ADVANCE NOTICE OF INTENT TO ISSUE BAA FOR STUDIES IN COUNTER UNDERGROUND FACILITIES The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) anticipates releasing a BAA within the next 30 days for studies in the area of Counter Underground Facilities. Another notice will be posted in the CBD once the BAA is ready for release. Until such time, DARPA will not be entertaining questions regarding the studies nor will it be accepting requests for copies of the solicitation. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. The following is an example of the sort of study that may be included within the BAA: PASSIVE ACOUSTIC-SEISMIC-ELECTROMAGNETIC SIGNALS EXPLOITATION FOR UGF ATTACK ASSESSMENT. INTRODUCTION: Underground facilities (UGFs) are a serious and growing asymmetric threat to our security and operational dominance. This DARPA program will develop technologies to characterize UGFs along the entire kill chain: identification of facility function, UGF pace of activity, pre-attack status of the facility, transattack activities, and post-attack status. The pre-attack through post-attack chain is referredto here as "UGF attack assessment". The immediate and dominant Counter UGF (CUGF) program focus will be sensor technologies to support UGF attack assessment. The assessment includes: (a) time-critical information necessary to maximize attack effectiveness and minimize collateral damage, (b) physical characterization of the UGF for precision targeting, and (c) post-attack assessment for re-strike. The CUGF program has elected to focus immediately on UGF attack assessment because specific information needs can readily be defined, sensors can be placed near the target, and technologies under development have direct applicability to the entire kill chain. Examples of information needed for integrated attack include orientation and depth of structure, operational tempo, locations of critical umbilicals and systems (power, water, airflow-vents), and pre-strike and post-strike changes in the substructure due to attack. The response to this task will provide the capability to define the performance limits of passiveacoustics, passive seismics and passive electromagnetics for monitoring and 3-D location of critical equipment and umbilicals. The electromagnetic analysis will include, at a minimum, the low frequency (LF) region from direct current (DC) to 20 kilohertz. The analysis will include exploitation of correlations between acoustic, seismic and low frequency electromagnetic (EM) for signal enhancement and improvements in location estimates such as UGF depth using the difference in acoustic, seismic and LF-EM velocities. It will also exploit the independence of the three sensing technologies. OBJECTIVES: The first objective of this study is to identify and understand the capability limits of EM, seismic, and acoustic signals for detection, monitoring, and location of critical functional elements. Monitoring and location capabilities of interest include: status of facility readiness, location of key equipment and umbilicals, transattack characterization such as weapon impact and detonation, and post-attack assessment of the facility status. Critical functions include air, power, and facility operational activity. Detection of mission-specific activity, such as communication from command-control facilities, are also a key focus of this objective. Under this objective the contractor should develop a robust modeling capability to simultaneously predict acoustic, seismic and electromagnetics signals created by a UGF under normal operations, as well as novel signals generated during and post-attack. These models should be validated by selected experiments proposed as part of the effort. Particular attention should be paid to realistic methodologies for capturing the span of geological settings and the uncertainty associated with fully characterizing geology. The second objective exploits the correlation among EM, seismic and acoustic signals. Limited data and modeling efforts have shown a correlation between low-frequency electromagnetic fields and force-time history of electrically operated equipment (modeling), or the seismic and acoustic signals generated by such equipment (data). Equipment of interest includes vent fans, transformers, and cooling tower pumps. The technical analyses should examine signal-to-noise improvements and concepts for improvement in locating the signal source. This task should include development of signal processing algorithms for the coherent exploitation of acoustic, seismic and electromagnetic signals. The overall product of this work will provide the base technology for evaluating and, if appropriate, developing operational concepts for the deployment of passive seismic, EM, and/or acoustic sensing technologies against a representative set of UGFs. This work will not result in specific sensor developments or operational concepts. However, it will provide a demonstrated capability for evaluating the robustness of generalized sensor deployments and operational concepts for monitoring critical activities and locating sources. The product will provide the capability for conducting trade analyses concerning performance as a function of environment (geologic, atmospheric), number and placement of sensors, and noise parameters including background noise (wind, cultural, etc.) and sensor noise performance. STUDY FOCUS: The major categories for the study are 1)Project and prioritize the information obtainable by EM, seismic and acoustic sensors, 2) Develop and exploit models that simultaneously (coherently) predict the seismic, acoustic, and EM signals and validate their performance, 3) Demonstrate a general capability for projecting performance and robustness as a function of information objectives and operational concepts (i.e. detection and discrimination ranges for critical function monitoring, location accuracies, noise environment, etc.). EXPERTISE: Performers in this study will furnish expertise on acoustic, seismic and low frequency electromagnetic (EM) for signal enhancement and improvements, and any other expertise as required to perform the tasks below. TASKS: At a minimum, the performers will address the following task elements: 1. Develop models to provide simultaneous predictions of the acoustic, seismic and electromagnetic observables across postulated sensor configurations for the candidate operational UGFs. These models should include background noise and clutter models or projections from measurements. This task element will incorporate sponsor-provided baseline information. The data have been obtained through analysis of information-accessible (primarily friendly) UGFs and include: (a.) a description of critical UGF parameters and their variance as a function of facility mission (ranges in power usage, water usage, air flow rates, ); (b) a representative range of geologies and topographies based on analyses of operational UGFs; and (c.) a description of critical equipment sets of high interest for functional defeat or activity monitoring including air ventilation equipments, generators, etc. Note that the description of geologies will be in geologic terms; the contractor will develop a methodology for mapping these general descriptions to model parameters such as bulk properties of materials. The sponsor-provided information will be available within 6 weeks of start of contract. The performer will review the information and provide their priority of candidate modeling scenarios to DARPA for review and guidance within 3 months of start of contract. The contractor-generated priority will be based on the contractors perception of the value of the information in support of integrated attack and the capability of the seismic-acoustic-EM to provide that information. This task element also includes developing an experimental design for validating the modeled projections. Candidate tests and test sites will be coordinated with the sponsor for test coordination. Once test sites (a minimum of two, a maximum of three) are identified and test layouts are coordinated, the contractor will characterize the environment and make performance predictions. A part of the validation experiments and predictions should address candidate operational concepts for sensor placement (i.e. sensor location and numbers and ranges from the UGFs). The experimental design will be provided to the sponsor for test-site coordination. 2. Validate the modeling capability by executing either two or three field tests against representative facilities (coordinated with DARPA). Evaluate models (validate with field data); using the field data and models, project the robustness of technical performance across the range of identified candidate operational UGFs. Project the impact of sensor positioning (range, distance between sensors) and environment on critical performance parameters (location accuracy, though system signal-to-noise, critical decisions such as power on, power off, etc). Summarize modeling strengths and deficiencies and project their utility as performance analysis tools and for sensor development. COST AND SCHEDULE: The government estimates the total study cost will be between $1.5M and $2M over a 13 month period. Period of performance is 13 months. The Government may make up to two awards. THE FORGOING IS ONLY AN EXAMPLE. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. Posted 07/23/99 (W-SN358312).

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