A Bottom Fed Deployable Conical Log Spiral Antenna Design for CubeSat

A conical log spiral antenna is presented with a new feeding scheme. This antenna is proposed for deployment on a CubeSat platform where the new feeding technique allows for easier antenna deployment. The antenna is composed of two arms that are wrapped around each other in a log-periodic manner. It is designed on top of a ground plane allowing its bottom feeding property. The feeding network is composed of quarter-wavelengths transmission lines connected to a planar balun. The feeding network along with the balun provides the antenna with the appropriate impedance matching and phase shift between the two arms. The antenna is fabricated and tested. The measurement and simulation results show good agreement.