diff --git a/2. Avionics Onboarding/2.09 Antenna Research & Design [PROJECT].md b/2. Avionics Onboarding/2.09 Antenna Research & Design [PROJECT].md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9568f77 --- /dev/null +++ b/2. Avionics Onboarding/2.09 Antenna Research & Design [PROJECT].md @@ -0,0 +1,75 @@ +# Antenna Research & Design +This project involves research and designing an antenna to allow the efficient transmission & reception of radio frequencies. + +## Aim +This project aims to give you an opportunity to learn and demonstrate antenna design and radio frequency (RF) fundamentals. You are tasked to research how antennas work in relation to the transceiver and how they interact with the electromagnetic spectrum. Then, you will take the research they've made to design an antenna for the onboard transceiver. +You will need to justify your design choices by referring back to the research conducted and meeting the system requirements outlined to allow uplink & downlink capabilities. +Some recomended choices of antenna designs could be a dipole or a patch antenna. +- It's recomended to research other designs + +## Background +An Antenna is used to transmit and receive RF signals. It converts alternating current from the transceiver and propagates the signal into radio waves or alternatively captures incoming radio waves and converts it back into an electrical current for the transceiver to process. There are many proven antennae designs, each of which have qualities you need to consider depending on the application; range, bandwidth, noise, direction, frequency, etc. + +Antennas can be characterised using a set of metrics that indicate their performance and efficiency. This involves the radiation pattern, directivity, gain, Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) & input impedance. It's crucial that you know these concepts before selecting an antenna type and drafting a design. + + +Ansys is an engineering simulation software suite used to simulate the performance and behaviour of a designed product. Ansys can allow engineers to simulate structural analysis, fluid dynamics, electromagnetics & 3D design. In this onboarding project you will install Ansys Electronics Desktop Student Software, (which has a built-in license) to simulate antenna designs. A link to install the software can be found in the Intro to Ansys HFSS resources section. + +Altium Designer is an engineering PCB design software tool, that allows engineers to design schematics and PCBs. In this onbarding project you will install Atlium Education, (which has a built in license) to design a PCB antenna or an interface to connect with the antenna. + +NOTE: ANSYS and Altium are very large and high demand software so make sure you have enough storage and adequte hardware to install and run Ansys & Altium. + + + +## CubeSat & Ground Station System Requirements // Project Objectives +- Standing Wave Ratio of 1.5:1 (at least 1.7:1) +- Frequency Bandwidth +- Frequency of 430-450MHz + + +## Project Deliverables +1. Research RF fundamentals, antenna characteristics and types. + - Document any research you conduct throughout the project into your logbook, some resources we have found useful can be found below. + - Look into real world examples of antennas, some good places to look for this include published papers of current satellite communication systems + - Include information such as antenna impedances, advantages /disadvantages and use cases for each antenna type researched. + +2. Select and design an antenna for the onboard transceiver that meets CubeSat System Requirements. Ensure to justify your selection based on use case, characteristics and constraints. + - Research into which material would work best for a cubesat, and which would work best for a ground station, also try to research and find potential other options for antenna elements + - Get some preliminary measurements of the material you want to use for an antenna element + - As a starting point / hint, currently PAST has been using tape measures. The exact dimension of tape measures will have to be decided by you + +3. Use Ansys Electronic Desktop Student Software to simulate your antenna design using the measurements and data obtained. + - Use approximate lengths as a rough idea and fine tune the values later on + - Ensure you have the correct materials, parameters to simulate and plot antenna characteristics. Include this into your logbook. + - Modify the parameters to observe how it affects antenna characteristics, write down any correlations you might discover when changing parameters as well as any improvements you made to the antenna in the logbook. + - Use the [Intro to Ansys HFSS Resource if you have't](2.03 Intro to Ansys HFSS [RESOURCE].md) + +4. Install and utilise Altium Designer to design a PCB that has your antenna design. + - You can either design the antenna as a PCB, or connect the antenna to a PCB + - The PCB has to connect to a connector to allow it to be plugged into other modules in the communication system + - Research into different types of connectors which can be used for RF signals, and also their advantages and disadvantages, and pick one you think is best for your design + - Hint: Look into the PCB manufacurer's board stack for PCBs + +5. Route your PCB + - In Altium, you will need to ensure your impedances are matched + - The impedance will matter depending on your board stack (and this may also affect your antenna simulations) + - Hint: There is an impedance option in the layer stack manager + +6. Project extension + - Think about how using a PCB will affect your simulation, what will you have to change in the simulation to ensure it is accurate + - Remember to also select the correct materials, ensure you use parameters, and then simulate, plot the antenna characteristics and put them on your logbook + - Think about different materials, and how this can affect antennas, what properties are important to consider? + - It might have been a bit tedius to manually change parameters in your ANSYS simulation, how can you use ANSYS's features to make this easier? + - While you have designed an antenna that may work in a simulation, think about what factors in a real world may affect the performance of an antenna + - For example, if there was a aluminium cubesat frame inside the antenna, how would this affect it + - Look into how to match impedances for antennas, in ground stations, an off-the-shelf ATU (antenna tuning unit) can be used, but this is not feasible on a cubesat, what can we do for a cubesat? + - The antenna you created is most likely larger than your cubesat specifications (unless you did a patch antenna), so usually antennas are deployed outwards, how you can modify your antenna design to be deployed when up in orbit? + + +## Resources to get you started +- [KikoCUBE Satellite Communications Lecture](https://www.unoosa.org/documents/pdf/psa/access2space4all/KiboCUBE/AcademySeason2/On-demand_Pre-recorded_Lectures/KiboCUBE_Academy_2021_OPL09.pdf) +- [Foundations Amateur Radio License Course](https://res.net.au/) - we have connections for you to take the exam and get a Radio License. +- [Modular Design of RF Front End for a Nanosatellite Communication Subsystem](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332262214_Modular_Design_of_RF_Front_End_for_a_Nanosatellite_Communication_Subsystem_Tile_Using_Low-Cost_Commercial_Components) + + +- Remember to log everything you have done and learnt in your logbook! diff --git a/2. Avionics Onboarding/2.09 Radio Dipole Antenna [PROJECT].md b/2. Avionics Onboarding/2.09 Radio Dipole Antenna [PROJECT].md deleted file mode 100644 index c9b2649..0000000 --- a/2. Avionics Onboarding/2.09 Radio Dipole Antenna [PROJECT].md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,52 +0,0 @@ -# Dipole Antenna PCB -This project involves designing a dipole antenna from along with a PCB to be able to transmit and receive radio frequencies. - -## Background -An antenna is used to transmit and receive RF signals, which is another step in achieving communication between a satellite and a ground station. There are many different types of antennae; however, in this project, we will be designing and simulating a dipole antenna (more specifically, a half-wave dipole). -A dipole antenna consists of two conductive elements, each with a length proportional to the wavelength of the selected frequency. In the case of a half-wave dipole antenna, the complete length of the antenna will be approximately half a wavelength. - -To characterise antennae, we use a set of metrics that give us a good indication of their performance and efficiency. These include the radiation pattern, directivity, gain, SWR and input impedance. Through the course of this project, you will explore the impact of antenna design on these characteristics and learn to design around constraints. -An antenna's SWR (standing wave ratio) is one of the most useful metrics. This measures how much of the input power is reflected back into the antenna when receiving or back to the transmitter when transmitting. This is often due to impedance mismatches between the antenna and the RF lines the antenna connects to. Typically, this is set to 50Ω for transceiver RF lines, coaxial cable and RF connectors. However, antennas may not / can not always be matched to a 50Ω impedance and must be matched separately. SWR measurements are taken between a ratio of 1:1 (where all the power input is transmitted) and ∞ : 1 (where all the input power is reflected). Though we aim for a 1:1 SWR, however in a real world scenario we cannot achieve this. Luckily, due to the logarithmic nature of SWR, a radio of 1.5:1 or lower is generally considered acceptable. - -Please reach out to PAST members if you are interested working on this project, and we can connect you with members working on Radio Comms! - -## ☑️ Project Deliverables -1. Learn the basics of antennas: - - Do some research on different types of antennas not mentioned in here, and also real world examples of antennas (hint: Yagi Antennas) - - Also include information on their differences such as their typical characteristic impedances, their advantages / disadvantages and use cases - - Summarise it all on your logbook -2. Get some preliminary measurements of the material you want to use for an antenna element, at PAST, we have steel tape measures and aluminium rods available - - Which material would work best for a cubesat, and which would work best for a ground station, also try to research and find potential other options for antenna elements - - Tape measures and aluminium rods also have varying sizes, find a dimension which can be bought, and use it for your antenna -3. Calculate the approximate length of your dipole, this will be turned later down using simulations, but getting a rough idea will help make it easier to design, for a half-wave dipole, each antenna element should be the length of a quarter of a wavelength - - The amateur radio band is around 430-450MHz, we will be using 433MHz in this project - - The simulted length of the dipole will likely be shorter than expected, find out why this occurs -4. Using these measurements and data, create the dipole antenna using Ansys HFSS - - We will be creating a dipole antenna on a PCB, so you will be slightly constrained to a PCB for mounting, however this may be useful in some circumstances (your antennas can be soldered on with electrical components) - - Think about how using a PCB will affect your simulation, what will you have to change in the simulation to ensure it is accurate - - Hint: Look into the PCB manufacurer's board stack for PCBs - - Remember to also select the correct materials, ensure you use parameters, and then simulate, plot the antenna characteristics and put them on your logbook -3. Now try to modify your parameters, and see how they affect the antenna characteristics, write down any correlations you may see when changing parameters, and show any major improvements you made to antenna in your logbook / disrepancies. Once you are done, insert the final parameters and characteristics in your logbook -4. Congrats with your simulation, however you are not done yet. We will now utilise Altium Designer to design a PCB which you can place your antennas on - - Typically antennas can just be soldered onto a coax cable, however to get you to use Altium, we will be using a PCB - - You will need some way of attaching your antennas to the PCB, along with routing them to a connector - - Research into different types of connectors which can be used for RF signals, and also their advantages and disadvantages, and pick one you think is best for your design -5. The routing of an antenna will not be too complicated, however keep in mind that you will need to ensure your impedances are matched - - The impedance will matter depending on your board stack (and this may also affect your antenna simulations) - - Hint: There is an impedance option in the layer stack manager -6. Congrats, you have now finished. While antenna sims may not be too hard, there is lots to think about, see if you can do some of the following: - - You may have found that while a half-wave dipole antenna is supposed to be a half wave long, the simulations have come out wrong unless it is slightly shorter than half a wave. Try to explain why this happens - - Think about different materials, and how this can affect antennas, what properties are important to consider? - - It might have been a bit tedius to manually change parameters in your ANSYS simulation, how can you use ANSYS's features to make this easier? - - While you have designed an antenna that may work in a simulation, think about what factors in a real world may affect the performance of an antenna - - For example, if there was a aluminium cubesat frame inside the antenna, how would this affect it - - Look into how to match impedances for antennas, in ground stations, an off-the-shelf ATU (antenna tuning unit) can be used, but this is not feasible on a cubesat, what can we do for a cubesat? - - The antenna you created is most likely larger than your cubesat specifications, so usually antennas are deployed outwards, how you can modify your antenna design to be deployed when up in orbit? - - -## Resources to get you started -- [KikoCUBE Satellite Communications Lecture](https://www.unoosa.org/documents/pdf/psa/access2space4all/KiboCUBE/AcademySeason2/On-demand_Pre-recorded_Lectures/KiboCUBE_Academy_2021_OPL09.pdf) -- [Foundations Amateur Radio License Course](https://res.net.au/) - we have connections for you to take the exam and get a Radio License. - - -- Remember to log everything you have done and learnt in your logbook!