ビーム数を倍増する衛星通信機用無線チップの開発に成功~通信衛星コンステレーションの高速・大容量化を独自集積回路で実現~

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2025-04-08 東京科学大学

東京科学大学の研究チームは、衛星搭載用通信機において、従来の2倍のビーム数を制御可能な無線チップの開発に成功しました。新たに考案した「スイッチ型90度カプラー回路」を用いることで、右旋および左旋の2種類の円偏波信号を独立に位相制御し、Ka帯での動作を実現しました。この成果は、衛星通信の高速・大容量化や低消費電力化に寄与し、より多くの人々が利用できる通信環境の実現が期待されます。

ビーム数を倍増する衛星通信機用無線チップの開発に成功~通信衛星コンステレーションの高速・大容量化を独自集積回路で実現~図1. 右旋および左旋円偏波を独立にビーム制御可能

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11.1 小型衛星群向けスイッチ型直交ハイブリッドファーストアーキテクチャを用いた256素子KaバンドCMOSフェーズドアレイ受信機 11.1 A 256-Element Ka-Band CMOS Phased-Array Receiver Using Switch-Type Quadrature-Hybrid-First Architecture for Small Satellite Constellations

Sena Kato; Jill Mayeda; Keito Yuasa; Michihiro Ide; Takeshi Ota; Shu Date,…
2025 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC)  Date Added to IEEE Xplore:06 March 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/ISSCC49661.2025.10904607

Abstract:

Small satellite constellations deploy many small satellites in low earth orbit (LEO), allowing them to communicate with each other and with ground stations to provide a robust worldwide network. Compared to large conventional satellites, many small satellites can be deployed in a single launch, thus significantly reducing costs [1], [2]. In addition, small satellites are available in a wide range of sizes, from several 10s of kgs to several 100s of kgs, and the requirements vary greatly depending on the weight of the satellite. The upper figure in Fig. 11.1.1 shows the use cases of various satellites and their respective specifications. For 10s of kgs satellites, it is important to operate with low power consumption, due to the limitations of the solar panels, and the satellites only need to receive low-speed single-polarized signals [3]. In Fig. 11.1.1, these two small satellites receive right-hand circular-polarized (RHCP) signals and left-hand circular-polarized (LHCP) signals from ground stations. On the other hand, 100s of kgs satellites can be equipped with a large solar panel, so they do not need to operate with low power consumption, however, these satellites need to receive high-speed dual-polarized signals [4]. Physically, the use of dual polarization enables the ability to communicate with two separately located signals (i.e. a user terminal (UT) and a ground station) simultaneously, which this work aims to achieve. In Fig. 11.1.1, two small satellites are drawn, one receiving RHCP and LHCP signals from a ground station and a UT, respectively, and the other receiving RHCP and LHCP signals from the same ground station. In this work, we propose a phased-array receiver using a switch-type quadrature hybrid that can switch its operation as a quadrature hybrid to flexibly meet the requirements of various satellites. Conventional receivers can only receive single-circular-polarized signals or if the receiver can receive dual-circular-polarized signals, they require large power consumption. The proposed receiver reduces power consumption by half when receiving single-circular-polarized signals and operates with the same power consumption when using dual-circular polarization. In addition, the proposed receiver can also receive linear-polarized signals for a wide range of satellite requirements and applications.

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