Development of Ku-band Transmitter for 10-cm Class Pico-satellites

摘要

Spatial and temporal variations of atmospheric water vapor can be obtained from propagation delay of radio waves traveling in the atmosphere. Radio interferometric observation of satellite beacons is a highly sensitive method for measuring the propagation delay. For such observations a 10-cm cube satellite emitting Ku-band radio waves is under construction. In this report, newly developed low-cost Ku-band transmitter and antenna onboard the satellite are described. The transmitter has a size of 70mm×60mm×30mm and nominal output power of 200 mW. The antenna is patch type and has a size of 30 mm×30 mm. From preliminary experiments it is shown that frequency deviation of output radio wave is about 0.02 ppm in an open air condition and the output power is larger than 300 mW.