SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Augmented Reality (AR) Systems Technology Roadmap Survey Dismounted Soldier Applications
- Notice Date
- 3/12/2010
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- RDECOM Contracting Center - Aberdeen (RDECOM-CC), ATTN: AMSSB-ACC-A, 4118 Susquehanna Avenue, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-3013
- ZIP Code
- 21005-3013
- Solicitation Number
- RDECOM-STTC-RFI
- Response Due
- 4/15/2010
- Archive Date
- 6/14/2010
- Point of Contact
- Richard Boast, 407-208-3290
- E-Mail Address
-
RDECOM Contracting Center - Aberdeen (RDECOM-CC)
(richard.boast1@us.army.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Augmented Reality (AR) Systems Technology Roadmap Survey Dismounted Soldier Applications Final Version_3-12-2010 Purpose for the Request for Information (RFI): This is not a solicitation for contract. The purpose of this request for information (RFI) is to survey Industry, Academia and Other Government Agencies (OGA) in order to collect information and data that would be useful for the development of a comprehensive technology roadmap for the development of augmented reality capabilities for dismounted soldier applications. Companies, universities and agencies interested in pursuing future research and development opportunities with the U.S. Army are invited to respond to this RFI. [NOTE: If travelling to Orlando, in the near future, capability briefings and technical interchange meetings with the Government are possible, with sufficient advanced notice]. The Roadmap will be a planning tool that addresses research, development, technology insertion, production, fielding, and effective use of augmented reality systems for dismounted soldier training. Upon completion, the Roadmap will be a living document that will support: Identification of R&D trends within private industry, academia and other government agencies, in the field of augmented reality and related technologies. US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) requirements writers in the assessment of current and future army training requirements and identification of technology gaps and shortfalls. US Army Research, Development & Engineering Command (RDECOM) Science & Technology (S&T) managers in developing suitable and effective AR solutions that address identified technology shortfalls. US Armys planning, funding and future implementation of Army Technology Objectives (ATOs), Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, Technology Demonstrations (TDs), etc. in this technology area. Open dialogue for the leveraging of internal research and development (IR&D) efforts of industry, academia and other government agencies, towards current and future Army Force Operating Capabilities and Technology Shortfalls. This survey covers a seven year planning, programming, budgeting, and execution period including FY10 (Current Year), FY11 (Next Year) and period FY12 through FY17 (Future Years Defense Plan). Research Vision: The current generation of mixed and augmented reality systems technology, in use for military training relies mainly on the employment of large digital flat screens, chromo-key (blue/green) screens, CAVE environments, etc. and other projection-based techniques. The Army seeks a next-generation approach that would eliminate the need for one-of-a-kind brick & mortar facilities, large stand alone simulators and their associated costs. AR for dismounted soldier applications must provide a low-cost, man-wearable system that uses minimal infrastructure, site prep and set up time; and can be used at home station and while deployed. Program Objective: The Army seeks to explore methods of presenting 2D/3D virtual objects (representing various types of targets, fire and effects, friendly forces and opposition forces, civilians on the battlefield (COB), vehicles, etc.) to the dismounted soldier while operating both indoors and outdoors, on various types of live training environments. Additionally, the trainee would be capable of interacting with virtual targets, personnel, vehicles, etc. as though real. The objective is to create an interactive, multi-sensory, non-linear environment that provides the Warfighter with training that is unparalleled in flexibility and realism. The resulting technology roadmap will support RDECOMs overall program objective for this technology area, which is to develop, improve and mature a dismounted soldier AR prototype for demonstration in a relevant environment--technology readiness level (TRL) 6 for discrete applications (e.g. forward observer, call for fire, escalation of force decision making, etc.). Transitioning of targeted system and subsystem components to other military technology and acquisition programs is also an important objective.. Notional R&D Capability Objectives and Timeline: Threshold (1 2 Years): man wearable capability within a fully instrumented AR environment, while training individual tasks Objective (3 - 5 Years): man wearable capability within a minimally instrumented AR environment, while training individual and squad level collective tasks Long Range End-State Objective (5+ Years): man wearable capability within a non-instrumented AR environment, while training individual and squad+ level collective tasks In the future, these same concepts and technologies would potentially allow for situational awareness, communications, map data, etc. to be provided to Warfighters in complex operational environments without impeding their live view. Planned CORE R&D Topics: Based on past research efforts, the Army has identified several broad research topics that must be effectively integrated together to implement an effective, real-time augmented reality system for the dismounted soldier: Multi-Sensor Fusion for Position Tracking and Pose Estimation/Recovery Investigate techniques leading to robust man-worn tracking systems based on multiple/hybrid sensor packages, using sophisticated filtering algorithms. These systems would accurately sense, track and co-relate the dismounted soldiers position (head, eyes, body, weapon, etc.) in the real environment to virtual objects in the associated virtual environment. Systems would be mobile and operate free (tether-less) from any infrastructure; whether indoors or outdoors. (Fixed site and range applications may make use of appropriate tracking infrastructure; including markers and marker-less tracking techniques.) Real-Time Static/Dynamic Object Occlusion Mapping and Rendering Investigate techniques leading to the realistic display of virtual 3-D objects and images through the dismounted soldiers live field of view. These systems would support accurate distance measurement, depth perception, etc. of natural features and man-made objects that are tracked within the training environment. The resulting data and measurements would facilitate accurate and realistic occlusion, placement and rendering of virtual objects that would be displayed in a compelling, realistic and believable manner. AR Environment Modeling, Mapping and Database Management Investigate low-cost, rapid ( less than 48 hrs) live terrain modeling techniques that would support execution and performance of associated Multi-Sensor Fusion for Position Tracking & Pose Recovery and Real-Time Static/Dynamic Occlusion Mapping and Rendering capabilities. Support Interfaces, Instrumentation & Infrastructure Investigate components, devices, techniques and methods for implementing realistic augmented reality in various types of military training environments, including but not limited to military operations on urban terrain (MOUT) sites, maneuver ranges, firing ranges, test ranges, etc. Head Mounted Displays Technologies Investigate rugged, low cost, high resolution head mounted displays (HMD) as the primary human interface for the dismounted soldiers view into the augmented reality environment. These HMDs would be of the optical see-through design (the subject sees the live environment, directly through the HMD); and made of rugged, light-weight materials. This topic includes associated wireless video transmission techniques for tether-less HMD operation. Miscellaneous Topics. Investigate miscellaneous technologies, tools and techniques that may expand and increase future AR capabilities and explore opportunities to develop spin-off technologies, e.g. Networking and communications capabilities High performance computing (man-wore and remote) capabilities Interactive tele-presence and holographic capabilities AI enabled virtual human interaction Integrating the AR enabled dismounted soldier with existing simulators across the live, virtual and constructive training domains etc. Human Performance and Training Effectiveness. Investigate techniques and programs of experimentation on human perception in AR. Issues may include research on design of the human system interface; prevalence of simulator sickness or other side effects, especially as a function of system characteristics or conditions of use; strategies for using AR in dismounted soldier training, and their effectiveness in both skill acquisition and transfer; fidelity requirements for effective training and transfer, etc. Industry, Academia and OGA Response Guidelines: The following are suggested guidelines for the type of information that would be most useful in the development of the U.S. Armys Augmented Reality Technology Roadmap: 1.Provide information that describes your company or organizations background, capabilities, and areas of expertise. 2.Describe your company or organizations recent research, developments, existing prototypes and systems fielded to the military or sold in the commercial market. What specific military training application would be best supported by your R&D, prototypes and systems? Provide brochures, spec sheets, pictures and video clips of the system in use. 3.Describe your expertise in each or any of the Armys Planned CORE Research Topic areas. Describe where your internal research and development (IR&D) is headed over the next 7 years (FY 11 FY 17). Identify the level of research by its level of maturity (technology readiness level) and/or research category, e.g. Basic Research (6.1), Applied Research (6.2); Advanced Research (6.3) and beyond. 4.Reference and/or provide recently published papers that address aspects of AR research that would be important for the Army to review. Response Deadline - April 15, 2010 Submissions via email should be sent to: frank.dean@us.army.mil. Submissions via the USPS or other service should be sent to: Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) Simulation & Training Technology Center (STTC) ATTN: Mr. Frank Dean, 12423 Research Parkway Orlando, FL 32826-3274 For security reasons, please DO NOT submit material on memory devices that interface to USB ports, e.g. thumb drives, etc. Submit information on compact disks (CD) and/or Digital Video Disks (DVD) in a PDF, Microsoft Word 2003 or Microsoft Word 2007 format. This is not a solicitation for a contract. Development and publication of a technology roadmap does not constitute Army / RDECOM/STTC direction to start any contractual efforts. However, industry, academia and other government agencies are encouraged to participate in this survey and to provide any type and amount of information deemed appropriate. The Government representative will provide feedback to all submissions. Government POC for this action is Mr. Frank Dean, S&T Manager, 407-384-3877 Key Word Search: augmented reality, mixed reality, augmented virtuality, virtual reality, 3D, hologram, holographic tools, machine vision, stereo vision, head mounted displays, vehicle mounted displays, heads up displays, HMD, HUD, tele-presence, occlusion models, graphics generator, image generator, high-speed computer processing, graphics processing unit, GPU, co-processing, multi-processing, hybrid sensors, tracking sensors, marker-less tracking, mobile computing, wearable computers, head - body position and orientation tracking, embedded training, military training, army training, joint training, live training, live-virtual-constructive, LVC, LVC-IA, virtual targets, situational awareness, networked collaboration, simulation sickness, human performance, training effectiveness 541330, 541519
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/2fd2cfe12f5d505472bcb31146ecf149)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM)Simulation & Training Technology Center (STTC) ATTN: Mr. Frank Dean, 12423 Research Parkway Orlando FL
- Zip Code: 32826-3274
- Zip Code: 32826-3274
- Record
- SN02090824-W 20100314/100312235246-2fd2cfe12f5d505472bcb31146ecf149 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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