Design and Implementation of a Diplexer and a Dual-Band VHF/UHF Antenna for Nanosatellites

CONSAT1 is a nanosatellite of the form 3U CubeSat designed and built by the Space Concordia group at Concordia University during the first Canadian Satellite Design Challenge (CSDC). Its mission is to detect and study high-energy particles in low earth orbits. This CubeSat relies on a single antenna to communicate with a ground station. The antenna feeds a diplexer that separates the transmit and receive frequencies. This letter shows the design and implementation of a dual-band spring-steel monopole antenna that resonates at both the uplink frequency of 146 MHz and the downlink at 438 MHz, and the associated diplexer. Agreement between simulation and pre-launch measurement on the flight hardware is demonstrated.