Patent ID: 7423593

Claim:
A high-directivity microstrip patch antenna comprising: a driven patch and at least one parasitic patch coupled to said driven patch by means of a gap; the driven and the at least one parasitic patches being placed on a common plane defined by a dielectric substrate; wherein the driven patch and the at least one parasitic patch operate at a resonant frequency of the antenna that is larger than the antenna's fundamental resonant frequency the operating resonant frequency being determined by the shape and dimensions of said gap for a given size of driven patch and the least one parasitic patch, the gap between the driven patch and the at least one parasitic patch being defined by a space-filling curve, said space-filling curve being a curve comprising at least ten connected segments, wherein each of said segments forms an angle with its neighbors so that no pair of adjacent segments define a larger straight segment, and wherein any portion of the curve that is periodic along a fixed straight direction of space is defined by a non-periodic curve comprising at least ten connected segments in which no pair of adjacent and connected segments define a straight longer segment; wherein the microstrip patch antenna has a broadside radiation pattern at the operating resonant frequency; and wherein the microstrip patch antenna has a directivity larger at the operating resonant frequency than at the fundamental resonant frequency.