A basic cube satellite unit measures 10 x 10 x 10 cm and has a mass of around 1.33 kg. Due to their small size, cube satellites require the use of high-density interconnect technology, or HDI as we call it.
The use of HDI for the cube satellite market resolves several challenges, such as:
Intrinsic Limitations for High-Speed Communications
The cube satellites has the limited bandwidth resources which lead to high latency, low data rates, and eventual performance degradation. The demand for broader channel capacity is increasing for downloading the housekeeping and scientific data. Further, this is anticipated to limit the usage of the cube satellite for some high-speed communication applications.
Sensitivity to Stray Radiations
Is cube satellites are small in size and so are their electronic components which are more sensitive to stray radiations, this is expected to reduce the sampling capabilities of sensors. However, with all the precautions in place and coatings on surfaces, we can suppress the effects of the stray radiations.
Hardware Challenges
Hardware challenges such as miniaturization, power control, antenna design, delay tolerant networking and configurations are anticipated to limit the usage of the cube satellites. Moreover, their small form factor with limited access to solar energy is expected to increase system design challenges.
