iii

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this work is to design highly reliable antenna as Transreceiver

both for Uplink frequency of 450 MHz and Downlink frequency of 145 MHz for
NIUSAT which is a Nano Satellite. The Transreceiver is used in the Communication
Subsystem for transmission and reception of House Keeping Data and On-Board Data
in the Telemetry, Tracking and Command System.
A very practical suggestion is to make use of Quarter-Wave Monopole

antenna of measuring tape type as it provides better elasticity and portability for the

VHF/UHF range. Copper-Beryllium is used in the manufacture of the Quarter-Wave

Monopole as it provides good tensile strength which makes it reliable against

interference loss in Extreme Space Environment.

The Quarter-Wave Monopole antenna is used to provide a highly Directive

radiation pattern by reducing the Reflection-Coefficient. The Gain of the antenna can

also be improved by increasing the Return Loss from the Ground Plane.
 iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost I acknowledge the abiding presence and the abounding

grace of Our Almighty God for his unseen hand yet tangible guidance all through the

formation of this project. I express my sincere gratitude to our Chancellor Dr. A. P.

Majeed Khan for providing me all the support, and also the Pro-Vice Chancellor

Prof. Dr. Chandrasekhar, B.E, Ph.D, for his inspiration to me in proceeding with

this project.

I am heartily thankful to my supervisor, Mrs. T. K. Sreeja, Assistant

Professor, Department of Electronics and communication Engineering, Noorul Islam

University, whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial level enabled

me to develop an understanding of the subject.

I also convey my immense gratitude to The Prof. and Head of the Department

of Electronics and Communication Engineering Dr. J. Jayakumari., M.Tech.,

Ph.D., for providing all necessary facilities and valuable suggestions for carrying out

this work successfully.

I extend my deep sense of gratitude to our project coordinator Prof. R. S.

Vinod Kumar, for his valuable support, thoughtful vision, productive suggestions

and guidance.

I express my gratitude for all the teaching and non-teaching staffs of our

Electronics and Communication Engineering Department who have helped me in one

way or the other for the successful completion of this project.

Finally, I appreciate the patience and solid support of my family and

enthusiastic friends for their encouragement and moral support for this effort.
 v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

NO NO

ABSTRACT iii
LIST OF TABLES viii
LIST OF FIGURES ix
LIST OF ABBREVATIONS x

1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 GENERAL 1
1.2 NIUSAT CONCEPT 1
1.3 MISSION OBJECTIVES 2

2 ANTENNA FUNDAMENTALS 3
2.1GENERAL 3
2.2ANTENNA PARAMETERS 3
2.2.1 ANTENNA GAIN 3
2.2.2 ANTENNA EFFICIENCY 4
2.2.3 EFFECTIVE AREA 4
2.2.4 DIRECTIVITY 5
2.2.5 PATH LOSS 6
2.2.6 INPUT IMPEDANCE 6
2.2.7 ANTENNA FACTOR 7
2.2.8 RETURN LOSS 7
2.2.9 RADIATION PATTERN 8
2.2.10 BEAMWIDTH 8
2.3 TYPES OF ANTENNAS 9
2.3.1 DIPOLES AND MONOPOLES 9
2.3.2 CORNER REFLECTOR 11
2.3.3 YAGI ANTENNA 12

3 MONOPOLE ANTENNA 14
3.1 GENERAL 14
3.2 QUARTERWAVE MONOPOLE 14
 vi

4 NIUSAT RF COMMUNICATION SYSTEM 19

4.1GENERAL 19
4.2 VHF/UHF ANTENNA 19
4.2.1 MONOPOLE ANTENNA 19
4.2.2 SPECIFICATION OF TRANSRECEIVER 20
4.3VHF AND UHF ANTENNA PARAMETERS 20
4.3.1BANDWIDTH 20
4.3.2RADIATION PATTERN 21
4.3.4 IMPEDANCE MATCHING 21
4.4 THE SMITH CHART 22
4.5 ANTENNA MATERIAL 23

5 SATELLITE LINK 25
5.1 LINK POWER BUDGET 25
5.2 LINK BUDGET PARAMETERS 25
5.2.1 EIRP 25
5.2.2 RECEIVING ANTENNA GAIN 26
5.2.3 RECEIVED POWER 26
5.2.4 LOSSES 26
5.2.5 NOISE DENSITY 27
5.2.6 NOISE FIGURE 27
5.2.7 GAIN TO NOISE TEMPERATURE RATIO 27
5.2.8 RECEIVED POWER TO NOISE RATIO 27
5.2.9 RECEIVED ENERGY TO NOISE RATIO 28
5.2.10 LINK MARGIN 28
5.3CALCULATED RESULTS 28

6 DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF MONOPOLE 31

ANTENNA
6.1 INTRODUCTION ABOUT NEC2 31
6.2 DESIGN AND SIMULATION PROCEDURE 32
6.2.1DESIGN PROCEDURE IN 4NEC2 32
6.2.2SIMULATION PROCEDURE IN 4NEC2 32
 vii

6.3 SIMULATED RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 33

6.3.1 SIMULATED RESULTS OF VHF 33
ANTENNA
6.3.2 SIMULATED RESULTS OF UHF 35
ANTENNA
6.3.3 CONCLUSION 37

REFERENCES
 viii

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE No. NAME PAGE No.

5.1 Downlink budget and link margin calculation results 30

5.2 Downlink budget and link margin calculation results 31

 ix

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE No. NAME PAGE No.

2.1 RL curve of an antenna 8

2.2 Determination of HPBW from radiation pattern 9
2.3 The vertical dipole and the vertical monopole 10
2.4 Monopole antennas for (a) base-station and (b) mobile 10
2.5 Corner-reflector antennas 11
2.6 A corner-reflector antenna horizontal-plane pattern 11
2.7 Yagi antenna (a) three elements and (b) multiple elements 12
2.8 A Yagi antenna horizontal plane pattern 13
3.1 Quarter Wave Monopole Antenna and its Image in
15
the Ground Plane
3.2 Monopole resistance and reactance plots 16
3.3 Quarter wave monopole antenna and Ground plane antenna 16
3.4 Monopole above a PEC (a) and the equivalent
17
source in free space (b).
4.1 Block Diagram of Communication Receiver 20
4.2 A lossless network matching a load-impedance
22
to a transmission line.
4.3 The zero-line in the smith chart represents the antennas
23
resistance
6.1 Geometry and Radiation Pattern of 145 MHz Monopole
33
Antenna
6.2 Radiation Pattern along with Gain 34
6.3 SWR And Reflection Co-efficient Plot against Frequency 35
6.4 Geometry and Radiation Pattern of 450 MHz Monopole
36
Antenna
6.5 Radiation Pattern along with Gain 36
6.6 SWR And Reflection Co-efficient Plot against Frequency 37
 x

LIST OF ABBREVATIONS

LEO Low Earth Orbit

NIUSAT Noorul Islam University Satellite

UHF Ultra High Frequency

VHF Very High Frequency

HPBW Half Power Beam Width

EIRP Effective Isotropic Radiated Power

FSL Free Space Loss

MMIC Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits

ADS Advanced Design System

RFIC Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits