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A fractal antenna is an antenna that uses a fractal, self-similar design to maximize the effective length, or increase the perimeter (on inside sections or the outer structure), of material that can receive or transmit electromagnetic radiation within a given total surface area or volume.
Such fractal antennas are also referred to as multilevel and space filling curves, but the key aspect lies in their repetition of a motif over two or more scale sizes,[3] or "iterations". For this reason, fractal antennas are very compact, multiband or wideband, and have useful applications in cellular telephone and microwave communications. A fractal antenna's response differs markedly from traditional antenna designs, in that it is capable of operating with good-to-excellent performance at many different frequencies simultaneously. Normally, standard antennas have to be "cut" for the frequency for which they are to be used—and thus the standard antennas only work well at that frequency.
In addition, the fractal nature of the antenna shrinks its size, without the use of any extra components such as inductors or capacitors.
- ^ Cohen, Nathan (Summer 1995). "Fractal antennas Part 1". Communications Quarterly. 5: 7–22. ISSN 1053-9433.
- ^ Ghosh, Basudeb; Sinha, Sachendra N.; and Kartikeyan, M. V. (2014). Fractal Apertures in Waveguides, Conducting Screens and Cavities: Analysis and Design, p.88. Volume 187 of Springer Series in Optical Sciences. ISBN 9783319065359.
- ^ Nathan Cohen (2002) "Fractal antennas and fractal resonators" U.S. patent 6,452,553