Grants and Contributions:

Back to search

Title:

Low-Cost Reconfigurable Apertures for Cubesat Ground Stations

Agreement Number:

EGP

Agreement Value:

$25,000.00

Agreement Date:

Dec 13, 2017 -

Organization:

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Location:

Ontario, CA

Reference Number:

GC-2017-Q3-00495

Agreement Type:

Grant

Report Type:

Grants and Contributions

Additional Information:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Recipient's Legal Name:

Hum, Sean (University of Toronto)

Program:

Engage Grants for universities

Program Purpose:

Kepler Communications is a company establishing an in-space telecommunications network for enabling global machine-tomachine (M2M) communications using cubesats. There are significant research challenges in designing low-cost ground segment antennas that provide adaptive beam-steering capabilities. Phased arrays provide a comprehensive electronic solution at the expense of a large hard- ware footprint and cost, while mechanically-steered aperture antennas are slow and rely on moving parts.x000D
This project will explore and develop cost effective reconfigurable aperture antennas for Keplers ground stations based onx000D
leading-edge research on reconfigurable electromagnetic surfaces (RESs) being pursued by the applicants research group. Theunique RES architecture will provide a dynamic beam controllable antenna to Kepler using a fraction of the hardware and cost associated with traditional phased arrays, allowing the cost effective development of low-cost ground assets, and eventually, satellite antennas.