the internet, but may involve operations in rural areas with poor terrestrial connectivity. Space-based communication networks, such as those being developed by Kepler Communications, can potentially be a game-changer in such scenarios. Nevertheless, the data intensity of many applications necessitates the use of high-throughput links to and from the satellites, which in turn create the need for high-gain antenna apertures on these platforms to support the higher signal-to-noise ratios required of higher data rates. This project and partnership aims to address this need by exploring the use of specialized "reflectarray antennas" for use as the main mission antenna in scenarios requiring large antenna apertures aboard CubeSats. As engineered electromagnetic surfaces designed to mimic curved reflector antennas using a flat surface, reflectarrays are attractive solutions to both antenna arrays and reflectors, owing to their low-profile, scalable nature, and efficiency in the satellite telecommunication bands. The goal of the partnership will be to combine academic and industrial expertise to yield a practical and viable deployable reflectarray antenna solution for future generations of commercial CubeSat missions. In particular, the project aims to raise the technology readiness level (TRL) of reflectarrays to levels permitting commercial exploitation by Kepler and other satellite manufacturers. Skills gained by highly qualified personnel in this project will prepare them for contributing to not only the high-tech sector, but also potentially space-based careers where they can help further contributions to human knowledge and technology in the final frontier.