Biologically-inspired antenna arrays based on the hearing mechanism of the parasitoid fly Ormia Ochracea

Despite their small size compared to the sound wavelength, many small animals are able to accurately localize a sound source of interest. Noteworthy among these small animals is the parasitoid fly Ormia Ochracea that can determine the direction of arrival of a sound wave of interest with an astonishing degree of precision. An analogy can be drawn between the hearing mechanisms of this insect and an electrically small antenna array, composed of two isotropic receiving elements, that is capable of resolving the direction of arrival of an electromagnetic wave with a fine angular resolution. Inspired by this, we introduce the concept of biomimetic, super-resolving electrically small antennas in this paper. A method for designing such electrically small antenna arrays as well as simulated and measured results of a fabricated prototype are also resented and discussed in this paper. These biomimetic antenna arrays could be used in numerous applications ranging from miniaturized RF sensors and direction finding systems to small aperture, high-resolution microwave imaging systems and radars.