Comparison of Conventional and Fractal Phased Arrays

We consider an unweighted conventional phased array and compare its performance characteristics such as the array factor, half-power beamwidth, directivity, number of elements and side-lobe levels to a fractal array equivalent. We show that the Cantor fractal set can be used to thin the array structure in such a way as to consist of active radiating elements and inactive elements the latter of which can be used for other functions. We demonstrate that the conventional array 'defocuses' its energy for frequencies other than its design frequency and behaves like a point source. On the other hand the fractal array maintains its beamforming capability for various frequencies which signifies that it has a multiband response. The fractal array is shown to be superior to the conventional array except when it comes to the side-lobe level where the conventional array results are better. The original document contains color images.