Phased array antenna systems are used in a wide variety of communications and remote sensing applications. Many desirable characteristics for these arrays, such as low cost, low profile, light weight, etc., can be achieved using printed antenna elements, referred to as microstrip or “patch” antennas, where flat conductive elements, such as monopole or dipole antenna elements, are arranged in a two-dimensional array spaced from a single essentially continuous ground plane by a dielectric sheet of uniform thickness. However, a problem that arises in such phased arrays is the so-called “edge effect” where the antenna elements on the edges, and particularly in the corners, of the array experience different impedance matching than those in the center portion of the array due to different levels of mutual coupling. The corner or edge effect on the phased array antenna aperture front degrades the array performance (e.g. power gain, sidelobe level, beam pointing error, etc.), and may even could be detrimental to the underlying electronics under high-power operation. Conventionally, the edge effect is addressed by either surrounding the aperture periphery of the array with “dummy” inactive antenna elements or adding an RF absorber material around the aperture. For example, in certain conventional structures, parasitic or “dummy” elements are arranged adjacent to the array of active elements to provide a uniform impedance to the active elements that are on the edges of the array of active antenna elements. This results in the elements at the edge of the array being surrounded by approximately the same impedances as elements in the center of the array, thus enabling the far-field patterns associated with the edge elements to be approximately the same as the far-field patterns associated with elements in the center of the array. However, these solutions have several drawbacks, including the requirement of additional real estate at the congested aperture front and additional manufacturing complexity cost, and may not be practical for certain applications.