William J. Hughes Technical Center, ACT-330, Atlantic City International Airport, NJ 08405

59 -- ANTENNA FOR UNMANNED MARITIME USE" DUE 051597 POC Thomas Jennings, ACT-330, FAX 609.485.5763. The FAA Technical Center (FAATC) Communications Infrastructure Branch is seeking to identify potential COTs sources of mechanically and/or electronically steerable satelite communications antenna systems for a dyqnamic maritime environment. The following are the operational constraints/performance requirements of such a system: the system will be mounted on an unmanned 12 meter diameter buoy to be deployed in the Gulf of Mexico. The system must be capable of acquiring and tracking a commercial Ku-band geostationary satellite while performaing to the following conditions: 1. Elevation from +20 to =90 degrees, 2. Azimuth from 0 to 360 degrees, 3. Roll and pitch acceleration rates of up to 14.5 degrees/second/second, 4. if mechancal, require no cable un-wrap procedure, 5. Pointing accuracy to within 1 degree of satellite position. In addition, the antenna rf system must provide the following: Sufficient uplink and downlink margin for reliable communications up to 398.4 kbps, BPSK moduclation -- including rain margin (IAW Crane Rain Attenuation model) Region E, 99.999 percent availability, and meet FCC 25.209 requriement for transmit sidelobe levels. The system must also be capable of the following environmental conditions: Operate on +24 VDC, 500 Watts maximum power, 0 to +50 degrees C operating environment, a nitrogen purged environment is acceptable, estimate mean time between failures (MTBF) of at least 10,000 hours. Interested parties with COTS systems or adaptable COTS systems compliant with the above characteristics may submit marketing brochures, catlaogues, and/or other trade infromation of a non-proprietary nature, to the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center, attn.: Thomas Jennings, ACT-330. Submittals should be concise descriptive materials readily available to the public and should be sent no later than 4:00 pm EST on May 15, 1997. The information received will be part of a market survey and is a request for information only. (0107)

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