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What appears to be the world’s first electronic sunflower is actually
a radar or communications antenna designed to reduce the amount of interference
around its edge. Standard round antennas scatter signals when the electric
field drops suddenly to zero at the edge of the dish. The petal pattern
of the new dish, developed by Edward Joy of the Georgia Institute of Technology
in Atlanta, reduces the interference caused by scattering by tapering the
strength of the signal’s electric field at the edge of the antenna.