Office of Naval Research, 800 North Quincy St., Arlington, VA 22217-5660

A -- ADVANCED MULTIFUNCTION RF SYSTEMS CRITICAL ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES (AMRFSCET) SOL 97-023 DUE 080197 POC Glynis Fisher 251, ONR (703)696-0993 BAA-97-023 The following BAA on Advanced Multifunction RF Systems (AMRFS) Critical Enabling Technologies (AMRFCET), as it appears below and in the Commerce Business Daily (CBD), cross references the printed Office of Naval Research (ONR) Guide to Programs which is dated August 1992. ONR has not yet produced an updated paper GUIDE, so FEDIX (fedix.fie.com) and the ONR Home Page (www.onr.navy.mil) are the best sources of current information about ONR. The Office of Naval Research (ONR 31) with the technical support of multiple Integrated Product Teams (IPT) with participation from NRL, NRaD, NSWC, and NAWC is interested in developing and demonstrating critical technologies to enable the consolidation of individual RF systems/functions currently onboard Navy platforms into multifunction, programmable systems. The desire is to insert this multifunction system into future ship and aircraft. Specifically, ONR is interested in a phased approach to demonstrate multifunction RF systems that will have common technology applicable to ship and air based platforms, such as SC-21, CVX, CSA, E-2C, JSF, and F/A-18E/F. This BAA initiates demonstrations of critical near term enabling technologies at a component or a subsystem level to achieve this goal. U.S. Navy ships and aircraft have large numbers of antennas and receivers, each performing unique functions in the radar, electronic warfare (EW), and communications domains. The number of autonomous systems will continue to increase since new electronic capabilities to meet increasing functional requirements are presently being identified and developed. It is anticipated that multifunction systems will mitigate the real-estate problems on ships and aircraft while providing the following payoffs: (1) reduced life cycle cost through equipment commonality, diversity of maintenance, and logistics; (2) reduced signature; (3) increased flexibility in hardware resource allocation; (4) enhanced ship topside and avionics sensor designs with reduced weight, size, volume, andnumber of antennas;(5) improved survivability; (6) increased electromagnetic compatibility; (7) enhanced growth of combat capability and accommodation of legacy systems; (8) reduced or eliminated electromagnetic blockage while maintaining original RF system performance; and (9) reduced hand-off time between functions with more ability to integrate functions. In fiscal year 1995 ONR initiated the AMRFS program to explore current and future technologies and attendant system concepts that will enable the development and demonstration of shipboard and airborne multifunction RF systems. In 1997, ONR awarded four contracts to Hughes, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman to develop plans to demonstrate and build an AMRFS test bed. Since the ultimate AMRFS program goal is to reduce the number of antennas on ships and aircraft by developing an optimum set of antennas/arrays that can perform a multitude of RF functions, this testbed will be designed to cover a multitude of functions performed independently and simultaneously at current performance levels or greater. The key aspect of this planned testbed is the need for it to support an open system architecture concept. Therefore, as critical enabling technologies mature, these can be inserted into the testbed, hence providing an ever increasing capability to the testbed. The purpose of this AMRFS Critical Enabling Technology (AMRFS CET) BAA is to develop and demonstrate critical technologies at the component and subsystem level necessary to enable key multifunction RF modes, and to verify that performance goals for those critical technologies can be met within a schedule being developed for the AMRFS testbed. It is desired that these critical technologies be demonstrated on a schedule that supports insertion into AMRFS systems onboard navy platforms identified above (e.g., SC-21). Any critical enabling technologies developed under this BAA should support an open system architecture as described above. Parties desiring to respond to this BAA are expected to: (1) identify near term critical enabling technologies that meet open system architecture goals (in a time frame in which the component and subsystem technologies are available to realize a successful testbed); (2) produce a plan to demonstrate and validate the technologies at the component and subsystem levels; and (3) conduct near term laboratory demonstrations (one to two years) to verify performance levels. The AMRFS government team has determined that at least the following seven critical enabling technology areas should be considered under this BAA (not in any priority order): 1) Radiating Element/Array Architecture; 2) Transmit/Receive Isolation; 3) Solid State Modules and Components; 4) Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS); 5) A/D Converters; 6) True Time Delay; and 7) Dynamic Resource Allocation and Management Optimization. Other technical areas not listed here may also be considered Critical Enabling Technologies: 1. Radiating Element/Array Architecture -- ONR is interested in broadband,low-profile, efficient, dual-polarized radiating elements and radiating assemblies for low-signature phased array antennas suitable for the 1 -- 25 GHz band (though one antenna element is not expected to cover the entire frequency band). This radiating element/array architecture design should be optimized to support wideband separate transmit and receive phased array architectures to provide multiple simultaneous receive and transmit beams. In addition, it should support wide, instantaneous bandwidth for both EW and radar functions. Furthermore, it should support full phase and amplitude control at each element, radiating assembly, and array level to accommodate various true time delay concepts. Finally, the goal is to provide high polarization integrity for any polarization at all scan angles. Different array architectures that allow insertion of new technologies as they become available (e.g., true time delay, D/A, multiple simultaneous receive and transmit beams) should also be investigated. 2. Transmit/Receive Isolation -- ONR is interested in solving isolation issues for AMRFS. Possible candidate module architectures, materials, filters, and other innovative methods should be considered to address isolation issues. The technology areas of consideration are: broadband, tunable, precision, low-loss bandpass filters; channelized filters; and notched filters that provide high transmit-to-receive isolation. Crucial to the realization of separate transmit and receive AMRFS antennas for simultaneous transmit and receive beams, is the provision of a low cost, miniature isolation filter that would fit inside a module. Filters with improved cutoff properties are needed to reduce out-of-band noise and mitigate jamming and interference without degrading RCS performance of the array. Filter design must allow manufacturing economies of scale in size and weight. The most stressful filter goal in communications application is SHF SATCOM's requirement to simultaneously transmit and receive signals. This requires that the transmit signal level is +65 dBm and the receive sensitivity is -130 dBm, resulting 195dB isolation between transmit and receive. Channelizing filters are also desired to deal with interfering signals in frequency agile systems in radar and EW applications. Filter approaches that provide low insertion loss (<3 dB), strong out-of-band rejection (> 90 dB), low RCS, and fast switching times are desirable for AMRFS. 3. Solid State Modules and Components -- ONR is interested in module/components/devices that can be used to implement the AMRFS concept. Of particular interest are: high power, linear, wideband amplifiers; low noise amplifiers; phaseshifter/attenuator/switch/amplifier network; and low loss and low RCS circulators for separate transmit (T) and receive (R) modules. These modules must exhibit a wide bandwidth (~10 -- 20 GHz), high power (e.g., goal of >10W at X-band), low noise figure (<3 dB goal), and high linearity (~28 dB below rated power). Since the size, output power, and efficiency of these modules are highly dependent on the characteristics of the high power output amplifier, a power-added-efficiency of 40% is desired. Low noise amplifiers with high third-order intercept (TOI), low power consumption, and low noise figure are key parameters. If a hybrid approach is considered for the true time delay concept, a low loss phaseshifter/attenuator/switch/amplifier network is desired. Circulators must exhibit low insertion loss with maximum amount of isolation and reflection uniformity to support reduced RCS. 4. Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS) -- The AMRFS system will fully integrate radar, electronic warfare and communications modes into a single integrated RF system. It is desired that AMRFS exciters incorporate DDS technology for all functions. In the near term, DDS may be used to support electronic warfare (EW) functions such as counter-targeting and counter-terminal electronic attack (EA) signal generation, the development of channelized and digital receivers, the implementation of true time delay beam forming, and complex signal generation with arbitrary waveform generators. In order to support the EA functions against coherent threats, a digital RF memory (DRFM) should be considered but is not required. If the DDS is to be used in the future for digital beam steering transmission, the DDS, in conjunction with the digital receiver and memory, should also include the attributes of a DRFM in coherently replicating threat radar waveforms. In the far term, as the speed, resolution and spectral purity improves, DDS and arbitrary waveform generators may be used for synthesizing radar and communications waveforms. The minimum acceptable digital to analog converter (DAC) performance is 12 bits of -60 dBc spur free dynamic range with 1 GHz of bandwidth. 5. Analog to Digital (A/D) Converters -- A/D converters (ADCs) are critical to radar applications in providing enhanced dynamic range to address high clutter environments, and reducing down-conversion stages. For EW, communications, and radar applications ADCs are used to digitize the received waveforms for further processing. The goal of the ADC is to ultimately produce digital receivers with reduced size and weight. The ADC is a critical component which limits current radar and EW performance levels both in the near and far term. For EW applications, the desired demonstrable near-term performance for ADCs is 12 bits of spur-free dynamic range with 400 -- 500 MHz of bandwidth, where speed is more important than resolution. For radar and communications, the desired demonstrable near-term performance for ADCs is at least 20 bits of spur-free dynamic range with 20 MHz of bandwidth, where resolution is more important than speed. Technical approaches that allow relaxation of ADC speed and dynamic range should also be considered. Acceleration of near-term, economical industrial manufacture of devices is of interested and should be verifiable. ONR is particularly interested in technologies that are applicable to shipboard and airborne which do not require open-loop cryogenic operation in the near term, and operate without cryogenics in the far term. 6. True Time Delay -- True Time Delay beamsteering provides wideband simultaneous operation of multiple signals in a phased-array AMRFS antenna. Time delay should be considered where feasible or a combination of time delay and phaseshifting, at the module level and subarray level if necessary to achieve affordable performance, should also be considered. The beamformer should be capable of providing time delay at a subarray level such that instantaneous bandwidths of 1.5 GHz, at a minimum, are supported across the full operating frequency band. In addition, the beamformer should initially support at least 4 simultaneous, independent beams. Ideally, each beam should be fully reconfigurable and be able to access arbitrary portions of the aperture at any time. The microwave loss through the beamformer should not significantly degrade system performance while maintaining system dynamic rangeand phase noise. Finally, the overall system throughput delay needs to be kept small. Potential for economical fabrication and packaging technique should be verified. Photonics, digital, and hybrid solutions should be considered among others. 7. Dynamic Resource Allocation and Management Optimization (RAM) -- ONR is interested in developing multifunction sensor resource managers for AMRFS, specifically for SC-21, CVX, and CSA mission areas. The RAM should provide scheduling and allocation of shared resources, interconnection of resources into the required configuration, arbitration of functions in case of conflict, testing, statusing, and maintenance of the shared resource pool. The RAM effort should include the following: 1) the determination of mission events for SC-21, CVX, and CSA that drive the requirements for interfaces, resources, interconnections, and equipment; 2) the development of visualization tools to determine under what conditions contentions would occur and to characterize AMRFS; 3) anassessment of multifunction system operation and functionality; 4) simulation and analysis of multifunction system resource utilization; and 5) an assessment of AMRFS testbed system function and resource interaction. White paper responses should include at a minimun but not be limited to: (1) a definition of enabling technologies being proposed for demonstration along with their associated cost and an estimation of cost and performance uncertainty/risk; (2) a description of the demonstration objectives; (3) an assessment discussion of critical issues that must be overcome to achieve the demonstration objectives; (4) a description of how the critical technology will be used to achieve multifunction capability; (5) a discussion of government and AMRFS testbed industry team's accessibility to the technology and (6) a rough cost estimate . Potential offerors can propose any or all of the critical technologies listed in this BAA. Each submission (white paper) however, should indicate only one critical technology area. If several approaches are proposed per technical area, they should be costed separately. An AMRFS CET BAA industry day is scheduled for the 15th July 1997 at the Naval Research Laboratory Auditorium Building 28 from 0830 -- 1200 hours. The objective of this industry day is to answer any questions concerning this announcement. Interested participants should contact Ms. Beulah Dorrall via fax at (703)696-1331 or E-mail: dorralb@onr.navy.mil no later than 11 July 1997. Potential offerors are encouraged to submit white papers by 1 August 1997. The technical part of the white paper should not exceed 10 pages. The white papers should focus on proposed technical concept and approach. Interested offerors should submit an electronic version of the white papers to Ms. Mun-Won C. Fenton via E-mail (fentonm@onr.navy.mil) by the above due date. The government anticipates providing feed-back to the offerors based on the evaluation of the white papers by 6 August 1997. Full proposals should be submittedby 1 September 1997. The technical proposals should follow the following format: 1) List of Project Manager(s); 2) Technical Objective/Expected Payoff; 3) Navy and Marine Corps Problem/Deficiency; 4) Proposed Technical Approach; 5) Schedule/Milestones; 6) Summary of Technical Accomplishments of Proposed Technologies to Date; 7) Brief Summary of Proposed Funding Profile; 8) Transition Planning; 9) Relationship to Other DoD Projects; and 10) Summary of Qualifications/Experience of Key Personnel (a Formal Resume). The Technical portion, excluding the resumes, of the proposal should not exceed 40 pages in length. Font should be Times New Roman, 12 point, single spaced. The page limitation is based on 8.5 x 11 "paper" with 1" margins. Classified proposals are permitted. A transmittal letter may be used to forward proposals. This letter will be used administratively, will not be read by evaluators, and will not affect page count. Classified markings will follow procedures in the Defense Industrial Security Manual.The offerors should submit the proposal electronically to Ms. Mun-Won C. Fenton via E-mail (fentonm@onr.navy.mil) by the above due date. Classified proposals should be submitted via appropriate channels. Proposals should be submitted by 1 September 1997 to be considered for the initial funding. Award of contracts for proposals received after that time will depend on available funds. Awards may be made at any time throughout the year. Offerors should state in their proposal that it is submitted in response to this BAA. Evaluations of the proposals will be performed by a panel of government technical experts from ONR, NAVSEA, NAVAIR, SPAWAR and the Navy laboratories using the following criteria: 1) overall scientific or technical merits of the proposal; 2) offeror's capabilities, related experience, facilities, techniques, or unique combinations of these which are integral factors for achieving the proposal objectives; 3) qualifications, capabilities, and experience of the proposed principal investigator, team leader, or key personnel who are critical in achieving the proposal objectives; 4) realism of the proposed cost; 5) potential contributions of the effort to the agency's specific mission; and 6) extent to which the cost effectiveness of the proposed research is diminished by expenditures for unproductive administrative and overhead expenses. Based on the evaluation of the proposals, selected offerors will be invited, through official ONR notification, to participate in an oral presentation of the proposed approach(es) to a panel of government evaluators. The evaluators will rank and select the awardees based on the written and oral presentations of the proposals. The exact time and location of the oral presentations (likely 8 -- 12 September) will be provided at the time of the notification. The awardees will be notified approximately 2 weeks after the oral presentations. Proposals are desired in the cost and period of performance range set forth below: Approximate Period of Total Award Dollar Award Performance Amount AMRFCET demo: $100,000 -- $1,000,000 each One to two years $2 M -- $4 M Range This notice constitutes ONR's Broad Agency Announcement as contemplated in FAR 6.102 (d)(2). No Request For Proposal (RFP), solicitation or other announcement of this opportunity will be made. Awards may take the form of contracts, grants or cooperative agreements. For awards made as contracts the socio-economic merits of each proposal will be evaluated based on the commitment to provide meaningful subcontracting opportunities for small business, small disadvantaged business, women-owned business concerns, historically black colleges and universities, and minority institutions. The standard industrial classification code is 8731 with the small business size standard of 500. Large businesses, universities and nonprofit organizations submitting proposals of $500,000.00 or more shall also submit its Small, Small Disadvantaged and Women-Owned Small Business Subcontracting Plan in accordance with FAR 52.219-9. RESTRICTION ON DISCLOSURE AND USE OF DATA Offerors will apply the restrictive notice prescription of FAR 52.215-12, Restriction on Disclosure and Use of Data, to trade secrets or privileged commercial and financial information contained in their proposals. It is the Navy's intention to procure data rights in connection with contracts awarded under this BAA. (0182)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0004 19970703\A-0004.SOL)