Fractal Antenna Launches Innovative Testing Facility

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22, 2001--Fractal Antenna Systems, Inc. today launched its new testing facility as part of its expanding capabilities for development of fractal element antennas for commercial applications in wireless, telecom and RFID industries.

  The heart of the facility is a "Reduced Reflection/Anechoic Range (RAR)". This structure allows precision measurements of antennas in a small space, with a near absence of reflections. The RAR design and facility were assembled in-house at the firm and will remain exclusively in-house.

  Nathan Cohen, CTO of the firm, built upon his background in radio astronomy and experimental physics in overseeing the RAR development, and described the RAR as: "something old and something new. Practically, the RAR gives us the opportunity to do antenna testing right at an engineer's work space rather than having him schlep over to a chamber, which he probably had to reserve ahead. Productivity and creativity are greatly enhanced in real time. Also, our RAR system is modular, easily moved, and extremely cost effective."

The problem with conventional antenna ranges and chambers is that they are time sinks. Users often have to trade off time and resources to optimize an antenna design. Cohen noted: "A chamber user seems like an astronomer fighting for use of a large telescope. One often feels like one should be treading lightly and speaking in hushed and reverent tones among a sea of blue wedges".

Notes company spokesman Phil Salkind. "A conventional chamber or range is not a conducive environment to fine tune a design. It definitely slows the process down. This translates to needless expense to the customer--either through multiplying the number of chambers needed for multiple development, or charging higher development costs."

Salkind sees several RAR's being constructed by the firm in the coming months, and notes that a second will completed within days.

Plans are to tailor many of the RAR's for custom development for antennas at 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz, and multiple band needs, in keeping with strong customer demand. Salkind also noted that the RAR facilities at the firm allow for development of antennas needs from 400 MHz to 10 GHz.

ABOUT FRACTAL
Fractal Antenna Systems, Inc., is privately held and based in Massachusetts. The company was founded in 1995 to develop and commercialize the fractal antenna innovations by Nathan Cohen. It holds a proprietary patented, and 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: http://www.sciam.com/1999/0799issue/0799techbus3.html.

CONTACT: 
Fractal Antenna Systems, Inc. 
Phil Salkind or Nuno Alves
617-381-9595

KEYWORD: MASSACHUSETTS