Improving the performance of satellites in low Earth orbit

EurekAlert  February 21, 2023
Although small satellites have a lot of potential due to their smaller size, they have lesser radiation shield and the deployable membrane attached to the main body for a large phased-array transceiver causing non-uniform radiation degradation across the transceiver. This affects the gain variation and performance of the satellite. To mitigate radiation degradation researchers in Japan created a phased-array transceiver with on-chip distributed radiation sensors which can detect the gain variation between the chips of the antenna. This was combined with current-sharing techniques to mitigate the gain variation and thus reduce the impact of non-uniform ionizing radiation on the radio and power consumption. Tests showed less than 10% of the typical gain variation seen in small satellites. The current sharing techniques also brought down the power consumption of the satellite to the lowest reported value. Overall, this strategy was able to reduce the main lobe degradation and bring down gain variation while using a minimal amount of power, solving two major problems faced by existing small satellites. It was comparable to the state-of-the-art technologies at reducing gain variation. According to the researchers their strategy may lead to an even greater number of small satellites in lower Earth orbit, and a more well-connected world… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE To be presented at the 2023 International Solid-state Conference