The Planar Ultrawideband Modular Antenna (PUMA) Array

A fully planar ultrawideband phased array with wide scan and low cross-polarization performance is introduced. The array is based on Munk´s implementation of the current sheet concept, but it employs a novel feeding scheme for the tightly coupled horizontal dipoles that enables simple PCB fabrication. This feeding eliminates the need for “cable organizers” and external baluns, and when combined with dual-offset dual-polarized lattice arrangements the array can be implemented in a modular, tile-based fashion. Simple physical explanations and circuit models are derived to explain the array´s operation and guide the design process. The theory and insights are subsequently used to design an exemplary dual-polarized infinite array with 5:1 bandwidth and VSWR <; 2.1 at broadside, and cross-polarization ≈ -15 dB out to θ = 45° in the D- plane.