SPUDNIK-1
COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN
TRANSCEIVER
The team selected a proof of concept transceiver to use for this year, as well as a high end transceiver that will go into the final CubeSat. The final transceiver can be seen to the right, it's the CubeSat UHF Transceiver II. It meets all data requirements and comes in a thermally insulated case. The proof of concept transceiver selected was from a company called Baofeng and was used throughout the testing phase.
ANTENNA
The antenna design that was chosen for the subsystem was a dipole antenna. This was chosen over the other antennae for many reasons such as ease of construction, flight heritage, polarization matching, radiation patterns, and footprint. The conceptual design was created from steel ribbons that are extracted from measuring tapes.
DEPLOYMENT MODULE
Because the antennas cannot be sticking out during launch the team had to design a deployment module. The design is for a machined aluminum chassis, that holds each antenna in a horizontally-rolled position. Each antenna is mounted to a swing arm, which is tied to the chassis via burn wire until a current is passed through, allowing a spring and the antenna’s own stored energy to release it from the chassis. Once released, the spring and swing arm hold the antenna perpendicular to the face of the satellite. This concept is robust and low profile, it takes up less than 4% of the volume of the CubeSat and mounts easily to the transceiver.