An Ultra-Low Cost All-Metallic Dual Linearly Polarized Antenna Topology for 1U CubeSats

In this paper, an all-metallic Ultra low-cost meandered dipole antenna, operating in the UHF (Ultra High Frequency) band is proposed. The proposed antenna is compliant with the dimensions of a commercial 1U CubeSat. The proposed antenna is realized with laser cutting of Stainless steel. It offers quasi omnidirectional patterns with a boresight gain of about 2 dBi at 433 MHz. In order to enhance the throughput of the proposed antenna, an electrically compact dual linearly polarized <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\pm 45^{\circ}$</tex> topology is investigated. The impedance and pattern characteristics of the dual polarized topology is similar to its constituent elements. Mutual coupling between the ports is less than 50 dB in the operating UHF band. The proposed topology could be a potential candidate for commercial CubeSats.