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A Self-Similar Fractal Radiation Pattern Synthesis Technique for Reconfigurable Multiband Arrays
Douglas H. Werner, Senior Member, IEEE, Mark A. Gingrich, and Pingjuan L. Werner
AbstractA novel method for designing reconfigurable multiband linear and planar antenna arrays is presented in this paper. The technique is based on a generalized Fourier series synthesis approach that exploits the self-similarity of a specified fractal radiation pattern in order to achieve the desired multiband performance. The fractal radiation patterns are composed of scaled and shifted copies of an appropriately chosen generating window function that exhibits low sidelobe levels and rapid spectral rolloffs in the transform domain. A newly developed thinning algorithm will be presented which may be employed to considerably reduce both the overall physical size as well as the total number of elements in a synthesized multiband array. Finally, a band-switching scheme is introduced that is well-suited for implementation in the form of a reconfigurable common aperture array. Index TermsAntenna arrays, fractals, multiband arrays, reconfigurable apertures.

Fig. 1.

Linear array geometry.

I. INTRODUCTION HERE has been a considerable amount of recent interest in the radiation characteristics of self-scalable and self-similar fractal arrays. For instance, the properties of random fractal arrays have been investigated in [1] for the purpose of synthesizing a sparse or thinned array with relatively low sidelobes that is robust with respect to element failure as well as variations in element location and current excitation. Methods for the synthesis of Weierstrass fractal radiation patterns using selfscalable linear arrays of discrete elements were first considered in [2]. Also reported in [2] is a FourierWeierstrass fractal radiation pattern synthesis technique for continuous line sources. A design methodology for multiband Weierstrass linear arrays was presented in [3]. Application of fractal concepts to the design of multiband Koch linear arrays as well as low sidelobe Cantor linear arrays are discussed in [4]. Planar array configurations based on Sierpinski carpets have been considered in [5][8]. The properties of concentric circular Weierstrass arrays and self-similar concentric circular Cantor arrays have also been investigated in [9] and [10], respectively. A more comprehensive overview of recent developments in the area of fractal antenna engineering, with particular emphasis placed on the theory and design of fractal arrays, can be found in [11]. A new technique for the design of multiband arrays, based on the application of fractal geometric concepts to antenna theory,

is presented in this paper. The distinguishing features of the technique introduced here are its ability to synthesize reconfigurable multiband arrays that have self-similar fractal radiation patterns with a certain desired (i.e., specified) beamwidth and sidelobe level as well as no grating lobes in the intended band or bands of operation. An array thinning procedure and a novel band-switching scheme have also been developed for use in conjunction with the multiband fractal radiation pattern synthesis technique. The band-switching scheme introduced in Section III-B offers several important advantages over the method for multiband array design originally proposed in [4]. These include: 1) a significantly reduced mutual coupling environment; 2) the fact that a minimal amount of element switching is required; and 3) the ability to easily implement in the form of a reconfigurable multiband aperture. Another noteworthy feature of the synthesis technique is that all the advantages of the band-switching scheme are preserved under the array truncation and thinning operation outlined in Section III-C. The utility of this new multiband fractal radiation pattern synthesis technique is demonstrated in Section IV by considering several design examples for both linear and planar arrays. II. THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT A. Linear Arrays Suppose we consider the array geometry shown in Fig. 1. The array factor for this array may be expressed as [12], [13]

(1) If we let then (2)

Manuscript received August 14, 2001; revised May 12, 2002 The authors are with The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Research Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 USA. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2003.813608

0018-926X/03$17.00 2003 IEEE

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been reduced by a factor of two. The superposition of these four uniformly spaced linear arrays (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 4) results in the nonuniformly spaced array shown at the bottom of Fig. 2. It can be shown that a generalization of this concept leads to an array configuration that produces the following composite self-similar fractal radiation pattern:

(4) where (5)

(6)

Fig. 2. Fractal array as a superposition of P = 4 uniformly-spaced 5-element subarrays. Due to symmetry, only half of the array geometry is shown, with one element being located at the origin.

is the desired generating function, is the and where number of stages used in the construction of the fractal radiation pattern, is the scaling or similarity factor, and is an additional current amplitude scaling parameter. Note that for the first stage , expression (4) reduces to of growth when

If

then this represents a Fourier series on the interval such that

(7)

(3)

which is the original linear generating array with elements uniis an formly spaced a distance apart. We also note that if , then even function, i.e.,

This fact is well-known and has been used as the basis of a radiation pattern synthesis technique for uniformly spaced linear arrays [12], [13]. In other words, for some specified radiation pattern, the current distribution required to produce this desired pattern may be obtained directly from (3). One of the drawbacks of this synthesis technique, however, is that it leads to array designs that are characteristically narrow-band, due primarily to the uniform spacing between elements. Consequently, grating lobes will begin to appear as the operating frequency of the array is increased beyond that for which it was originally designed. The main objective of this paper is to develop a radiation pattern synthesis technique that leads to multiband array designs. We will show here that this may be accomplished by generalizing the fractal radiation pattern synthesis technique for discrete arrays originally introduced in [2]. The first step toward developing such a multiband synthesis technique is to recognize that a self-similar fractal radiation pattern may be formed by the superposition of radiation produced by a sequence of linear arrays whose relative element spacings and current distributions have been appropriately scaled. For example, Fig. 2 shows a five element linear generating array followed by a sequence of three scaled versions of this array. In this case, the element spacings for each consecutive linear array have been expanded by a factor of two, while the current distribution has

(8)

From this it follows that that (4) reduces to

, which may be used to show

(9) Equations (8) and (9) represent an important special case that frequently occurs in practice, namely, where the array is assumed to have a symmetric current amplitude distribution. The standard approach for phasing a uniformly spaced linear array may be easily generalized to include the particular family of nonuniformly spaced linear arrays considered here. This is a direct consequence of the fact that this class of nonuniformly spaced arrays may be decomposed into a series of consecutively scaled uniformly spaced arrays as illustrated in Fig. 2. Hence, the required array element current phases may be obtained from the formula (10)

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related to the FourierWeierstrass arrays previously studied in [2], [11]. In fact, it can be shown that represent . The bandlimited Weierstrass functions provided of these Weierstrass functions associated fractal dimension is given by as (14) Finally, we note that the self-similar fractal radiation patterns produced by these arrays suggest that they may be used as multiband arrays that maintain the same radiation characteristics at an infinite number of frequencies. To see this, let us consider an array with a doubly infinite number of stages that has the following normalized expression for the array factor:

Fig. 3. Same fractal array as shown in Fig. 2, but as a superposition of = 2 nonuniformly-spaced subarrays, plus an element at the origin. Due to symmetry, only half of the array geometry is shown.

(15) where

where and is the desired position angle of the main beam. By taking into account a current phase distribution of this type, the array factor expression given in (9) becomes (16) and (11) Now suppose that we truncate the array to a finite number of elements and interchange the order of summation found in (11). This leads to the following expression for the corresponding array factor: (17) (18) (19) where is a unitless parameter. If we assume that this array is operated at the discrete set of frequencies given by (12) where (13) (20) where represents the base-band design frequency of the array, then it follows from (15) and (16) that (21) where (22) Hence, the relationship arrived at in (21) suggests that this array will exhibit multiband performance characteristics. At this point we note that this multiband property holds for infinite arrays. However, once these arrays are truncated, the desirable multiband properties rapidly degrade. In order to compensate for these truncation effects, a band-switching methodology that exploits the inherent self-similarity associated with this family of arrays will be introduced in Section III-B.

The expression given in (12) may be interpreted as representing the superposition of the radiation produced by a series of self-scalable arrays as illustrated by the example considered in Fig. 3. This example shows a sequence of two nonuniformly spaced eight-element linear arrays. The element at the origin is considered separately in this case. As before, the element spacings for each consecutive linear array have been expanded by a factor of two. In addition to this, however, the consecutive element spacings within a given linear subarray are also expanded by a factor of two. This leads to an array configuration that is doubly self-scalable. The composite array in this case is shown at the bottom of Fig. 3, which is exactly the same configuration arrived at in Fig. 2. It is interesting to note that these self-scalable arrays are closely

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If we further assume that and (31) may be written as

and

then (30)

(32) (33) At this point we form a sequence of self-scalable planar arrays in a manner directly analogous to the construction procedure introduced in the previous section for linear arrays. The resulting composite radiation pattern formed by this ensemble of sequentially scaled planar arrays is given by

(34) where
Fig. 4. Planar array geometry.

(35)

B. Planar Arrays The multiband array synthesis technique introduced for linear arrays in the previous section will be generalized here to include planar square arrays. Suppose we consider the uniformly spaced square planar array configuration shown in Fig. 4. The array factor for this array may be expressed as [14] for (36)

This synthesis procedure yields nonuniformly spaced planar array configurations with two-dimensional self-similar fractal radiation patterns that are based on scaled and translated . versions of a specified generating function III. MULTIBAND ARRAY SYNTHESIS

(23) where (24) (25) (26) (27) Now if we assume that (28) then the expression for the planar array factor given in (23) may be decomposed into the product of two linear array factors. The result is (29) where (30) (37) (31) A. Fractal Pattern Synthesis via Window Functions A technique will be introduced in this section for synthesizing fractal radiation patterns using window functions that, if properly chosen, can lead to thinned multiband arrays of minimal physical size. The window functions that will be considered here feature low sidelobe levels and rapid spectral rolloffs in the transform domain. Window functions with these properties are ideal candidates for use in antenna pattern synthesis because the resulting element currents rapidly diminish and become insignificant with increasing distance from the origin. This allows for the development of very effective thinning techniques that can be applied to dramatically reduce the element count and physical size of the resulting arrays. Three types of window functions will be investigated in this paper, which include the Blackman, BlackmanHarris, and KaiserBessel windows [15]. The continuous form of the Blackman window as defined in [15] is given by

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where is the lobe width at null (i.e., the first-null beamwidth). The Blackman window features a transform domain sidelobe level of 58 dB and a spectral rolloff of 18 dB per octave compared, for example, with the 13 dB sidelobe level and 6 dB per octave rolloff corresponding to a simple rectangular window. Hence, the use of this window function would result in synthesized array current distributions that rapidly taper off away from the origin. Substituting (37) into (36) and evaluating the resulting integral leads to the following expression for the Fourier cosine series coefficients associated with the Blackman window:

(38) for a linear array or Consequently, the excitation currents for a planar array may be readily calculated using (38) in conjunction with (5) or (35), respectively. A four-term BlackmanHarris window is obtained in [15] as an extension of the above Blackman window such that, , see (39) shown at the bottom of page, where , , and . The BlackmanHarris window results in a sidelobe level of 92 dB in the transformed domain and has a 6 dB per octave rolloff. The Fourier cosine series coefficients for the BlackmanHarris window are given by
Fig. 5. Comparison of window functions and their Fourier transforms.

The third window that will be considered is the KaiserBessel window) which is defined window (also known as the as [15]

(41)

(40)

represents the modified Bessel function of the first where kind of order 0 and argument . The KaiserBessel window allows an extra degree of freedom over the two previous windows through the parameter . By varying the KaiserBessel

(39)

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(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 6. Overhead contour plots of a four-band (P = 4) planar fractal array radiation pattern with s = 3 and N = 45. Unthinned case with " = 0 synthesized using a Blackman window. (a) Band 1, (b) Band 2, (c) Band 3, and (d) Band 4.

window may be adjusted from a rectangular window of width to a narrow spike approximating a delta func). In terms of array pattern synthesis, this altion (as lows the 3 dB beamwidth to be varied independently of the first-null beamwidth, which is not possible with the Blackman or BlackmanHarris windows. In the case of the KaiserBessel window, closed-form solutions to the corresponding Fourier coefficient integrals in (36) are not available. However, a useful approximation to

the Fourier transform of the KaiserBessel window has been shown to be [15]

(42)

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(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 7. xz plane ( = 0 ) slice of the synthesized four-band (P = 4) planar array radiation pattern with s = 3 and N = 45. Unthinned case with synthesized using a Blackman window.

"

= 0

Since the window function vanishes outside the interval (i.e., has compact support), and using is a real-valued functhe fact that the Fourier transform of tion, we find that (36) may be approximated by sampling the continuous Fourier transform of the KaiserBessel window at . Following this procedure leads to the result the values

also obvious that they all three greatly outperform the simple rectangular window. B. Band-Switching Scheme One of the major drawbacks of the multiband array design approach originally proposed in [4] is the fact that as the array is progressively switched from the highest band down through to the lowest band, the electrical spacing between elements becomes closer and closer together. For example, suppose that a is considered. four-band design with a scale factor of Further suppose that the minimum electrical separation between at the highest band of operation array elements is . Switching to the next band where where we find that the minimum separation between elements is now . Likewise, for the third band where and the fourth band where we find that and , respectively. Hence, in practice, these arrays would experience significant mutual coupling

(43)

A comparison is made in Fig. 5 of the three different window functions (i.e, Blackman, BlackmanHarris, and KaiserBessel) and their corresponding Fourier transforms. It is seen that these windows essentially trade off main lobe width for sidelobe suppression in the transform domain. It is

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Fig. 8. Three-dimensional perspective plots of a four-band (P = 4) planar fractal array radiation pattern with s = 3 and N = 45. Thinned case with " = 0:1 synthesized using a Blackman window. (a) Band 1, (b) Band 2, (c) Band 3, and (d) Band 4.

effects due to the close proximity of the elements, especially during low-band operation. In order to circumvent this problem, we introduce a bandswitching scheme that consists of turning off successive subarrays as the frequency of operation is increased. This scheme exploits the unique self-scaling properties of these arrays in such a way that requires only a minimal number of elements be turned on or off as the array is switched from one band to the next. Another advantage of this approach is that it provides an ideal framework for implementation of these arrays as multiband reconfigurable apertures. The multiband array design procedure begins by selecting and the desired number an appropriate scaling factor of frequency bands . The individual bands of the resulting array (either linear or planar) would be centered at . For high-band operation (i.e., ), all subarrays are excited. However, Band 1 where when the array is switched to the second band (i.e., Band 2 ) the first subarray corresponding to where is shut off. When the array is switched to the third band (i.e., ), the first and second stage subarrays Band 3 where and , respectively, are shut off. corresponding to This process is repeated until, for the lowest frequency band ), all subarrays are shut off (i.e., Band where except for the last stage. C. Truncation/Thinning Algorithm As discussed in Section III-A, the choice of a suitable window function, from which a self-similar fractal radiation

pattern can be synthesized, is an important consideration in the design process of multiband arrays. Window functions, such as those considered in Section III-A, exhibit the highly desirable properties of having low sidelobes and rapid rolloffs in the transform domain. These properties can be exploited to develop thinning algorithms to reduce both the physical size as well as the number of elements in the synthesized multiband arrays, while maintaining any associated pattern degradation within acceptable limits. The steps required to implement an algorithm useful for thinning the type of multiband arrays considered in this paper will now be outlined. One way of interpreting the multiband array factor expressions given in (11) and (34) is that these types of arrays may be decomposed into a series of uniformly-spaced subarrays whose current distributions are scaled replicas of one another. With this fact in mind, the truncation algorithm is then applied in the same way to each subarray, which has the advantage of preserving the desirable self-scaling properties of these subarrays. More specifically, if the element currents on each of subarrays (either linear or planar) are normalized by the their respective maximum values, then all normalized element current magnitudes with values that are less than a specified tolerance will be set equal to zero. Once this procedure has been applied, then the current distributions on each of the thinned subarrays are un-normalized. In other words, the normalized current distributions of the subarrays are rescaled by for . Finally, the indithe factor vidual subarrays are then superimposed to form the resulting composite thinned linear or planar multiband array. This is

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(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 9. xz plane ( = 0 ) slices of the synthesized four-band planar array radiation pattern with s = 3 and N = 45. Thinned case with " = 0:1 synthesized using a Blackman window.

in direct contrast to the algorithms implemented in [4], [16], [17] where the truncation scheme is applied to the overall fractal array instead of the individual subarrays. Another important advantage of the thinning approach developed here is that it preserves the reconfigurable band-switching scheme introduced in Section III-B. The choice of the parameter represents a tradeoff between the accuracy of the synthesized radiation pattern and the overall size and number of elements in the array. For multiband arrays synthesized via Blackman, Blackman-Harris, and Kaiser-Bessel windows, it was found that a practical range for the truncation . The values of closer to 0.1 will lead tolerance is to smaller sized arrays with fewer elements. However, they will also result in more error between the desired and the synthesized radiation patterns. D. Array Elements The successful implementation in practice of the multiband array synthesis technique introduced in this paper requires that the proper choice of antenna elements be made. One possibility

is to use some type of fractal antenna that is designed to have the same multiband radiation properties as the array (i.e., the same scaling/similarity factor would be used for designing the multiband fractal antenna elements and the multiband array). Also, as previously mentioned, the design methodology developed in this paper is well suited for application to the synthesis of reconfigurable multiband apertures. For instance, the reconfigurable aperture could be formed by a grid of electrically small conducting patches with MEMS or other types of RF switches placed between some or all of the patches. Hence, switching between the different bands may be accomplished by opening and closing the required set of connections between these patches in order to form the appropriate sized radiating elements. IV. RESULTS An example will be presented here in order to illustrate the multiband fractal radiation pattern synthesis technique introduced in this paper. Suppose we wish to synthesize a multiband , , planar array with band center frequencies of ,

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(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 10. xz plane ( = 0 ) slice of the synthesized four-band planar array radiation pattern with s = 3, N = 45, and the main beam steered to  = 45 ,  = 0 . Thinned case with " = 0:1 synthesized using a Blackman window.

. In this case, the scale factor for the design would be and the number of required bands are . Choosing a leads to a first-null Blackman window function with beamwidth (FNBW) of approximately 39 . Consequently, the 3-dB or half-power beamwidth (HPBW) is approximately 11 , obtained by numerical solution of (44) Strictly speaking, this expression is only valid for a single stage , but if is greater than about 10 then successive stages contribute negligibly to the characteristics of the main lobe and (44) provides a reasonably accurate estimate of the is selected in half-power beamwidth. The parameter order to set the sidelobe level at approximately 20 dB down from the mian beam. Finally, the interelement spacing, , is chosen to be a half-wavelength at the highest operating ). Hence, the ideal frequency of the array (i.e., at

and

radiation pattern will be composed of a superposition of scaled and shifted versions of the original Blackman window function (see Fig. 3.42 of [11]). Synthesized radiation patterns for this four-band planar array example with (i.e., unthinned) are shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Overhead contour plots of the radiation patterns are presented in Fig. 6 for each of the four bands. Fig. 7 contains a series of four radiation pattern slices, one for each band, plane . Note that half-wave spacing taken in the between active array elements is maintained throughout each of the four bands. This is accomplished by implementing the band-switching scheme discussed in Section III-B. The synthesized planar array is composed of four subarrays with 91 by 91 elements in each [i.e., the Fourier series coefficients up have been retained in (34)], resulting in a comto posite multiband planar array that requires 30 421 elements to cover all four bands. However, by implementing the thinning , procedure discussed in Section III-C and choosing the number of elements may be dramatically reduced to only

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(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 11. Radiation pattern slices synthesized from a thinned (" = 0:1) planar array using a KaiserBessel window with (a)  = 2:5, (b)  = 1:8, (c)  = 1:5, and (d)  = 1:1. As the parameter  is decreased, the beamwidth increases and the required number of array elements decreases from (a) 409, (b) 281, (c) 249, to (d) 165.

409 to cover all four bands. Three-dimensional views of the synthesized radiation patterns for the four-band thinned array are shown in Fig. 8, while Fig. 9 contains the corresponding pattern slices. This sequence of figures demonstrates that thinning can lead to arrays with higher average sidelobe levels. More importantly, however, these figures also show that the characteristics of the main beam as well as the peak sidelobe level are essentially preserved by the thinning process. Finally, Fig. 10 shows a series of four radiation pattern slices plane, where the main beam is steered to taken in the , for each band. The examples of synthesized multiband arrays considered above were all based on the Blackman window function. However, more flexibility can be achieved in the design of such arrays by using a KaiserBessel window rather than a Blackman or BlackmanHarris window. This is due to the additional degree of control offered by the parameter , which may be varied to tradeoff beamwidth versus sidelobe level in the transform do-

main. The major benefit of this is that it allows more freedom to adjust the overall size and total number of elements in a synthesized array once the truncation/thinning process has been applied. Examples of this are provided in Fig. 11, which illustrates that as the parameter is varied from 2.5 to 1.1, the number of elements required for the corresponding thinned four-band , , and ) can be further reduced; array ( albeit, at the expense of the half-power beamwidth. Note that only the synthesized radiation patterns for the first band (i.e., Band 1) of a four-band array are included in Fig. 11. Fig. 11(a) shows that a KaiserBessel window with a value of and will yield an array with 409 elements, which is comparable to what was achieved previously with a Blackman window. However, Fig. 11(b) shows the synthesized radiation pattern that results when the parameters of the KaiserBessel and . This choice window are chosen to be of parameters leads to a thinned array having a total of 281 elements (128 less than the previous case). Next we consider the

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cases of the more general design methodology introduced here. Also of equal importance is the fact that this new method circumvents past limitations associated with the practical application of fractal radiation pattern synthesis techniques based on either Weierstrass or Koch arrays. The advantages of this new multiband array design approach are a significantly reduced mutual coupling environment, the fact that a minimal amount of element switching is required, and the ability to easily implement in the form of a reconfigurable aperture. A thinning procedure, based on the choice of an appropriate window function, was also developed that preserves all the advantages of the bandswitching scheme. Several candidate window functions were considered including the rectangular, Blackman, BlackmanHarris, and KaiserBessel. Finally, the fractal antenna engineering design techniques developed in this paper have been illustrated by presenting some specific examples of synthesized multiband planar arrays. REFERENCES
Fig. 12. Overhead contour plot of an unthinned Weierstrass planar array factor with P ,s , and : . This radiation pattern was synthesized using a Blackman window with = .

=5 =3

=05 1=2 3

case shown in Fig. 11(c) where and . In this case we find that the number of required elements in the synthesized array is reduced to 249. Finally, in the last case shown and were in Fig. 11(d), parameter values of used. This resulted in a synthesized four-band array with only 165 elements. Fig. 12 shows an overhead contour plot of a Weierstrass fractal radiation pattern synthesized from a planar array with , , and . This figure nicely conparameters veys the rich self-similar structure characteristic of Weierstrass radiation patterns. This Weierstrass array was synthesized using . The primary a Blackman window function with disadvantage of Weierstrass arrays in general is the restriction , which on once has been specified; i.e., leads to patterns with relatively poor sidelobe suppression. For example, the sidelobe level for the radiation pattern shown in dB below the main Fig. 12 is approximately lobe. V. CONCLUSION It has recently been demonstrated that multiband properties can be achieved for certain self-scalable arrays, namely those which produce self-similar fractal radiation patterns in the limit of infinite array size. More specifically, two types of multifrequency arrays have been considered in the literature, one which generated Weierstrass fractal radiation patterns [3], and the other which generated Koch fractal radiation patterns [4]. In this paper we have considered a unified approach to the design of multiband arrays via the synthesis of fractal radiation patterns. It has been shown that the Weierstrass and Koch arrays, previously considered independent, are actually special

[1] Y. Kim and D. L. Jaggard, The fractal random array, Proc. IEEE, vol. 74, no. 9, pp. 12781280, 1986. [2] D. H. Werner and P. L. Werner, On the synthesis of fractal radiation patterns, Rad. Sci., vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 2945, 1995. , Frequency-independent features of self-similar fractal antennas, [3] Rad. Sci., vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 13311343, 1996. [4] C. Puente Baliarda and R. Pous, Fractal design of multiband and low side-lobe arrays, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 44, pp. 730739, May 1996. [5] R. L. Haupt and D. H. Werner, Fast array factor calculations for fractal arrays, in Proc. 13th Annu. Review Progress in Applied Computational Electromagnetics, vol. I. Monterey, CA, March 1997, pp. 291296. [6] D. H. Werner and R. L. Haupt, Fractal constructions of linear and planar arrays, in Proc. IEEE Antennas and Propagation Soc. Int. Symp., vol. 3, Montreal, Canada, July 1997, pp. 19681971. [7] D. H. Werner, R. L. Haupt, and P. L. Werner, Fractal antenna engineering: the theory and design of fractal antenna arrays, IEEE Antennas Propagat. Mag., vol. 41, no. 5, pp. 3759, Oct. 1999. [8] D. H. Werner, K. C. Anushko, and P. L. Werner, The generation of sum and difference patterns using fractal subarrays, Microwave Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 5457, July 1999. [9] X. Liang, W. Zhensen, and W. Wenbing, Synthesis of fractal radiation patterns from concentric-ring arrays, IEE Electron. Lett., vol. 32, no. 21, pp. 19401941, Oct. 1996. [10] D. L. Jaggard and A. D. Jaggard, Cantor ring arrays, in Proc. IEEE Antennas and Propagation Soc. Int. Symp., vol. 2, Atlanta, GA, June 1998, pp. 866869. [11] D. H. Werner and R. Mittra, Eds., Frontiers in Electromagnetics. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 2000. [12] W. L. Stutzman and G. A. Thiele, Antenna Theory and Design. New York: Wiley, 1981. [13] C. A. Balanis, Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design. New York: Wiley, 1997. [14] R. S. Elliott, Antenna Theory and Design. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1981. [15] F. J. Harris, On the use of windows for harmonic analysis with the discrete fourier transform, Proc. IEEE, vol. 66, no. 1, pp. 5183, Jan. 1978. [16] S. E. El-Khamy, M. A. Aboul-Dahab, and M. I. Elkashlan, Simplifying and size reduction of Kaiser-Koch multiband fractal arrays using windowing and quantization techniques, in Proc. 17th Nat. Radio Science Conf., Egypt, Feb. 2224, 2000, pp. B13-1B13-9. [17] , A simplified Koch multiband fractal array using windowing and quantization techniques, in Proc. IEEE Antennas and Propagation Soc. Int. Symp., vol. 3, Salt Lake City, UT, July 1621, 2000, pp. 17161719.

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Douglas H. Werner (S81M89SM94) received the M.A. degree in mathematics, in 1986, and the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering all from Pennsylvania State University, University Park, in 1983, 1985, and 1989, respectively. Currently, he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, and is also a Senior Research Associate in the Electromagnetics and Environmental Effects Department, Applied Research Laboratory at the same university. He is a Member of the Communications and Space Sciences Laboratory (CSSL), University Park, PA and is affiliated with the Electromagnetic Communication Research Laboratory, University Park. He has published numerous technical papers and proceedings articles and is the author of eight book chapters. He was the coeditor of Frontiers in Electromagnetics (Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 2000). He has also contributed a chapter for Electromagnetic Optimization by Genetic Algorithms (New York: Wiley, 1999). His research interests include theoretical and computational electromagnetics with applications to atenna theory and design, microwaves, wireless and personal, communication systems, electromagnetics wave interactions with complex meta-materials, fractal and knot electrodynamics, and genetic algorithms. Dr. Werner is a Member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), International Union of Radio Science (URSI) Commissions B and G, the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES), Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi. He was presented with the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) Best Paper Award and the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) Young Scientist Award, both in 1993, the Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory Outstanding Publication Award, in 1994, the College of Engineering PSES Outstanding Research Award and Outstanding Teaching Award, in March 2000 and March 2002, respectively, and was also recently presented with an IEEE Central Pennsylvania Section Millennium Medal. He has received several Letters of Commendation from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, for outstanding teaching and research. He is an Editor of the IEEE ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION MAGAZINE and a former Associate Editor of Radio Science.

Mark A. Gingrich was born in Palmyra, PA, in 1971. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), University Park, in 1999 and 2001, respectively. He currently holds an Educational and Foundational scholarship from the Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State, where he is working toward the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering. Previously, he spent several years as a technician for AT&T Microelectronics. His current research interests include the application of fractals and genetic algorithms to antenna and electromagnetic problems.

Pingjuan L. Werner is an Associate Professor with the College of Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park. Her primary research is in the area of electromagnetics, including fractal antenna engineering and the application of genetic algorithms in electromagnetics. She is a Fellow of the Leonhard Center, College of Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, a member of Tau Beta Pi National Egineering Honor Society, Eta Kappa Nu National Electrical Engineering Honor Society, Sigma Xi National Research Honor Society, and a Senior Member of the IEEE. She received The Best Paper Award from the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society in 1993.