SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Request for Information (RFI) Market Investigation for Sensors Fusion Development
- Notice Date
- 7/8/2015
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- ACC-APG - Washington, ATTN: CCCE-CW, 10205 Burbeck Road, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-5863
- ZIP Code
- 22060-5863
- Solicitation Number
- W909MY-15-R-C020
- Response Due
- 8/10/2015
- Archive Date
- 9/9/2015
- Point of Contact
- Paul A. Easton, 703-704-0834
- E-Mail Address
-
ACC-APG - Washington
(paul.a.easton.civ@mail.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Request for Information (RFI) Market Investigation Sensor Fusion Development The Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground - Belvoir (ACC-APG Belvoir), on behalf of the United States Army, Research Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) Communications- Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) Night Vision & Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), is searching for sources capable of designing, developing, integrating, and demonstrating multi-spectral sensor fusion with a Distributed Aperture System (DAS) to support helicopter pilotage in Degraded Visual Environments (DVEs). The integrated system would be comprised of a forward looking sensor suite for pilotage in DVE fused with a distributed aperture system (DAS) with spherical coverage for Situational Awareness (SA). The current concept for the forward looking sensor suite includes a Long Wave Infrared (LWIR) camera, a Lidar, and a Radar. The outputs from these sensors would be registered and fused with each other and with existing terrain and image databases (e.g. Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED)). The resulting fused imagery would be displayed within the DAS image sphere to provide a seamless, head-tracked image to the operator that enables pilotage in various DVEs (e.g. brownout, fog, smoke, rain, etc.). The DVE pilotage system must be interoperable with state of the art Army aviation display technology, helmet mounted display (HMD) and/or multifunction display (MFD). The system would strive for the best possible balance between performance and SWaP-C. This program is envisioned as being made up of at least two development efforts; the sensor fusion engine, and the DAS. Teams who propose an integrated solution that addresses both efforts are ideal, but the Government will also consider responses to this RFI that address only the individual sensor fusion engine or DAS effort. The sensor fusion engine effort involves fusing the outputs of the co-located LWIR camera, Lidar, and Radar that cover the Forward Field of Regard (FoR). The DAS effort involves providing a seamless, head tracked view of the region of interest of multiple sensors covering a spherical field of regard. The ultimate goal of this effort is for the integrated system to be used to develop and flight test a concept for DVE pilotage in Army rotorcraft. The projected timeline for the program is FY16-20. After successful testing, a performance specification would be developed and transitioned to the Army Aviation Acquisition Community. The sensor fusion effort would involve the development of algorithms to fuse the inputs from multiple Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) sensors, DTED and the DAS image sphere to visualize the scene in a way that is most useful to the pilot. The visualization should be compatible with a head-tracked HMD, providing a 1x magnification fused/synthetic image that aligns with the real world scene on a see-through display. The Government is also interested in additional visualizations that may incorporate a manipulatable 3D perspective or other novel features that would be suitable for display on a heads-down MFD. The algorithms would be designed to be hosted on an open architecture computing platform which may be supplied as part of the sensor fusion effort, or may be a processor that is part of the DAS system. The ultimate intent of the Army is for this program to be compliant with Joint Common Architecture (JCA) and Future Aviation Capability Environment (FACE). NVESD is also very interested in approaches that include the ability to estimate navigation information from the fused sensor data by estimating velocity from changes in imagery over time, by matching measured 3D Lidar / Radar data to DTED to estimate position, or by other novel means. Navigation / position estimation algorithms must, at minimum, provide both navigation data and error estimates as inputs to a notional Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). The preferred approach is to provide an algorithm that accepts navigational data from an Embedded GPS/INS (EGI) system, and outputs a corrected navigation solution. The sensor suite, processor, and display will be integrated onto a GFE Army Aircraft and submitted for airworthiness qualification and performance testing to evaluate the effectiveness of the sensor fusion algorithms. The second effort requires the development of a DAS that provides spherical coverage to support situational awareness and architectural growth to multi-function threat warning capability. The DAS effort would involve the integration of multiple passive and/or active sensors covering a spherical field of regard with a processor and algorithms that provide a seamless, head-tracked view of any portion of the imagery. At a minimum, the DAS solution must include the processor and algorithms necessary to create an image sphere from the sensor outputs, and to provide a seamless head-tracked view to an HMD. The DAS solution may additionally include the sensors required to cover the spherical field of regard. In this case, the DAS solution may use the forward looking sensor suite described in the sensor fusion engine effort to cover the forward FoR, or may include a separate sensor to cover the forward FoR. In addition, the Army is interested in approaches to DAS that support a threat warning capability, if possible. The system would integrate with the sensor fusion effort by providing the image sphere to the sensor fusion algorithms. It is desirable that the processor be additionally capable of hosting the sensor fusion algorithms. The DAS system would be integrated with the sensor fusion algorithms onto a GFE Army Aircraft and submitted for airworthiness qualification and performance testing. REQUIREMENTS: NVESD desires a system that can meet the needs of the Army Aviation community for pilotage and situational awareness in DVEs. The desired system is a modular open architecture system aligned and compatible with JCA and FACE, and is intended for the legacy fleet. The system must demonstrate the following minimum capability metrics: Pilotage Capability: Pilotage is defined as the process of flying the aircraft from point A to point B, heads up eyes out and visually coupled, which can encompass all phases of flight (en-route, initial approach, hover, landing, takeoff) in all flight conditions including DVEs (rain, snow, fog, dust, smog/haze, zero illumination night). DVE Pilotage system specifications: Process sensor data from a GFE LWIR camera, Lidar, Radar and aircraft navigation system to produce a fused, geo-registered visualization with less than 48 msec latency. The visualization shall include terrain information from an onboard database (e.g. DTED), and the DAS image sphere. The system shall retain geo-registered sensor data for future visualization of areas that were previously imaged/mapped and are no longer within the Forward FoR, or have become occluded. The system shall resolve any conflicts between data sets, and shall remove obscurants as much as possible to produce a visualization that focuses on providing the visual cues necessary to fly the aircraft. GFE LWIR camera - 2048 x 2048, 20 bit, 60 Hz GFE Lidar - 150,000 points/sec, geo-rectified points GFE Radar - Expected data rate of 50 MB/sec, format: Lat/Long and altitude DAS system specifications: Visual acuity: greater than 20/55 in the Forward Field of Regard (+/- 45 degrees), greater than 20/80 elsewhere; Integration Time: less than 8 msec; Field of Regard: Spherical; Display Field of View: Minimum 30 degrees Elevation by 50 degrees azimuth; Display Format: Minimum 1920X1080p; System Latency: less than 48 msec; SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: NVESD welcomes white papers recommending systems that will satisfy the minimum capability metrics in the specified time frame (FY16-20). Teaming is encouraged to provide the full capability requested, i.e. integrated sensor fusion and DAS. White papers shall not exceed 20 pages in length and shall include the following: A. Cover letter (not included in the page count) providing: 1.A point of contact information to include: company name, contact name, company address, website (if available), contact phone number, and contact email address. 2.Statement as to whether or not your company is considered a small or large business. Please also indicate any socioeconomic classification (8(a), Woman-Owned, Veteran-Owned and Operated, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, Operated business, or HUB-Zone) that applies. The small business size standard is 750 employees for the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code 541712. 3.CAGE Code and Duns Number. 4.If you identify your company as a Small Business or any of the SB subcategories as stipulated in Question # 2, then is your company interested in a prime contract for the above requirement? 5.Does your company possess the capabilities to provide the technology set forth above, Yes or No? 6.If you answered YES to Question # 5, please provide specific capabilities and examples for how your company can provide this technology. 7.If you answered NO to Question # 6, please list what services in the PWS your company can provide? Please provide specific capabilities and examples. 8.Please provide details regarding proposed joint ventures, teaming arrangements, strategic alliances, or other business arrangements to satisfy requirements of the PWS. 9.Offerors are encouraged to identify teams, indicating each team member's size based upon the NAICS code of the work that the team member may be doing. 10.Is your company currently providing similar services to another government agency (please include contract #s for Government) or other non-Government customer? If so, please identify the Government agency or non-Government customer. If you are unwilling to share your non-government customer's identity, please address whether your company offers the same or similar services commercially. 11.Has your Company performed this type of effort or similar type effort (to include size and complexity) in the past, if so provide Contract Number, Point of Contact (POC), email address, phone number, and a brief description of your direct support of the effort? 12.What are the core competencies of your employees that would support the development of this technology? Also, provide the total number of individuals currently employed by your company that are capable of supporting this effort. 13.Do all the employees have a SECRET Clearance? 14.Does your firm possess Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) approved accounting system? 15.If you are a small business, how do you select your partners and/or subcontractors? (It is not necessary to disclose team members at this time. Simply describe your selection process and criteria.) B. Technical Approach: The white paper shall include an executive summary of no more than 2 pages that conveys how the proposed system addresses the goals of the RFI, the current maturity of the system, an outline of the proposed development tasks, and the schedule and budget required. Proposed systems must be at least Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 to be considered. Respondents may provide an integrated solution for the objective system or for individual development efforts. For existing systems, contractors shall supply the following information: A self-assessment of the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the current system. System specification and a self-assessment (measured performance) of discrete capabilities (e.g. Fusion, Navigation aiding, DAS, synthetic vision, etc.). Any flight test results, if available for distribution, of particular interest is user feedback of the system. Size, Weight, Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) data Aircraft integration information (e.g., what type aircraft, integrated with avionics or stand-alone), mounting locations for each sensor. Describe man-machine interface as much as possible For developmental systems (this includes systems with some existing equipment, but plan to augment with some novel technology), contractors shall supply the following information: Salient features of the proposed system and how they address the SWaP-C optimization concerns Current/proposed schedule Current TRL and projected TRL at planned completion Any available performance data White papers should also address: For sensor fusion and visualization algorithms; it is anticipated that the algorithms would be modular in nature. Describe each software module in terms of its required inputs and outputs, and the interdependencies on the other modules within the system. Describe how specific modules address each critical capability of the desired system (e.g. Sensor fusion, Visualization, Navigation aiding, DAS) individually and as an ensemble/system. Also highlight any SWaP-C benefits achieved through this architecture, if they exist. Describe how the large amounts of data from multiple high resolution sensor modules and/or subsystems would be accessed to provide a system level capability. Describe the state of this development work. Describe how this multi-function capability will be integrated (notionally) into an aircraft's avionics and how the man-machine interface with aircrew will be impacted or enhanced. This must include the approach to display the data (imagery, and information) to the aircrew (e.g. display requirements must be addressed). Technology Roadmap detailing path to achieve this document's requirements Specifications and performance metrics of relevant systems Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) for development cost, if applicable, and unit cost for potential future Government procurements. The white paper should also address any other features of your system that may enhance overall aircraft capabilities (current and proposed new technologies). The data received in response to this RFI is for information purposes only and does not mandate or impose requirements or commit the Government or contractors to any action. It is desirable that data be received with Government purpose rights. However, it is recognized that proprietary data may be included with the information provided. Clearly mark all proprietary information. All responses to this market research shall be submitted no later than 4:00 PM EST (local time at Fort Belvoir, VA) on 10 August 2015. All questions and white papers must be submitted via e-mail to Brian Thomas at the email address: brian.w.thomas30.civ@mail.mil with a carbon copy to Mr. Sabin Joseph via email sabin.a.joseph.civ@mail.mil. The subject line for the email submission should read: RFI: Sensor Fusion Development - YOUR COMPANY NAME quote mark. No telephonic inquiries or requests will be entertained. Submissions larger than 5MB should be submitted through the AMRDEC Safe Access File Exchange at https://safe.amrdec.army.mil/SAFE2/ and on disc directed to the address below: US Army RDECOM CERDEC Night Vision and Electronics Sensors Directorate RDER-NVM-RA Attn: Brian Thomas 10221 Burbeck Road Fort Belvoir, Virginia 22060-5806 Disclaimer: No award will be made as a result of this request. This RFI is for informational purposes only; this is not a Request for Proposal/Solicitation. All interested parties are encouraged to respond to this RFI. The Government will not pay for information and/or materials received in response to this RFI and is in no way obligated by the information received.
- Web Link
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FBO.gov Permalink
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- Place of Performance
- Address: ACC-APG - Washington ATTN: CCCE-CW, 10205 Burbeck Road Fort Belvoir VA
- Zip Code: 22060-5863
- Zip Code: 22060-5863
- Record
- SN03789446-W 20150710/150708235308-7cc2286c5dbd06dcface2a00a2771863 (fbodaily.com)
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