Method and apparatus for a tunable channelizing patch antenna

1. A patch antenna, comprising:

a radiating element;

one or more radiating element extension pairs;

a ground plane disposed beneath the radiating element and the one or more radiating element extension pairs;

coupling means for selectively adjoining the one or more radiating element extension pairs to the radiating element; and

one or more pairs of capacitive element pairs, each capacitive element of a pair of capacitive elements disposed between a respective radiating element extension of a radiating element extension pair and the ground plane.

2. The patch antenna of claim 1 , wherein at least one capacitive element is disposed at an outer edge of a radiating element extension.

3. The patch antenna of claim 1 , wherein at least one capacitive element is tunable.

4. The patch antenna of claim 3 , wherein capacitive elements at active outer edges of the patch antenna are tuned to affect the resonant frequency of the patch antenna.

5. The patch antenna of claim 1 , further comprising a microstrip feed line for interacting with the radiating element.

6. The patch antenna of claim 3 , wherein capacitive elements at active outer edges of the patch antenna are tuned to affect the impedance match of the patch antenna.

7. The patch antenna of claim 5 , wherein the ground plane extends beneath the microstrip feed line.

8. The patch antenna of claim 7 , wherein a dielectric substrate is disposed between the radiating element and the ground plane.

9. The patch antenna of claim 7 , wherein the capacitive elements pass through the dielectric substrate.

10. The patch antenna of claim 1 , wherein the coupling means comprises PIN diodes.

11. The patch antenna of claim 1 , wherein the coupling means comprises micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) switches.

12. The patch antenna of claim 2 , wherein the capacitive elements comprise varactor diodes.

13. A patch antenna, comprising:

a radiating element;

one or more pairs of radiating element extensions;

a ground plane; and

tunable capacitive elements disposed between the radiating element extensions and the ground plane;

wherein the ground plane is disposed beneath the radiating element and the one or more radiating element extension pairs.

14. The patch antenna of claim 13 , further comprising:

coupling means for selectively adjoining the one or more radiating element extensions successively to the radiating element.

15. A patch antenna, comprising:

a radiating element;

one or more radiating element extension pairs; and

coupling means for selectively adjoining the one or more radiating element extension pairs successively to the radiating element to form a transmission line, the transmission line further including one or more capacitive elements disposed between each radiating element extension and a ground plane, the transmission line exhibiting at an end a corresponding conductance representing a radiation conductance of the patch antenna and a corresponding susceptance including a fringing capacitance of the radiating element and a lumped capacitance of one or more capacitive elements.

16. The patch antenna of claim 15 , further comprising:

the ground plane disposed beneath the radiating element and the one or more radiating element extensions; and

tunable capacitive elements disposed between the ground plane and the radiating element.

17. A method for tuning a patch antenna, comprising:

selectively adjoining one or more radiating element extensions successively to a radiating element of the patch antenna; and

adjusting fringe capacitance at active outer edges of the patch antenna by adapting at least one tunable capacitive element coupled between a respective radiating element extension and a ground plane.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the fringe capacitance is adjusted via a plurality of tunable capacitive elements.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the tunable capacitive elements comprise varactor diodes.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the selecting is provided using RF switches.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein the RF switches comprise micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) switches.

22. The method of claim 20 , wherein the RF switches comprise PIN diodes.