Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Contracts Management Office (CMO), 3701 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA 22203-1714

A -- AIRBORNE VIDEO SURVEILLANCE SOL BAA 97-42 DUE 100797 POC Ms. Algeria K. Tate DARPA/CMO FAX NO. (703) 696-2208 WEB: http://www.darpa.mil, http://www.darpa.mil. E-MAIL: baa97-42@darpa.mil, baa97-42@darpa.mil. DARPA is soliciting proposals (technical and cost) for Technology Subsystem Research and Development (TSRD) efforts in support of an Airborne Video Surveillance (AVS) System for surveillance imagery exploitation and targeting. Full technical and cost proposals in response to this BAA shall be submitted to the Technical POC listed above by 7 October 1997, 1500 hours Eastern Daylight Savings Time. DARPA will review these and initiate awards for contracts starting on or about the 2nd Quarter of government Fiscal Year 1998. Exact formats and procedures for the proposal submission are included in a Proposers Information Package (PIP). On 28 August 1997 from 0900 to approximately 1530 an unclassified informational briefing to industry covering this BAA will be held at Holiday Inn, 4610 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA. This meeting was the subject of a previous CBD announcement (Special Notice No. 97-29). Attendance instructions are repeated here for convenience. Requests for reservations for attendance at the industry briefing only are requested of all attendees by 1500 EDT on 26 August 1997 via electronic mail message to avs_program@darpa.mil or by fax to AVS Program at 703 696-2201. The request should include the following: name of attendee(s), title, organization, department or company division, phone, fax, and electronic mail address. If requested attendance exceeds capacity, organizations will be notified to limit the number of participants. Attendees must make their own hotel reservations. A limited block of hotel rooms has been set aside at the Holiday Inn (Phone: 703 243-9800) under the reference DARPA AVS Program . Additional accommodations may be available at the following hotels: (a) In the Ballston area of, within walking distance of the Holiday Inn: Comfort Inn (703) 247-3399; Arlington Hilton (703) 528-6000; (b) in the Rosslyn area of Arlington, VA, a 10 minute Metrorail ride from the Ballston area: Holiday Inn Rosslyn Western Park (703) 527-4814, Hyatt (703) 525-1234, Best Western Key Bridge (703) 522-0400, Marriott Key Bridge (703) 524 6400. General Goals of This BAA: Unmanned aerial vehicle technology has produced a number of video (defined for AVS as any electro-optical (EO) or infrared (IR) sensor operating at greater than 1 Hz) reconnaissance and surveillance vehicles currently in operational use. These have the capability to collect and provide video imagery directly to ground exploitation systems and command posts. Motion video data is proving to be quite powerful in these deployments for a number of reasons, many related to the use of temporally varying motion imagery as opposed to still frame imagery. However, in early deployed prototype systems, video exploitation is completely manual and the geolocation of targets is inaccurate. The challenges of manual teleoperation, operator/analyst fatigue, and inaccurate geolocation have been noted within the UAV video user community. DARPA is soliciting proposals for TSRD efforts in support of an Airborne Video Surveillance (AVS) program to explore, develop and evaluate ways of accurately geo-referencing video information and converting AVS systems from remotely controlled surveillance sources returning video streams to semi-autonomous active surveillance systems performing designated tasks. The AVS program will develop and demonstrate real-time geo-registration, multiple target surveillance, and automated activity monitoring from the electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) imagery available from current (e.g., Predator, Hunter) and future (e.g., Global Hawk, Dark Star, Outrider) unmanned aerial vehicle systems. The AVS program will generally be structured as follows (more detailed descriptions are provided in the PIP): Under individual Technology Subsystem Research and Development (TSRD) work package awards, advanced technologies will be developed, evaluated, documented and delivered for integration into demonstrations and mission evaluations. Four possible TSRD technology areas have been identified: Precision Video Registration (PVR), Multiple Target Surveillance (MTS), Activity Monitoring (AM) and Other Advanced Video Surveillance (Other). The TSRD awardees will contribute extensively to the overall program design and management efforts, deliver integratable subsystems and subsystem tool kits to the AVS Systems Integrator (SI), and support the AVS SI during integrations, demonstrations and evaluations. An AVS Systems Integrator, under a separate solicitation, will lead the AVS system design and integration effort, conducting quarterly program-wide coordination meetings in which all program participants will develop concepts of operation, designs, plans and schedules for annual demonstrations and mission evaluations of increasingly capable AVS integrated systems. The SI will also design, develop, test and document an AVS Core Air Ground System (CAGS) that will provide common software functions necessary to all TSRDs. The SI will integrate and test subsystems supplied by the TSRDs and conduct annual demonstrations, mission evaluations and field exercises. DARPA has arranged with the US Army CECOM Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), Fort Belvoir, VA to provide the testbed and all integration and operation support as government furnished equipment (GFE). A detailed description of NVESD s support package is presented in the PIP, and will be presented at the AVS TSRD Industry Briefing. This particular acquisition strategy has been adopted to maintain an aggressive technology focus for the AVS program (the best TSRDs will be identified initially), while providing a potential AVS SI with a much more detailed description of the TSRDs that will be integrated into AVS systems. To this end, TSRDs selected for potential program awards will be directed to brief their proposed technical approaches and plans at an industry briefing for the AVS SI procurement. It is also anticipated that potential TSRDs will have ongoing discussions with potential AVS SI offerors that will identify and resolve any problematic intellectual property issues that may impede the achievement of AVS program goals. A brief overview of the challenges and potential candidate techniques for each of the TSRDs is supplied here. Greater programmatic and technical detail is provided in the PIP. Precision Video Registration (PVR): The challenges are in developing algorithms that are robust to large variations in viewing geometry, variable atmospheric conditions, and seasonal variations. Candidate approaches are envisioned to include registering video frames to reference imagery, recovering depth from sensor motions when reference imagery is inadequate, and exploring multiple look registration techniques for missions where reference imagery is unavailable. Multiple Target Surveillance (MTS): The challenge of MTS is to provide the sensor payload operator with a virtual field of view to simultaneously monitor and track a number of targets in a large field of regard. Specific requirements are to predict the motion of targets from a small number of frames, reacquire targets after sensor slewing, generate virtual video streams for each tracked target and a composite field of regard image for video frames, and to track humans and vehicles when they are moving or temporarily stationary. Candidate approaches are envisioned to include signature correlation-based target tracking, optimized sensor control algorithms, and Kalman filtering for 3D tracking, maneuvering, and occlusion. Activity Monitoring (AM): The challenges for activity monitoring are in developing robust activity and filtering systems for airborne video capable of dealing with sensor motion and large variations in viewing geometry, supporting multiple activity models (human, vehicle, site), screening out scene motion noise (e.g., wind through trees), monitoring multiple modes (points, areas, lines of communication), and addressing variable scene content, atmospheric conditions, and imagery quality. Candidate approaches are envisioned to include techniques of activity detection, modeling, classification, and false alarm rejection based on activity and scene models. Other Advanced Video Surveillance Technologies (Other): DARPA will review any proposed technology research and development that will improve video surveillance technology and surveillance mission efficiency. Offerors must explicitly explain and enumerate the advantages, metrics, and goals for such techniques and submit proposals similar in format and intent to other technology development work packages (PVR, MTS, AM). The expected award date for all categories is 1 March 1998. Although the length of individual efforts should vary with level of difficulty and number of tasks, base contracts for each selected work package will be awarded for FY 1998, 1999 and FY 2000, with optional year long periods of performance to be exercised, based on performance, in FY 2001 and FY 2002. Guidance on anticipated funding levels and periods of performance are included in the PIP. Multiple awards are anticipated under this solicitation. The selection of one or more sources for award will be based on an evaluation of an offeror's response (both technical and cost aspects) to determine the overall merit of the proposal in response to the announcement. The selection criteria for all submissions are described here and further elaborated in the PIP. Criteria A-D are primary evaluation criteria for TSRD submissions and are listed in order of priority. (A) The quality and technical merit of offeror's technical solution. (B) The capabilities and experience of offeror to perform the work. (C) The relevance of the proposed approach to the AVS program goals and to battlespace awareness missions. (D) The offerors approach to technology transfer. Criterion E, the realism of the cost proposal, will be evaluated separately, secondary to the Criteria (A-D) listed above. (E) The cost realism and value of proposal to government. No other evaluation criteria will be used. DARPA reserves the right to select for award of a contract or grant any, all, part, or none of the proposals received. Award of a grant, in lieu of a contract, to universities and nonprofit institutions will be considered and will be subject to the mutual agreement of all parties. A Proposers Information Package (PIP) has been prepared for this BAA. The PIP provides important information on the following areas: program technical rationale and program goals for each subject area, program schedule and estimated costs for each subject area, proposal preparation and submission, award criteria, the submission of questions via electronic mail, and other important information. Technical and contractual questions should be directed to (baa97-42@darpa.mil) and will be answered through the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file. Offerors should request or obtain a PIP in one of the following ways (electronic retrieval is encouraged): (a) The BAA 97-42 PIP will be available at the DARPA World Wide Web Site: http://www.darpa.mil/baa/ one working day after the CBD publication. Additional supporting documents will be available as soon as possible. (b) Request via Surface Mail, e-mail, fax or phone from Ms. Pamela Chelchowski, 3701 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA 22203, phone: 703-696-7440, facsimile: 703-696-2201, electronic mail: baa97-42@darpa.mil. This BAA will be open through 7 October 1997. The provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) at 9.5 (Organizational Conflict of Interest) apply in an award under this BAA. Accordingly, a potential offeror is cautioned to review its contract and subcontract history, before incurring substantial proposal preparation expense, to determine whether or not in its judgment a real or potential conflict of interest does or might exist that will prevent the contracting officer from considering its proposal or making an award under this BAA. Questionable circumstances or situations should be addressed to the Contracting Officer for resolution and decision as soon as possible. Offerors are also cautioned that (1) the absence of any communication between offerors and the Contracting Officer on these matters (real or potential conflict of interest) shall not preclude the Contracting Officer from conducting his or her own research and analysis, arriving at his or her own determination relative to the existence of real or potential conflicts of interest, and (2) in the event of a determination of a conflict of interest, the government shall not be liable for the cost of proposal preparation and submission. This is an unrestricted announcement. Proposals submitted shall be in accordance with this announcement. There will be no other solicitation issued in regard to this requirement. Offerors should be alert for any BAA amendments that may be published. No portion of the BAA will be set aside for historically black colleges or universities (HBCU's) or minority institutions (MI's) participation due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or severable areas of research for exclusive competition among the entities. HBCU's and MI's are encouraged to team with other proposers. (0137) SPONSOR: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),Contracts Management Office (CMO), 3701 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington VA 22203-1714 (0237)

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