CubeSat Communication Subsystems: A Review of On-Board Transceiver Architectures, Protocols, and Performance

<p dir="ltr">Small satellite communications recently entered a period of massive interest driven by the uprising commercial and civil space applications and motivated by various technological advances. Miniaturized satellites, known as CubeSats, are particularly attractive due to the...

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التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
المؤلف الرئيسي: Amr Zeedan (17983750) (author)
مؤلفون آخرون: Tamer Khattab (16870086) (author)
منشور في: 2023
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author Amr Zeedan (17983750)
author2 Tamer Khattab (16870086)
author2_role author
author_facet Amr Zeedan (17983750)
Tamer Khattab (16870086)
author_role author
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Amr Zeedan (17983750)
Tamer Khattab (16870086)
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023-08-18T06:00:00Z
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv 10.1109/access.2023.3304419
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/CubeSat_Communication_Subsystems_A_Review_of_On-Board_Transceiver_Architectures_Protocols_and_Performance/25239484
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv CC BY 4.0
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electronics, sensors and digital hardware
Materials engineering
CubeSat
Transceivers
Baseband
Satellites
Costs
Field programmable gate arrays
Protocols
Low-power electronics
Small satellites
RF transceivers
communication protocols
low-power communications
SDR
nanosatellites
low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv CubeSat Communication Subsystems: A Review of On-Board Transceiver Architectures, Protocols, and Performance
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Text
Journal contribution
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
text
contribution to journal
description <p dir="ltr">Small satellite communications recently entered a period of massive interest driven by the uprising commercial and civil space applications and motivated by various technological advances. Miniaturized satellites, known as CubeSats, are particularly attractive due to their low development and deployment costs which makes them very promising in playing a central role in the global wireless communication sector with numerous applications ranging from Earth imaging and space exploration to military applications. Moreover, constellations of CubeSats in low Earth orbits (LEOs) can meet the increasing demands of global-coverage low-cost high-speed flexible connectivity. However, this requires innovative solutions to overcome the significant challenges facing high-data-rate low-power space communications. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the design, protocols, and architectures of state-of-the-art CubeSat communication subsystems with a particular focus on their baseband structures. The literature is surveyed in detail to identify all design, testing, and demonstration stages as well as accurately describe the systems’ architectures and communication protocols. The reliability, performance, data rate, and power consumption of the reviewed systems are critically compared and evaluated to understand the limitations of existing CubeSat transceivers and identify directions of future developments. It is concluded that CubeSat communication subsystems still face many challenges, namely the development of energy-efficient high-speed transceivers that satisfy CubeSats’ cost, mass, size, and power constraints. Nevertheless, several directions for improvements are proposed such as the use of improved channel coding algorithms, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), beamforming, advanced antennas, deployable solar panels, and transition to higher frequency bands. By providing a concrete summary of existing CubeSat on-board transceiver designs and critically evaluating their unique features and limitations as well as offering insights about potential improvements, the review should aid CubeSat developers, researchers, and companies to develop more efficient high data rate CubeSat transceivers.</p><h2>Other Information</h2><p dir="ltr">Published in: IEEE Access<br>License: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/access.2023.3304419" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/access.2023.3304419</a></p>
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spelling CubeSat Communication Subsystems: A Review of On-Board Transceiver Architectures, Protocols, and PerformanceAmr Zeedan (17983750)Tamer Khattab (16870086)EngineeringElectrical engineeringElectronics, sensors and digital hardwareMaterials engineeringCubeSatTransceiversBasebandSatellitesCostsField programmable gate arraysProtocolsLow-power electronicsSmall satellitesRF transceiverscommunication protocolslow-power communicationsSDRnanosatelliteslow Earth orbit (LEO) satellites<p dir="ltr">Small satellite communications recently entered a period of massive interest driven by the uprising commercial and civil space applications and motivated by various technological advances. Miniaturized satellites, known as CubeSats, are particularly attractive due to their low development and deployment costs which makes them very promising in playing a central role in the global wireless communication sector with numerous applications ranging from Earth imaging and space exploration to military applications. Moreover, constellations of CubeSats in low Earth orbits (LEOs) can meet the increasing demands of global-coverage low-cost high-speed flexible connectivity. However, this requires innovative solutions to overcome the significant challenges facing high-data-rate low-power space communications. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the design, protocols, and architectures of state-of-the-art CubeSat communication subsystems with a particular focus on their baseband structures. The literature is surveyed in detail to identify all design, testing, and demonstration stages as well as accurately describe the systems’ architectures and communication protocols. The reliability, performance, data rate, and power consumption of the reviewed systems are critically compared and evaluated to understand the limitations of existing CubeSat transceivers and identify directions of future developments. It is concluded that CubeSat communication subsystems still face many challenges, namely the development of energy-efficient high-speed transceivers that satisfy CubeSats’ cost, mass, size, and power constraints. Nevertheless, several directions for improvements are proposed such as the use of improved channel coding algorithms, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), beamforming, advanced antennas, deployable solar panels, and transition to higher frequency bands. By providing a concrete summary of existing CubeSat on-board transceiver designs and critically evaluating their unique features and limitations as well as offering insights about potential improvements, the review should aid CubeSat developers, researchers, and companies to develop more efficient high data rate CubeSat transceivers.</p><h2>Other Information</h2><p dir="ltr">Published in: IEEE Access<br>License: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/access.2023.3304419" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/access.2023.3304419</a></p>2023-08-18T06:00:00ZTextJournal contributioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersiontextcontribution to journal10.1109/access.2023.3304419https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/CubeSat_Communication_Subsystems_A_Review_of_On-Board_Transceiver_Architectures_Protocols_and_Performance/25239484CC BY 4.0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:figshare.com:article/252394842023-08-18T06:00:00Z
spellingShingle CubeSat Communication Subsystems: A Review of On-Board Transceiver Architectures, Protocols, and Performance
Amr Zeedan (17983750)
Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electronics, sensors and digital hardware
Materials engineering
CubeSat
Transceivers
Baseband
Satellites
Costs
Field programmable gate arrays
Protocols
Low-power electronics
Small satellites
RF transceivers
communication protocols
low-power communications
SDR
nanosatellites
low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites
status_str publishedVersion
title CubeSat Communication Subsystems: A Review of On-Board Transceiver Architectures, Protocols, and Performance
title_full CubeSat Communication Subsystems: A Review of On-Board Transceiver Architectures, Protocols, and Performance
title_fullStr CubeSat Communication Subsystems: A Review of On-Board Transceiver Architectures, Protocols, and Performance
title_full_unstemmed CubeSat Communication Subsystems: A Review of On-Board Transceiver Architectures, Protocols, and Performance
title_short CubeSat Communication Subsystems: A Review of On-Board Transceiver Architectures, Protocols, and Performance
title_sort CubeSat Communication Subsystems: A Review of On-Board Transceiver Architectures, Protocols, and Performance
topic Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electronics, sensors and digital hardware
Materials engineering
CubeSat
Transceivers
Baseband
Satellites
Costs
Field programmable gate arrays
Protocols
Low-power electronics
Small satellites
RF transceivers
communication protocols
low-power communications
SDR
nanosatellites
low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites