Designing antennas (Score 1)

The article describes combining the two antenna - one on each end of the link. Does anyone know if commercial manufacturers have looked into drastically varying the standard antenna shape or material. In my line of work, I study genetic algorithms and know that GAs have been used to design space antenna (http://illigal.blogspot.com/2005/01/corkscrew-sha ped-space-antennas.html) that are far more effective than current designs.