Apex, quick, call the exterminator..
Nanotechnology Application 'Bugs' Fractal Antenna Founder
Business/Technology Editors
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21,2001--When Nathan Cohen devised
antenna elements from fractal shapes (fractal antennas) in the late
1980's, it was with the best of intentions. "I wanted a smaller and
better means of reception ", said Cohen.
These fascinating aerials can have beautiful repeating structures
over many size scales and are rapidly becoming the premier example of
fractal geometry being used in a practical way. Size reduction,
multiple/broad band frequency agility, greater reliability, and lower
costs have since become the new technology's drivers in the commercial
arena.
Over a dozen years since he first experimented with fractal
antennas, Cohen now finds himself a founder of a growing science with
across the board needs in wireless, RFID, and telecom. Cohen is also
Chairman and CTO of Fractal Antenna Systems, Inc., the firm that holds
a proprietary position on the technology.
With major benefits for the wireless arena, you might say that
fractal antennas make for 'good buzz' in the halls of high tech.
Others would call them the 'bee's knees'.
In more ways than one.
Cohen was recently notified that his innovation has been applied
in a way that even science fiction couldn't dream of. "There I was",
said Cohen. "drinking my morning coffee, shooing away a fly from my
danish, and reading e-mail. Several random e-mails directed me to a
web site that was starting to show up on the search engines. I made a
beeline to the web site. What I saw made me more than a bit itchy. In
fact it still stings with surprise."
The Naval Research Laboratory report detailed work in which honey
bees and other bugs were equipped with electronic circuits--and had
microscopic etched fractal antennas attached to their abdomens. The
use of bugs with nanotechnology circuits allows for radar jamming,
bio-robotic hybrids, and even clandestine wireless monitoring.
The bugs could be bugged or be some strange form of 'Bionic Bee'.
Admitted Cohen: "Not so long ago, the disruptive technology of
fractal antennas couldn't be given away. Now we see the technology
catching on because of its distinct advantages. Attaching tiny etched
fractal antennas to bugs shows they can be easily made and work where
other antennas can't. But the question that needs to be asked is:
'should they `bee' used where others can't?"
Cohen added: "Some bugs, such as moths, actually have evolved
fractal 'antennae', but these are sensing organs and not wireless
aerials. Adding (wireless) fractal antenna to bugs sounds a bit exotic
for our tastes and is not an authorized application of our firm's
technology: in six years under a corporate banner, we have yet to
receive a request from a beekeeper and we didn't know that bees were
under the purview of the Navy. Shouldn't it be the Air Force? In any
case, anyone wishing to apply our technology in such a biological
frame will have to present compelling reasons before we would even
consider it. To us it looks like an attempt to open Pandora's Box."
Cohen notes that the firm has always encouraged other scientists
to experiment with fractal antennas. "However", says Cohen, "when
applications are done by others, without any effort to procure a
license, that may constitute patent infringement and a deliberate
effort to ignore our intellectual property."
Cohen was clear to stress that the web-disseminated Navy report
also contains unattributed findings, and unauthorized use of
copyrighted material held by the firm. " It's still a fractal antenna
whether it's on a PDA, a wireless water meter, or an electronically
souped-up June bug, and care must be exercised to avoid applying our
technology and/or using our copyrights without permission or
compensation. We'll put a bug in their ear, and a bee in their
bonnet", assured Cohen, "but it's up to society to judge whether we
really need bugs with fractal antennas on them--at least when they're
not born with them".
ABOUT FRACTAL ANTENNA SYSTEM, INC.
Fractal Antenna Systems, Inc, (http://www.fractenna.com) is
privately held and based in Malden, Massachusetts at Telecom City, and
Belmont, Massachusetts. The company was founded in 1995 to develop and
commercialize the antenna innovations of Nathan Cohen. It holds a
proprietary, patented, and world-wide patent pending position on
fractal element antenna technology. Cohen, a radio astronomer and
physicist by training, built the first bona fide fractal antenna
element in 1988 and was the first to show, through publication, such
fractal antenna attributes as efficient, shrunken sizes (1995);
multiband (1995) and very wideband (1996) capabilities; use without
any external matching components (1995); gain over conventional-sized
designs (1996); control of frequency agility (1995); and other
important and useful characteristics. A review of the technology was
featured in Scientific American and available on the link:
sciam.com.
--30--bh/bos*
CONTACT: Fractal Antenna Systems, Inc.
Phil Salkind or Nuno Alves
617-381-9595
KEYWORD: MASSACHUSETTS
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: BIOTECHNOLOGY TELECOMMUNICATIONS
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May-21-2001 17:30 GMT
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