A review of Planar Ultrawideband Modular Antenna (PUMA) Arrays

Planar Ultrawideband Modular Antenna (PUMA) arrays are low-cost, wide-scan, and low-cross polarization dual-polarized UWB arrays that combine excellent electrical performance with convenient and practical feeding/fabrication processes. Each member of the PUMA array family consists of tightly coupled horizontal dipoles over a ground plane with novel feeding schemes that enable simple PCB fabrication. This feeding eliminates the need for baluns, “cable organizers,” and other external support mechanisms to produce stand-alone, high-efficiency radiators. Additionally, all PUMA arrays consist of dual-offset dual-polarized lattice arrangements for modular, tile-based assembly. This paper will review the basic operation principles of the PUMA arrays followed by the technological evolution of the PUMA array family. Fabricated PUMA arrays and full-wave simulations of structures that can be manufactured with standard fabrication technologies will be shown along with results.