Ultra isn’t what it used to be. A team of engineers at Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is taking a new approach to phased-array antennas that the developers say could enable an ultra-wideband device to do the job of five regular antennas.
The Fragmented Aperture Antenna has already demonstrated a 33-to-1 bandwidth, blowing by the 10-to-1 ratio of conventional systems. Researchers say a 100-to-1 ration might not be far off for use in radar and communications environments.
Paul Friederich, a principal research engineer in GTRI’s Signature Technology Lab says the flat design of these antennas could save space, too, in military and other settings.
The twist with the new antennas is that they take advantage of “mutual coupling,” a sort of interaction among antennas that engineers have tried to avoid in the past, according to GTRI. The new antenna has been about 10 years in the making.
Bob Brown, bbrown@nww.com
