This paper considers the design of high performance dual polarized compact aperture array antennas. A recently developed Octagonal Ring Antenna array, forming a planar structure, demonstrates desirable characteristics in large scale applications and represents a novel technology for array antenna designs. The main electromagnetic performance parameters for the ORA array have been investigated and the resulting finite arrays have been manufactured and measured. Performances for the new design are compared to other main conventional existing aperture array antenna designs. Guidelines are given for wideband dual-polarised array designs where a broad field of view and a low cross polarisation are required.