A 6:1 bandwidth PUMA array at 7mm scale

A Planar Ultra-Wideband Modular Antenna (PUMA) array with 7mm element spacing is presented that operates over roughly 3.5GHz to 21GHz, validating the first PUMA with a 6:1 operational bandwidth. The design consists mainly of plated through vias on Rogers 5880LZ substrate with Rogers 3000-class materials integrated as a radome superstrate. The aperture is less than 0.5 wavelengths thick at the highest frequency of operation. Scan VSWR performance is good, with VSWR <; 2.5 for 45-degree scans in all planes, VSWR <; 3.8 for 60-degree scans in all planes and over all frequencies. An all-metal flared notch array of the same element spacing and footprint is presented for performance comparison. It is shown that the PUMA has significantly-better polarization patterns than legacy ultra-wideband flared notch arrays over all frequency and scan space. Measured results are presented.