SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Request for Information - Wind Sensing System
- Notice Date
- 3/9/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- RDECOM Natick Contracting Center ICP (RDECOM-CC), ATTN: CCRD-NA, Building 1, Kansas Street, Natick, MA 01760-5011
- ZIP Code
- 01760-5011
- Solicitation Number
- WARPADD-RFI-WINDSENSOR
- Response Due
- 5/7/2011
- Archive Date
- 7/6/2011
- Point of Contact
- Allison Griffin, 508-233-4495
- E-Mail Address
-
RDECOM Natick Contracting Center ICP (RDECOM-CC)
(allison.griffin@us.army.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center, Natick, MA,is conducting a market survey to identify sources with the capability to measure wind direction and magnitude at various altitudes above a remote stationary position and interface with the Army's Joint Precision Aerial Delivery System, 2,000 Pound (JPADS 2K). The wind sensing system must be able to interface with a computer based ground station via 802.11b (T) and any other standard communications protocol (O). The system must be capable of measuring wind direction and magnitude directly above a potential drop zone (Threshold) and providing wind profiles at a user specified horizon angle (Objective). Measurements must be taken at range gates of 0ft, 100ft, 500ft and 1000ft (T) with additional gates at increments of 500ft (O). The sensing system must have a stand-alone, rechargeable power supply (T) and must be deployable, sustainable and maintainable in all weather and altitude conditions without degradation of measurement precision (T). Data from the sensor must be formatted in the same manner as the JPADS Mission Planner (JPADS-MP) Drop Sonde messages as detailed in the JPADS-MP Interface Control Document, which will be made available upon request. The current wind sensing capabilities employed operationally include use of hand-held anemometers and releasing either ground based balloons or aircraft deployed drop sondes. While the methodologies described above provide some knowledge of the wind profile, shortcomings in precision, range and applicability degrade the utility of the information. While hand-held anemometers provide fairly accurate and near real-time data, the range of available data will not extend far beyond the height of the user. Balloon and drop sonde data provide extended sensing ranges but may not be temporally and/or spatially accurate. This shift in time or space is often dictated by the current Concept of Operations (CONOPs) and the availability of resources. These are also one-time use solutions that incur cost and environmental waste. While these limitations have not prevented the use of cargo airdrop by the Army, lack of accurate, real-time knowledge of the wind profile represents the single largest source of error that has hindered significant accuracy improvements in current and future autonomously guided, controllable cargo airdrop systems. Wind shears and inaccuracies in the forecast also represent a non-trivial health risk to personnel airdrop, especially when missions are carried out at night or in non-ideal environmental conditions. The envisioned sensor shall provide a level of precision in the wind direction of +/- 15 (T) or less (O). The precision of measured wind magnitudes shall be 2 knots (T) or less (O). Measurements shall be provided at a rate of 1 Hz (T) and transmitted to a ground station via wireless or wired platform. The government is looking for the offerors to provide an estimate of the non-recurring engineering and manufacturing costs and delivery schedule estimate of the proposed system in quantities of 1, 5 and 10 to include a delivery schedule for each quantity. Achievement of the cost and schedule goals can be attained by development of innovative new technologies, modification of existing equipment or the coupling of Consumer Off-The-Shelf items capable of meeting the aforementioned performance requirements. Offerors need to be cognizant of all laws and regulations associated with individual proposed technologies. Proprietary information will not be disclosed outside of the U.S. government. All interested firms, regardless of size, are encouraged to respond to this request for information. This Request for Information is for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a Request for Proposal or as an obligation on the part of the Government. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this request or otherwise pay for information solicited. We are seeking sources, technical and product information for products which meet the DoD requirements, or may meet requirements with modifications. Firms responding to this RFI shall bear all risk and expense of any resources used to provide the requested information, and all information submitted in response to this request shall become the property of the Government and will not be returned to the submitter. Please submit your responses by 7 May 2011. Responses may be sent via email to Gregory.noetscher@us.army.mil or by regular mail to US Army RDECOM, Natick Soldier RD&E Center, ATTN: RDNS-WPA-T (Noetscher), 15 Kansas Street, Natick, MA 01760-5017.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/50e32b341a6930c521a0f5f70a297282)
- Place of Performance
- Address: RDECOM Warfighter Protection & Aerial Delivery Directorate ATTN: RDNS-WPA, Building 3, Kansas Street Natick MA
- Zip Code: 01760-5017
- Zip Code: 01760-5017
- Record
- SN02396586-W 20110311/110309234257-50e32b341a6930c521a0f5f70a297282 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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