Phillips Laboratory/PKVB, Directorate of Contracting, 3651 Maxwell Avenue SE, Kirtland AFB NM 87117-5772

A -- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: SEE BELOW POC F. Tapia, Contracting Officer, PL/PKVB, 505-846-5021. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)/SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS (SSS) IN TWO AREAS: INSTRUMENTATION RADAR COLLECTION SYSTEMS AND AIRSHIPS (BLIMPS) BY PHILLIPS LABORATORY AS FOLLOWS: AREA A: INSTRUMENTATION RADAR COLLECTION SYSTEMS - This RFI shall not be construed as a request for proposal or as an obligation on the part of the government for any follow-on acquisition. The government does not intend to award any contract on the basis of this RFI or otherwise pay for information solicited. No entitlement for payment of direct costs or indirect charges, including cost for postage and shipping, will arise as a result of the submission of the respondents' information and the use of such. Also all information submitted in response to this RFI shall be submitted as unrestricted and unclassified. Other than the information provided in this RFI, there is no additional written documentation available to support the information contained herein. Phillips Lab is evaluating the viability, availability, and cost of various instrumentation radar collection systems to support an experiment whose purpose is to collect high-quality, coherent, clutter spectral data from a near-stationary airborne platform (blimp) at low altitudes (less than 4000 feet). Grazing angles of interest range from 15 to above 60 degrees over various clutter backgrounds. A nominal ground range resolution of approximately 50 meters is required. The intent of this research effort is to carefully characterize the internal motion spectrum of high-angle clutter, uncontaminated by platform motion or radar instability effects. The nominal parameter values which follow are intended to provide a quantitative idea of what is desired in a system. However, information on systems with parameters which do not fall within those listed, but offer the same functional capability, is solicited. The intent of this RFI is to identify the most suitable system for the experiment described. TRANSMITTER--X and S band tunable (only one will be used at a time), Waveform--pulsed, effective processed pulse width switchable between 150ns and 300ns (nom), bandwidth (30MHz (nom) selectable as a function of pulsewidth, PRF controllable 1KHz- 30KHz, T/R switch isolation ) 50dB, Average Power Output--sufficient in each band to obtain an integrated clutter-to-noise ratio of 60dB in a sea state 2 at 15 degrees grazing with a 100msec dwell. Assume a radar altitude of 1500 feet, an antenna beamwidth of 18 degrees (19 dB gain), a range resolution of 50m, and a sigma zero of -40dB at S-band and -35dB at X-band. Range unambiguous operation is desired. RECEIVER--dual channel or switchable (only one transmitter will operate at a time), max input signal level (-20dBm, bandwidth (30MHz (nom), selectable as function of pulse width setting, AGC/programmable attenuation--automatic or manual control over )=70dB range in steps (= 10dB. If automatic, attenuation must be ''freezable'' via operator command, RF/IF dynamic range )= 70dB, output, I/Q baseband video fed to digitizer/buffer unit, nominal full scale I/Q output level to digitizer, -10 to -20dBm. DIGITIZER/BUFFER UNIT AND DATA RECORDER--I and Q digitizers shall provide at least 8-bit quantization, digitizer shall provide up to 32 range bins through hardware or processing, a range start swath, programmable, 0.5-60us after end-of-transmit pulse, and shall insert time/date/status data with digitized I/Q data, the raw data recorder shall be capable of storing one hour (nom) of data. SYSTEM CONTROLLER--the radar system shall be computer-controlled with user friendly operational control software. The system controller shall also have sufficient external interface capabilities to provide control paths to other items in the system, such as antenna polarization switching and selection, and pedestal positioning control. SYSTEM MONITORING--Sufficient test and monitor points shall be provided and brought out to convenient test panels where they can be utilized for monitoring key signal performance during flight operations and for occasional trouble shooting and fault isolation activities. Part of the monitoring capability shall also include an oscilloscope with two traces (nom), and more ideally four. PRIME POWER INPUT--TBD, but may be 115VAC, 60 Hz or 28 VDC. SIZE/WEIGHT--A smaller system size will be advantageous, not so much from the size reduction as from the anticipated weight reduction. Weight is an important factor and should be minimized. An antenna/pedestal subsystem will be provided separately. Companies having systems meeting most or all of the above parameters should describe to include shortfalls, system size, weight, configuration. Please include availability in Calender year 96/97, a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) costing for purchase or lease of the system and operational support if required. AREA B: AIRSHIPS (BLIMPS). This RFI shall not be construed as a request for proposal or as an obligation on the part of the government for any follow-on acquisition. The government does not intend to award any contract on the basis of this RFI, or otherwise pay for information solicited. No entitlement for payment of direct costs, indirect costs, or charges including postage and shipping, will arise as a result due to submission of the respondents' information and the use of such. All information submitted in response to RFI shall be unrestricted and unclassified. Other than the information provided in this RFI, there is no additional written documentation available to support the information contained herein. Phillips Lab is evaluating the viability, availability, and cost of airship platforms to support an experiment whose purpose is to collect high-quality radar data from a near-stationary airborne platform (blimp) at low altitudes ((4000 feet or less). The nominal parameter values which follow are intended to provide a quantitative idea of what is desired in a platform. However, information on systems with parameters which do not fall within those listed, but offer the same functional capability, is solicited. The intent of this RFI is to identify the most suitable system for the experiment described. A payload requirement of 2000-2500 lbs is anticipated to include the radar/antenna system and operators. Equipment power requirements are TBD but 5-10 KVA prime power provided by the airship should be adequate. Of particular importance to the experiment is the stationkeeping ability of the airship. The airship would be required for one or two days spring/summer 1996 for the purposes of making some flight dynamics measurements (angular and linear motion, vibration testing). These measurements will be used to determine the suitability of the airship for the larger data collection effort described above. If suitable, we would require the airship in late Fall 1996 or early Spring 1997 for approximately two months to integrate the radar/antenna assembly to the airship and perform data collection. Flight dynamics measurements can be taken at any time, at any location, such as during airship transport or training at the owner/operator's convenience. The data collection effort is expected to take place at Vandenberg AFB CA or Eglin AFB FL. Companies having airships meeting most or all of the above requirements should describe to include shortfalls. Please include availability of equipment in Calender Years 96/97, payload/altitude curves, power provisions, a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) costing for lease of the airship and operational support, if required. Two copies of the response is to be submitted within 30 days from the date of CBD publication to USAF Phillips Laboratory,Directorate of Contracting, Contracting Officer F. Tapia (505)-846-5021, 5531 Maxwell Ave SE, Kirtland AFB NM 87117-5773. Refer technical questions to PL/SX, Arthur Giannetti, (505)-843-3129 or PL/VTRA, Capt Floyd Sherrod, (505)-846-4848. (0109)

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