Small satellites have revolutionized the space industry because of their variety of benefits over large satellites. Antennas are one of the key components of the small satellites, whose performance is very crucial for the overall performance of the satellite-based wireless systems. The stringent requirements of modern small satellites, such as the small size and mass, low-power, low-loss, and low-cost dictate the need for the alternative antenna technologies, as the traditionally employed off-chip antenna technology faces a number of severe constraints to meet this set of requirements. On-chip-antennas (OCAs) are one of such promising choices, which are more favorable than off-chip antennas in this respect. This article, therefore, presents a comprehensive survey of OCA capabilities for modern small satellite (micro-satellite, mini-satellite, nano-satellite, pico-satellite, femto-satellite, cubsat) applications for the first time. A number of key challenges posed by OCAs for small satellite applications are investigated and discussed analytically. The article also delineates a few future perspectives in this regard. This article will not only highlight a number of novel research opportunities for the relevant researchers but also urge them to propose innovative solutions for OCA design challenges for these applications.

中文翻译：

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片上天线：小卫星大世界的下一个里程碑——潜力、挑战和未来方向调查

小型卫星由于与大型卫星相比具有多种优势，因此彻底改变了航天工业。天线是小卫星的关键部件之一，其性能对星基无线系统的整体性能至关重要。现代小型卫星的严格要求，如小尺寸和质量、低功率、低损耗和低成本，决定了对替代天线技术的需求，因为传统采用的片外天线技术面临着许多问题。满足这组要求的严格限制。片上天线 (OCA) 是此类有前途的选择之一，在这方面比片外天线更有利。因此，本文对现代小型卫星（微型卫星、小型卫星、纳卫星、微微卫星、毫微微卫星、cubsat）应用。对 OCA 对小型卫星应用提出的许多关键挑战进行了研究和分析。文章还描述了这方面的一些未来前景。本文不仅会为相关研究人员强调一些新的研究机会，还会敦促他们针对这些应用的 OCA 设计挑战提出创新的解决方案。