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Sub-THz Ground Station

TeraLink-1’s ground segment. A 2 m reflector dish with 83 µm surface accuracy for 225 GHz uplink and downlink.

Overview

System Requirements Review

Cross-section of the 2 m Cassegrain dish. Signals reflect off the primary dish onto a small subreflector and back down to the feed horn at the center. The primary must hold its shape to within 83 micrometers. 2 mSubreflectorPrimary reflector83 µm surfaceFeed horn, 225 GHz
Cross-section of the Cassegrain dish, not to scale.

The ground half of TeraLink-1’s terahertz link, and a truly unprecedented challenge: a 2 m Cassegrain reflector dish with a surface accuracy of 83 micrometers (0.083 mm), carrying two THz-band antennas for 225 GHz uplink and downlink.

When TeraLink-1 passes over our UHF ground station, it reports its location and telemetry. We turn that into a two-line element set (TLE) to predict where it will be, and the THz station uses a star tracker and rotator to point the dish and follow it. The satellite stores the uplink and downlink I/Q data from each experiment, then sends it down over S-band.

This semester the team is working on reflector surface-accuracy analysis and fabrication with vendors and NU facilities, thermal and structural analyses, hardware procurement, deployment-site preparation, and the electronics and software architecture for pointing and tracking.

Cassegrain reflector dish
2 m
Surface accuracy
83 µm
THz uplink & downlink
225 GHz

TeraLink-1’s ground segment · With UNLab at Northeastern’s INSI

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