Design and Evaluation of a Low-Cost CubeSat Communication Relay Constellation

This paper proposes a LEO relay constellation formed by a ring of nanosatellites utilizing S-Band for data relay and UHF/VHF and S-Band for user communication. It is feasible with existing CubeSat hardware, and provides communication relay links to satellites from 495km to 850 km of altitude. By providing service to nanosatellites with a CubeSat-based relay network, user satellites require no costly relay-proprietary hardware, and instead can re-use hardware that is already in place aboard this class of spacecraft. The proposed constellation can be established at low cost and can significantly increase the available communication time of near polar orbit satellites, drastically increasing the available communications budget. A 9 ReSat based relay belt can increase link availability for a satellite in near-polar orbit by up to 945%.