Spiral-Loop Sequential-Phase-Fed Radial-Sector Patch CP Antenna with Metasurface Superstrate and Parasitic Elements for S-Band CubeSats

This work presents a spiral-loop sequential-phase (SLSP)-fed radial-sector patch circularly polarized (CP) antenna for S-band CubeSat platforms. The architecture stacks three RO4003C substrates in an aluminum enclosure: a lower layer with tapered-blade parasitic elements, a middle layer with the SLSP feed and four radial-sector patches, and an upper tilted hexagonal metasurface superstrate separated by an air-gap. Characteristic mode analysis is used to realize an orthogonal modal pair. A prototype integrated on a CubeSat structure was measured in an anechoic chamber and validated under vibration and thermal-vacuum testing per ECSS/NASA practices. The antenna achieves a measured return loss bandwidth of 2–2.34 GHz, an axial ratio bandwidth of 2.04–2.25 GHz, and a maximum gain of 7.24 dBic at 2.18 GHz. The metasurface and parasitic elements enhance bandwidth while maintaining boresight CP. The novelty lies in the integration of SLSP-fed radial-sector patches with a tilted hexagonal metasurface superstrate and tapered-blade parasitic elements within a compact stacked configuration, making the proposed antenna well suited for CubeSat S-band applications.