Modular,Customisable, Accomodation-Friendly Antenna System for Satellite Avionics Development, Prototyping and Validation M. A.Saporetti, A. Giacomini, Lars J.Foged MICROWAVE VISION ITALY Via dei Castelli Romani 59, Pomezia (Rome), Italy maria.saporetti@microwavevision.com, andrea.giacomini@microwavevision.com, G. Galagani, G. Scozza IDS-Ingegneria Dei Sistemi Via Enrica Calabresi, 24 Pisa, Italy, g.galgani@idscorporation.com, g.scozza@idscorporation.com C. Occhiuzzi, L. Piazzon, P.Colantonio, G. Marrocco University of “Tor Vergata” Via del Politecnico 1 Rome, Italy occhiuzzi@disp.uniroma2.it, luca.piazzon@uniroma2.it, paolo.colantonio@uniroma2.it, marrocco@disp.uniroma2.it M.Sabbadini ESA-ESTEC P.O. Box 299, AG 2200 Noordwijk ZH, The Netherlands marco.sabbadini@esa.int Abstract— In the frame of ESA program AO/1- 6737/11/NL/MH, an innovative X-band antenna system for satellite avionics has been studied, demonstrated and validated at Proof of Concept Model level. The innovative contribution of such an antenna system relies on modularity, customizability and accommodation friendliness. The antenna concept is based on a Plug and Play architecture, where the basic module is a 2.7 cm-cube with a mass of 53 gr, which can be clustered in array configuration. A catalogue of predefined and ready-to-use clusters could be developed with the possibility of adapting the antenna systems to various platform types by tuning just a few control parameters. Different levels of customization are, in fact, easily achievable reducing the qualification effort. The proposed antenna system has been prototyped and has been validated through two measurement campaigns, in standalone configuration and accommodated on a platform demonstrator having the shape of an ESA Proba V satellite. The whole antenna system has been also simulated with the commercial program ADF-EMS and a good agreement with measurements has been achieved, proving that the characteristics of such an antenna system can be very accurately predicted even in the most complex configurations. A comparison between the proposed solution and a more conventional space avionic radiator has been carried out: even though the EM performances are comparable, mass and encumbrance are instead extremely reduced in MCAS. Keywords—Avionics, Plug and Play architecture, modularity, customizability, bonding wires, PIFA, measurements, simulations. I. INTRODUCTION In the frame of ESA program AO/1-6737/11/NL/MH, an innovative X-band antenna system for satellite avionics has been studied, prototyped and validated at Proof of Concept Model level. The antenna system is intended to cover the needs of Earth Observation and Science Missions in LEO, GEO, GTO and deep space. It can be suitable to different avionic services, comprising Telemetry and Telecommand TM-TC, Telemetry, Tracking and Control TT&C (low gain, full- sphere coverage), data-link (medium data rate, orbit dependent coverage), RF tracking, inter and intra-orbit links. The innovative contribution of such antenna system relies on the following aspects:  modularity: it is based on the single design of a radiator suitable to be clustered;  customizability: it can be used in different satellites (in terms of dimensions, payload, configuration) since it relies on a tunable radiator for accommodating several missions, without requiring further qualification tests changing customization;  accommodation friendliness: it can be accommodated in unobtrusive locations of the spacecraft (like edges or corners) usually not used for other purposes. The above mentioned features point out how this antenna system carries advantages with respect to the state of the art in this field. A comparison between the proposed solution and a more conventional space avionic radiator, consisting of a choked waveguide aperture, has been carried out showing that the resulting full sphere radiation patterns and the overall coverage performance indicators are comparable. However the existing off-the-shelf antennas, 555 978-1-4799-2069-3/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE