Low Cost All Metal Additively Manufactured Wideband Antenna Array Modules

This paper introduces a modular, end-fire, dual-polarized ultra-wideband scalable array (MEDUSA) realized exclusively with titanium direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) to achieve a connector-less phased array antenna module. The radiator is based on a variation of conventional tapered slot antennas (i.e. Vivaldi) to achieve an all metal fully-monolithic element consisting of RF coaxial interface, balun, and free-space transformer. A very low-cost array module is achieved by adapting the design uniquely to the fabrication process in order to eliminate nearly all post-processing. A finite 8x8 array covering 7-21 GHz has been prototyped and measured to demonstrate agreement with predicted results.