IrishSat is an undergraduate satellite design team focused on launching CubeSats through NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative Program (CLSI). IrishSat is developing a prototype 1U CubeSat, which is confined to a 10x10x10 cm structure. Our project aims to build a controller for a phased array of antennas operating onboard a satellite. This will consist of 8 patch antennas in a linear array that can be individually controlled using beamformer ICs. This phased array will utilize Professor Chisum’s gradient index lens and particle swarm algorithms to maximize gains in an arbitrary direction to receive signals similar to a radar. The final controller and lens will be able to fit in a 2U CubeSat bus being constructed by the IrishSat design team. The final result will be a phased array that can beamscan to find a target signal being transmitted and lock on it for the eventual use in communications or as a sensor instrument.
Thank you to graduate students Himanshu Sharma, Wei Wang, Benjamin Davis, Maxwell Robbins, and Tania Islam for their tremendous support through the duration of this project and without whom this project would not have been possible.
Additonal thanks to Dr. Jonathan Chisum and Dr. Michael Schafer for their guidance and expertise in this project and for the use of Dr. Chisum's lab resources and graduate team.