CubeSat downlink communications enhanced by movable antennas

Authors/Creators

Zeynab Khodkar, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Shihao Yan, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Syed Afaq Ali Shah, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Rajen Biswa
Paulo De Souza, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Leshan Uggalla
Derrick Wing Kwan Ng

Author Identifier (ORCID)

Zeynab Khodkar: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3357-1358

Shihao Yan: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4586-1926

Syed Afaq Ali Shah: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2181-8445

Paulo De Souza: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0091-8925

Abstract

In this work, we propose to use the emerging movable antenna (MA) technology for enhancing the performance of a CubeSat downlink communication system. Specifically, one surface of the CubeSat is considered as the transmit region for antenna movement. Meanwhile, solar panels, which are deployed above the CubeSat body, are regarded as reflectors that lead to multi-path signals and may intensify channel gains. This phenomenon is exploited in this work to maximize the downlink channel gain by adjusting MA positions in the transmit region. The continuous orbital movement of the CubeSat alters the angle of departure (AoD) of each transmitted signal, which may potentially affect channel gains across numerous positions in the transmit region. Therefore, the maximum channel gain is achieved for different elevation angles of the CubeSat via moving the antenna across the entire transmit region. Numerical results confirm that the optimal position of the MA could be different for different CubeSat elevation angles. In addition, our examinations shows that the maximum average channel gain achieved by MA is higher by more than 3 dB compared to the fixed antenna case. This demonstrates that the emerging MA technology can significantly enhance the CubeSat communication performance (e.g., extending the communication coverage of the CubeSat), especially when the CubeSat is near the horizon relative to a ground receiver.

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Date of Publication

1-1-2025

Publication Title

IEEE International Conference on Communications

Publisher

IEEE

School

School of Science / School of Engineering

RAS ID

84822

Funders

Australian Research Council

Grant Number

ARC Number : DP230100603

Comments

Khodkar, Z., Yan, S., Shah, S. A. A., Biswa, R., de Souza, P., Uggalla, L., & Ng, D. W. K. (2025, June). CubeSat downlink communications enhanced by movable antennas. In ICC 2025-IEEE International Conference on Communications (pp. 1061-1066). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICC52391.2025.11161675

Copyright

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First Page

1061

Last Page

1066