No new things in antennas - maybe not, maybe so

[htperry]

A change in 1940's radio doctrine? Just when you thought there's nothing new in radio tech.

"Chu's Limit, a fundamental principle of electromagnetics, dictates that the bandwidth an antenna can function in has a maximum level proportional to the physical size of the antenna—the smaller the antenna, the smaller the bandwidth, the slower and less capable the communications link. Chu's Limit has been a foundational law of antenna and telecommunications research since its introduction in the late 1940s, but a scientist at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) has recently, for the first time, exceeded Chu's Limit in a measured experiment."

 

[georgel]

Those Space and Naval Warfare guys.... They just don't know when to stop.

 

[WeepingAngel]

I don't expect that all has been sorted out yet, but I'm curious how antennas in this wavelength-to-physical size range (ie those at 10% of the operating wavelength) will perform in terms of performance characteristics (gain/directionality, etc). There are references to miltiary applications - carrying a smaller antenna is cool, but if it loses capability or requires sginificant elevation to be used in practice, then the advances are somewhat muted.

I'm not knocking it, and I think the above will be sorted out. I'm just musing on what the impacts might be and what R&D results might be forthcoming in that regard.

Very cool breakthrough.

 

[htperry]

People get too comfortable with theory becoming doctrine, fact. It's good to shake things up by showing everyone no one knows it all. This a foundational change that will re-write many school books, ripple effect other theories and force change in the minds of the immovable.