R&D Contracting Division, Bldg 7, 2530 C Street, WPAFB OH 45433-7607

A -- ENHANCED LASER GENERATED ULTRASOUND. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS IN TWO PARTS. THIS IS PART 1 OF 2 PARTS SOL PRDA NO. 96-29-MLK DUE 042696 POC Felix Turner, Contract Negotiator or Terry Rogers, Contracting Officer, (513) 255-5830. NOTICE: THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS IN TWO PARTS. PART 1 of 2 PARTS: A--INTRODUCTION: Wright Laboratory (WL/MLKM) is interested in receiving proposals (technical and cost) on the research and development effort described below. Proposals in response to this Program Research and Development Announcement (PRDA) shall be submitted by 26 April 1996, 1500 hours, local time, addressed to Wright Laboratory, Directorate of R&D Contracting, Area B, Building 7, 2530 C Street, ATTN: Felix Turner, WL/MLKM, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7607. This is an unrestricted solicitation. Small businesses are encouraged to propose on all or any part of this solicitation. Proposals shall be submitted in accordance with this announcement. Proposal receipt after the cutoff date and time specified herein shall be treated in accordance with restrictions of FAR 52.215-10, a copy of this provision may be obtained from the contracting point of contact. There will be no other solicitation issued in regard to this requirement. Offerors should be alert for any PRDA amendments which may be published. The announcement may be amended to provide for subsequent dates for submission of proposals. Offerors should request a copy of the WL Guide entitled ''PRDA & BAA Guide for Industry.'' This guide was specifically designed to assist offerors in understanding the PRDA/BAA process. Faxed written requests for copies may be submitted to WL/MLKM, Felix Turner, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, 45433-7607, fax number (513) 255-9217. B--REQUIREMENTS: (1) Technical Description: Laser Based Ultrasonic (LBU) inspection systems have recently been developed which can inspect complex composite parts up to twenty times faster than conventional squirter based inspection systems. LBU systems use pulses of laser light to generate ultrasound in specimens, and a second laser beam to detect ultrasonic echoes. Not only can these LBU systems inspect faster than conventional squirter systems, they can also inspect parts with only a minimal setup time. In one particular case, parts with complex geometries which required days to set up on a conventional squirter based inspection system required less than five minutes to set up on an LBU based inspection system. Because of the obvious advantages of LBU inspections, the Air Force will be investing heavily in this technology. Because this technology is very new, however, there may be further enhancements to be developed for future Air Force LBU systems. The purpose of this procurement is to make sure that the Air Force is able to buy the best possible LBU system. To do this, this program is taking two separate directions. The first direction will develop advanced signal processing procedures for a variety of specific Laser Ultrasonic Inspection System (LUIS) inspections. The second direction will develop promising new technologies that have the potential to increase the speed, accuracy, or range of inspections of LBU systems. 1.1 LUIS Signal Processing Development. SM-ALC is in the final stages of procuring the first known Air Force production LBU inspection system. The LUIS system will have the capability to inspect parts as large as 40 feet long by 11 feet high, and as small as 2 inches by 2 inches square. It can inspect parts up to 1 inch thick, and parts with radii of curvature as small as 1/4 inch. It can detect defects as small as 0.1'' in diameter, and can acquire 100 A-scans per second. The LUIS system includes a number of advanced signal processing algorithms. The software gating routines can display maximum amplitude, time of maximum amplitude, maximum time above a threshold, minimum amplitude, and combinations of these gates for a total of 14 different C-scan images from the same data. The signal processing routines can apply bandpass, gaussian, and split spectrum filters. The signal processing routines can also transform the data to the frequency regime for frequency based analysis. The image processing routines can apply convolutions, gradient directional edge enhancement, low pass, high pass and Laplacian spatial filters to the image data. The purpose of these routines is to enhance the detectability of defects. It is not known, however, which of these routines should be applied to a specific inspection to obtain the best results. Inspections of composites which are ''ultrasonically noisy'' may require a completely different set of processing algorithms than composites where the problem is loss of signal due to the thickness of the composite. Composite parts with sharp radii of curvature may require different signal processing than composites which are reinforced on the back side. The purpose of this effort is to inspect a wide variety of composite parts, develop optimal signal processing routines, and transition these routines to the LUIS system for demonstration to other ALCs and industry. 1.1.1 Generate LUIS data. Inspection data from a wide range of composite aircraft parts will be generated. The offeror will fabricate or otherwise obtain a wide range of composite parts, including parts with different geometries, different thicknesses, integral stiffening, different radii of curvature, different simulated and real defects and different materials. These parts will need to be inspected both on the LUIS system and on a squirter based system for comparison. Because it may be necessary to work around SM-ALC's schedule, it will be necessary to have flexibility in when the parts are available. It will also be necessary for the Materials Directorate to transfer money to SM-ALC to cover the cost of the inspections, to accomodate this, the number of hours of LUIS time to scan the parts will need to be clearly stated in the offeror's proposal. The scanning time can be calculated from 100 Hz repetition rate of the system and the 0.1'' step size. A good rule of thumb is that the system should be able to inspect 500 sq. feet of composite parts in an 8 hour shift. 1.1.2 Signal Processing Optimization. The offeror will develop optimal signal processing procedures based on the nature of the inspection data. To document the raw data from the LUIS system, the offeror will have to furnish not only hardcopy printouts of the data, but also the raw data on magnetic media. The offeror will then analyze the data to determine the noise sources and features which are precluding easy defect detection. The offeror will then need to develop an optimal procedure to enhance defect detectability. 1.1.3 Technology Transition. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the signal processing routines, the offeror must present side by side comparisons showing both the raw data and the enhanced data. The offeror must also perform side by side comparisons of the enhanced data and the data from conventional squirter based inspection systems. To demonstrate cost effectiveness of the signal processing, the offeror must compare the overall inspection costs (including setup time and scanning time) of both the raw and enhanced LUIS data to the data from the squirter based system. The proposed approach must also address future enhancements to the signal processing package and LUIS system which would provide the greatest increases in defect detectability. All of this data needs to be transitioned to the LUIS system and to industry. 1.2 LBU Technology Development. LBU is still a new technology, and there are many ways that it can be enhanced to better meet the Air Force's inspection needs. This portion of the program will develop, demonstrate, and transition techniques to enhance LBU inspections. Technologies which will enhance the validation of the integrity of aging systems, and are directly useable in AF Air Logistics Centers (ALCs), are preferred. 1.2. development.Technologies which can either improve existing LBU systems, or enable new LBU capabilities, will be developed. Enhancements which may improve existing LBU inspection systems include: (1) Faster repetition rate lasers to generate ultrasound (2) Faster repetition rate and low noise detection lasers (3) Innovate detection schemes for Ultrasound, such as phase conjugate ratings (4) Laser Damage Threshold Detection methodologies (5) Intelligent data compression and archival (6) Enhanced defect detection and display. Examples of enhancements to extend the range of LBU techniques include: (1) Detection of corrosion in this fuselage skins (2) measureing the integrity of thin coatings (from 10- 1000 nm thick, using ultrafast techniques) (3) Techniquest to enable remote or limited access LBU inspections. Development will include the demonstration of the technique in the laboratory on as wide a range of test specimens as practical. 1.2.2 Demonstration. This phase will demonstrate the technologies to the ALCs and industry, and get feedback which can be used to assist in the transition of these technologies. Demonstration includes showing the technology at the offeror's lab, at ALCs, and to industry. Demonstration also includes preparing presentations on the technology, including CD-ROM based multimedia presentations and webpage presentations. 1.2.3 Transition. The goal of transition is to demonstrate the technology on a working prototype system suitable for a production environment. What this actually entails depends upon the specific approach. Development of faster generation and detection lasers could be transitioned to an existing production system, for example. Advanced data compression and defect recognition techniques could be transitioned to the LUIS system. Techniques for remote, limited access inspections could require the construction of a complete production hardened system. Ideally the technology should be transitioned to an inspection system for use in an ALC. 1.3 The development, demonstration, and transition of each technology shall be separated into individual tasks and priced separately. Offerors proposing multiple approaches shall price separately each task in each approach. Proposals for the LUIS signal processing development portion of this effort shall be kept separate from proposals to develop new LBU technology. END OF PART 1. (0068)

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