Fractal Antenna Systems Secures Patent on Invisibility Cloak Detection

Fractal Antenna Systems’ cloak detection technique is a new radar method that looks for tell-tale signatures of cloaked objects that are made invisible by skins made of metamaterials, including satellites, planes, vessels, or UAVs By DA Staff / 22 Aug 2022

Discover Leading Defense Technology Solutions

Discover cutting-edge solutions from leading global suppliers
SUPPLIER SPOTLIGHT
Invisibility Cloak Detection Method Prevents Hostile Military Assets Being Hidden From Radar
Follow DA

Fractal Antenna Systems, Inc. has secured patent on its method of detecting invisibility cloaks and related stealth metamaterials, thus preventing hostile military assets from being hidden from radar, and decreasing the potential for sparking conflicts.

Detailed in US patent 11,408,976 and patent pending, the cloak detection technique known as LPASS is a new radar method that looks for tell-tale signatures of cloaked objects that are made invisible by ‘metasurfaces’ (skins made of metamaterials), including satellites, planes, vessels, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). 

At the frequencies where the cloak works, called its ‘passband’, radar tries to bounce signals back from the target but the cloak stops that reflection, and the target remains hidden. Beyond the cloak’s passband, radar transmitters are hampered by lower power limits, and thus poor at pinging cloaked targets both in and out of a cloak’s passband.

Inventor and Fractal CEO Nathan Cohen showed radar transmitters do not need to transmit outside of the passband, since metasurfaces have a failure mode that produces nonlinear, heterodyned RF ‘hash’. 

High powered radar systems may be thwarted to detect targets that are cloaked in the passband, but their transmissions hit the target and excite this hash of heterodynes at much higher and lower frequencies where the cloak does not function and the target is not hidden. 

On receive, a radar antenna picks up these frequencies, correlated with the transmitted signals, filters out most of the noise, and leads to a unique reflected signature of the target.

“Metamaterials overall have a terrific future, if we encourage their use in applications which improve the human condition and that promise of tomorrow,” said Cohen.

Posted by DA Staff Connect & Contact

Latest Articles

Practical Methods for Balancing UAV Propellers Safely & Effectively

Tyto Robotics discusses the ways to add and remove materials from drone propellers, considering advantages and disadvantages of various products and techniques

Jul 11, 2025
Military-Grade Tethered Drone Systems for Surveillance & Security Missions

DPI UAV Systems (Dragonfly Pictures) is a developer of advanced tethered drone systems for military, government and security applications. As...

Jul 11, 2025
Modular Chassis Design Enhances Deployment Flexibility for Defense Systems

LCR Embedded Systems explains how modular chassis design supports rapid deployment and cost-effective packaging for rugged embedded systems using open standards like VPX and SOSA

Jul 10, 2025
MilDef to Supply Rugged IT Equipment for Norway’s Defense Digitization

MilDef has secured a major contract with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to supply rugged IT equipment supporting Norway’s defense digitization efforts

Jul 10, 2025
Tethered Drone Technologies for Mission-Critical Defense & Security Applications

Defense Advancement showcases Elistair's tethered drone solutions for mission-critical defense and security applications

Jul 10, 2025
New Oscilloquartz Optical Cesium Clocks Enhance Network Timing Precision

Adtran is expanding its Oscilloquartz portfolio with the new OSA 3200 SP and OSA 3250 ePRC optical cesium models, providing improved holdover and simplified maintenance for telecom, data center, utility, and defense networks

Jul 09, 2025

Featured Content

New Oscilloquartz Optical Cesium Clocks Enhance Network Timing Precision

Adtran is expanding its Oscilloquartz portfolio with the new OSA 3200 SP and OSA 3250 ePRC optical cesium models, providing improved holdover and simplified maintenance for telecom, data center, utility, and defense networks

Jul 09, 2025
Teledyne FLIR OEM Whitepaper: Synthetic Data Generation for AI Object Detection

Read Teledyne FLIR OEM’s whitepaper on AIMMGen™, a defense-oriented synthetic data and AI model generation pipeline tailored to Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) and object classification tasks

Jul 03, 2025
Galvion’s Production Hub in Poland Now Open & Operational

Galvion's new Production Hub in Poland has formally opened through a large ceremony held at the Gdansk facility with factory tours, demonstrations, and live models of helmets

Jun 30, 2025
Advancing Defense Capability Through Strategic Collaboration Defense Advancement works with major OEMs to foster collaboration and increase engagement with SMEs, to accelerate innovation and drive defense capabilities forward.