A -- TEAMING OPPORTUNITY FOR THE INSTRUMENT INCUBATOR PROGRAM NRA

Notice Date

February 26, 2001

Contracting Office

NASA/Langley Research Center, Mail Stop 144, Industry Assistance Office, Hampton, VA 23681-0001

ZIP Code

23681-0001

Response Due

March 9, 2001

Point of Contact

Robert B. Gardner, Contracting Officer, Phone (757) 864-2525, Fax (757) 864-7898, Email R.B.GARDNER@larc.nasa.gov -- Mary Jane Yeager, Contracting Officer, Phone (757) 864-2473, Fax (757) 864-7709, Email M.J.YEAGER@larc.nasa.gov

E-Mail Address

Robert B. Gardner (R.B.GARDNER@larc.nasa.gov)

Description

Description: NASA Langley Research Center is seeking University and Industry partners for the efforts synopsized. Synopsis: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) intends to release a NASA Research Announcement (NRA) in the near future for the Instrument Incubator Program (IIP). The Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) fosters the development of innovative remote-sensing concepts and the assessment of these concepts in ground, aircraft, or engineering model demonstrations. This NRA will solicit analytical studies, lab demonstrations, field demonstrations, instrument requirements analysis, instrument design, and engineering model construction for innovative measurement techniques which have the highest potential to meet goals of the IIP and the measurement capability requirements of the Office of Earth Science. Successful proposers must present concepts which have great potential for enabling new science measurements and/or reducing instrument cost, size, mass, and resource use. The IIP will competitively select through a peer review process proposals to participate in the program. The total proposed period of performance should not exceed 36 months. NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) is seeking partners from other government agencies, industry, academia, and Federal Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC) to participate with NASA LaRC Principal Investigators (PI) in the IIP to develop proposals and execute development and performance demonstrations of Earth science instrumentation and instrument subsystems. It is expected that selection of the proposal(s) and availability of funds would result in instrument and/or subsystem contract(s) for the selected partner(s). This partnering opportunity does not guarantee selection for award of any contracts, nor is it to be construed as a commitment by NASA to pay for the information solicited. It is expected that the partner(s) selected would provide (at no cost to NASA) conceptual designs, technical data, proposal input, project schedules and cost estimates consistent with the requirements of the NRA. Potential partners must demonstrate the capabilities and experience to provide subsystems and instruments consistent with the efforts synopsized for each intended LaRC proposal. Partners must work collaboratively with NASA and other potential industry and academic partners to perform the required tasks. Partner selection(s) will be made by LaRC based on the following criteria in the following order of importance: (1) Relevant experience, past performance, technical capability and availability of key personnel This criteria evaluates the proposers relevant recent experience, past performance in similar development activities, technical capability to perform the development and key personnel available to support the development. Substantive evidence (points of contact and telephone numbers) of successful participation in similar developments should be included. (2) Cost and schedule control This criteria evaluates the proposer's ability to control both cost and schedule. The proposer should provide evidence of successfully controlling cost and schedule for similar development programs and provide evidence of management processes in this area. (3) Facilities This criterion evaluates the proposer's facilities (development, testing, and analyses) to conduct the development or demonstration of the proposed task. The proposer should discuss facility availability, access, and the ability to meet the proposed objectives. Responses should be limited to 5 pages (12 point font) and address each of the criteria. A separate proposal, even though it may be duplicative, must be submitted for each instrument team that the responder wishes to be considered. The responder must indicate on the cover page of the proposal the applicable instrument team. All responses should be sent to: NASA Langley Research Center, Attn: Brian D. Killough, Mail Stop 214, Building 1229, Room 120H Hampton, VA 23681, or via email to: b.d.killough@larc.nasa.gov. The due date for submission is COB March 9, 2001. Procurement questions should be directed to Mary Jane Yeager, NASA LaRC Procurement Office, 757-864-2473, m.j.yeager@larc.nasa.gov. The following are instruments or subsystem teams seeking partnerships. The technical requirements and NASA LaRC point of contact for technical questions is provided for each proposal: (1) Fabry-Perot Interferometry for Chlorophyll Fluorescence Technical Point of Contact: Dr. William B. Cook, 757-864-8331, w.b.cook@larc.nasa.gov Chlorophyll fluorescence spectra are excellent indicators of the state of photosynthetic activity in vegetation. Remotely sensing these spectra has proven difficult due to strong competing optical signals such as the solar reflectance. A passive method known as the Fraunhofer line technique has been shown to be potentially applicable, but it has not been extensively tested. The objective of this proposal is to demonstrate the usefulness of the Fraunhofer line technique for true remote sensing of chlorophyll fluorescence spectra. The sensor will be a tunable multi-etalon spectrometer designed for use from space-based or high altitude aircraft platforms. Extremely high spectral resolution (sub-angstrom) is required, as are robust mechanical mounts and control systems. At least two spectral bands are required, centered at approximately 680 and 735 nm. The tunable range about each band center will be approximately 0.5 nm. A major goal of the project is to determine the magnitude of the emitted fluorescence signals. The early stages of the project will entail verification of the approximate fluorescent radiance and beginning the fundamental sizing of the instrument. The results of the project will be a clear validation of the technique and an operational brassboard flight instrument. If the NRA selects this proposal, the partner would design, develop, and fabricate the tunable multi-etalon portion of the device and also provide the hardware and software necessary for its operation and calibration. The partner would also assist with design and assembly of the spectrometer system (telescope, additional optics, etc.), assist with detector specification, and assist with field tests of the system. Delivery of the etalons will be expected within one year of the project award. (2) Advanced GPS Receiver for Surface Reflection Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Steven J. Katzberg, 757-864-1970, s.j.katzberg@larc.nasa.gov An advanced GPS receiver for surface reflection remote sensing is proposed which will be capable of utilizing all the current and planned enhancements to the GPS signal structure. This includes the addition of a C/A code on L2 as well as the L5 code. Most importantly, this receiver will be capable of acquiring without loss of signal-to-noise ratio, the encrypted P(Y) code. Use of the encrypted military codes will permit not only use of the order of magnitude greater range resolution, but also cross correlation between the reflected signals at L1 and L2. The receiver will have enhancement capability to acquire not only GPS but also GLONASS and the proposed Galileo system. This receiver, with complementary post-processing software, must be capable of mapping the cross-correlation power as a function of code delay and Doppler frequency through a large number of independent correlations. The ability to set integration time to values determined by analytical models is required. The ability to replay sampled data from a single experiment, multiple times, allowing reconfiguration of the delay-Doppler correlator array is also required. Partners for this proposal shall have the capability to build GPS receivers which can operate successfully with the P(Y) code individually and separately at L1 and L2. In addition, experimental deployments on U.S. Government owned or leased aircraft are planned and will require that any hardware be compatible with aircraft flight-worthiness specifications. (3) Far-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Troposphere (FIRST) Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Marty G. Mlynczak, 757-864-5695, m.g.mlynczak@larc.nasa.gov The far-infrared portion of the thermal emission spectrum, nominally the region between 15 and 100 microns wavelength, is the least explored part of the Earth's radiation and energy balance. Approximately one-half of the radiation emitted to space by the Earth and its atmosphere occurs beyond 15 microns. The primary radiatively active gas in this spectral region is water vapor, the main greenhouse gas. Cirrus clouds also modulate the outgoing radiation in this region, directly influencing climate. There have been no spectrally-resolved measurements of this wavelength interval to date from space-based platforms, nor are any currently planned, despite the importance of this region to Earth's climate. Langley Research Center is looking to develop technology to infuse into the next generation of space and aircraft based interferometers to allow for measurement of the entire thermal infrared portion of the spectrum at high (~0.25 wavenumber) spectral resolution and spatial (~ 10 km) resolution. To facilitate instrument design and achieve long life in orbit we are specifically seeking members to partner with in the areas of: 7 Infrared detectors and detector arrays, including but not limited to passively cooled or uncooled microbolometers or pyroelectric devices. Detectivity approaching the photon noise limit at frequencies up to 10 kHz 7 Optical beamsplitters covering the entire thermal infrared, 50% reflecting, 50% transmitting, from 100 to 2000 wavenumbers (5 to 100 micrometers) 7 Stable metrology lasers, dv/v < 2.0e-06 7 Stable blackbody sources for in-flight radiometric calibration (accuracy < 0.1 K) 7 Compact lightweight interferometer designs; 1 second scan time for 2-sided interferograms with 2 centimeter maximum optical path difference 7 Data compression and storage technology 7 Calibration, data reduction, and data analysis technologies. (4) Compact UAV Differential Absorption Water Vapor Lidar Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Richard A. Ferrare, 757-864-9443, r.ferrare@larc.nasa.gov Accurate measurements of atmospheric water vapor are important for initializing numerical weather models, computing shortwave and longwave radiation fluxes and cooling rates, forecasting the formation of aircraft contrails, understanding and modeling cloud formation, and the determination of the production of OH which controls chemical processes in the atmosphere. Since water vapor is the dominant greenhouse gas, accurately measuring and subsequently modeling the three-dimensional distribution of water vapor is required to reduce the uncertainties in the predicted greenhouse effect. Passive remote sensing techniques cannot provide the high vertical resolution profiles from the surface to the tropopause that are necessary for detecting the thin layers of water vapor that have been observed using in situ and active measurement techniques. Radiosonde measurements of upper tropospheric water vapor do not have sufficient temporal and horizontal resolution and the required high accuracy for accurately resolving fine scale atmospheric structure in the upper troposphere. In addition, the acquisition of high resolution profile measurements of water vapor over remote and potential hostile environments such as over the polar regions and in the hurricane environment presents a difficult technological challenge. The objective of this proposal is to develop and demonstrate a compact, autonomous airborne Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system for measuring profiles of water vapor mixing ratio from a high altitude unmanned and/or manned aircraft. The system will make use of laser and lidar technology recently acquired at NASA Langley Research Center for Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (UAV) water vapor DIAL measurements, along with an optical detection package and associated data processing electronics to measure water vapor profiles from a high altitude unmanned and/or manned aircraft. The project goal will be to successfully demonstrate autonomous airborne water vapor measurement capability suitable for long duration flights on a UAV aircraft. If this proposal is selected as a result of this NRA, the partner would design, develop, and fabricate the optical detection and data processing systems required for this lidar system. The optical detection package would be capable of detecting and processing laser return signals transmitted at rates ranging from 1 Hz to 5 kHz. The optical detection package would utilize state-of-the-art electronics to optimize detection of the laser return signals in the 812-835 and 940-946 nm wavelength regions. The data collection and processing system should operate autonomously and have the flexibility of varying the signal averaging time, depending on the repetition rate of the transmitting laser system, to optimize the retrieval of water vapor profiles in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. The partner will provide the hardware and software necessary for the operation of the optical detection and data processing systems. The partner will assist in the integration of these systems into the aircraft platform and with ground and airborne field tests of the integrated lidar system. Delivery of these optical and data processing systems will be expected to be within one year of the project award. (5) Tropospheric Trace Species Sensing Fabry-Perot Interferometer Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Allen M. Larar, 757-864-45328, a.m.larar@larc.nasa.gov The long-term objective of this effort is the development of an advanced atmospheric remote sensor employing Fabry-Perot interferometry (FPI), focused on the measurement of ozone and other trace tropospheric species from a space-based platform. These measurements would address some of the key science themes defined by NASA's Office of Earth Science, including: measurements to produce high spatial and temporal resolution data sets to enhance understanding of tropospheric chemistry and the tropospheric ozone budget (i.e. ozone and the precursor gases) on a local, regional, and global scale; and measurement of greenhouse gases to better characterize their sources, sinks, and atmospheric transformations and how subsequent variations may impact global climate. For IIP, we propose to develop an airborne, discrete channel spectrometer that enables high spectral resolution (<.1 cm-1) radiance measurements at selected mid-infrared wavelengths (including, e.g., around 10 microns), with a radiometric uncertainty less than 1%. This airborne instrument will employ advanced spectrometer technologies to demonstrate reductions in system volume, mass, power, data rate, and cost which can be applied to future space-based sensors. Potential technology infusion may include: high sensitivity detectors; large focal plane detector arrays; mechanical coolers; lightweight materials for structures and optics; high-throughput digital signal processors; ultra-stable solid state lasers; compact, efficient actuators; high efficiency passive cooling techniques; high speed data networks and interfaces; and high throughput, narrow-band optical filters. Potential IIP partners must demonstrate the capabilities and experience to provide spectrometer subsystems and systems associated with Fabry-Perot interferometers in support of the science measurement objectives described above. They must work collaboratively with government representatives and other potential industry and academic partners to perform one or more of the following tasks: 7 Develop airborne instrument specifications from scientific requirements and interface specifications. 7 Identify, advance, and incorporate new spectrometer technologies that will reduce the volume, mass, power, data rate, and cost of a space-based Fabry-Perot interferometer. 7 Design, analyze, fabricate, assemble, and test an airborne instrument (hardware and software), including scientific instrumentation and supporting subsystems, airborne support equipment, and ground support equipment. 7 Perform payload integration and test activities and support flight operations. 7 Develop data processing and analysis software that produces science products from instrument data. 7 Develop a spaceflight instrument preliminary design, including requirements definition and analysis, advanced technology infusion, engineering design and analysis, operations concept definition, schedule development, and cost estimates. (6) High Spectral Resolution Lidar Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Chris A. Hostetler, 757-864-5373, c.a.hostetler@larc.nasa.gov Better quantification of extinction due to clouds and aerosols in the troposphere is required to improve the predictive capabilities of climate models. Especially crucial is the vertical profile of extinction, which is extremely difficult to measure accurately. Backscatter lidars are used to infer extinction profiles; however, implicit in the retrieval is an assumed extinction-to-backscatter ratio, which is highly uncertain. Raman lidars are also used to measure extinction; however, these instruments require large power-aperture products, have difficulty making daytime measurements, and are not suitable for space-based applications. Various passive instruments can be used to infer extinction; however each suffers from limited and uncertain vertical resolution and/or a limited vertical range over which the measurements are possible. High spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) overcomes the limitations of other remote sensing techniques. HSRL can accurately measure profiles of extinction at night or day, with high vertical resolution, and with minimal assumptions. The technique shows great promise for regional studies from aircraft and global measurements from space. The HSRL technique takes advantage of the spectral distribution of the return signal to discriminate between aerosol/cloud returns and molecular returns. Lidar backscatter from air molecules is Doppler broadened by a few GHz due to the high-velocity random thermal motion of molecules. Because the aerosol/cloud particles are much more massive than gas molecules, the Brownian motion of these particles is significantly lower in velocity than the thermal motion of air molecules, and the resulting Doppler broadening of the aerosol/cloud return (tens of MHz) is negligible in comparison to that of the molecular return. Unlike standard backscatter lidars, HSRL can discriminate between the frequency-broadened molecular returns and the relatively unbroadened aerosol/cloud returns. This, of course, puts stringent requirements on the linewidth and frequency stability of the laser transmitter and on the frequency resolving capability and stability of the receiver. The laser is seeded to insure frequency stable output at a single longitudinal mode. Discrimination between aerosol and molecular returns in the receiver is accomplished by splitting the returned signal into two optical channels, one with an extremely narrow-band absorbing filter to eliminate the aerosol returns and another which passes all frequencies of the returned signal The objective of this proposal is to build and demonstrate an aircraft-based HSRL system and to investigate the accuracies and limitations of the technique for aircraft and future space applications. The system will be integrated at NASA Langley Research Center and characterized via ground- and aircraft based measurements. Critical to the success of the project is the development of an aircraft-suitable high spectral purity, injection-seeded, doubled Nd:YAG transmitter that can be locked to an I2 absorption line. Industry partnerships may be sought in the a

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