SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- TRANSFORMATIONAL HIGH SPEED ON-DEMAND MOBILITY RESEARCH
- Notice Date
- 6/17/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Langley Research Center, Mail Stop 12, Industry Assistance Office, Hampton,VA 23681-0001
- ZIP Code
- 23681-0001
- Solicitation Number
- MobilityResearch
- Response Due
- 7/11/2014
- Archive Date
- 6/17/2015
- Point of Contact
- Robert B. Gardner, Contracting Officer, Phone 757-864-2525, Fax 757-864-7898, Email Robert.B.Gardner@nasa.gov - Teresa M Hass, Contracting Officer, Phone 757-864-8496, Fax 757-864-8863, Email Teresa.M.Hass@nasa.gov
- E-Mail Address
-
Robert B. Gardner
(Robert.B.Gardner@nasa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- NASA/LARC is hereby soliciting information about potential sources for Transformational High-Speed On-Demand Mobility Research. Introduction Game changing advances are possible by the introduction of new technologies at a time when society desires new transportation solutions that can save time and avoid gridlock. A unique opportunity exists to bring about such a mobility revolution through a new market that merges aspects of General Aviation aircraft with automobiles to enable High Speed On-Demand Mobility. Such a capability combines the on-demand nature of automobiles to travel wherever and whenever users desire, but at speeds that are 2 to 4 times faster than automobiles are capable of traveling on the ground. These new vehicles are only within reach because of the past decade of technology development, which is evolving at a much faster rate than typical aerospace trends. Automobiles are embracing automation to ease driver tasks as well as to completely control the vehicle to enable added safety and utility. Electric propulsion is providing zero tail-pipe emission vehicles with dramatically lower energy and maintenance costs, as a more sustainable transportation solution for the future. The automotive industry is currently pioneering the development of hybrid-electric automobiles, as well as significant investments in autonomy and related technology areas. These technologies have not yet been applied to aviation products, yet offer compelling potential benefits across all aviation markets, and in particular to General Aviation (GA) as an early adopter market. As the leader in aerospace technology development NASA can adapt these technologies to aviation use with the following benefit proposition, and the potential to extend these improvements to larger commuter and commercial aircraft in the future. Safety: The GA market experiences accident rates that are substantially higher than automobiles or commercial airlines, with 7.5 fatal accidents per 100 million vehicle miles compared to 1.3 for automobiles and.068 for airlines. Approximately 80% of these accidents are caused by some form of pilot error, with another 13% caused by single point propulsion system failure. Autonomy and electric propulsion have the potential to impact over 90% of GA accidents to embrace a goal of a GA accident rate equivalent to automobiles. These technology efforts could also promote a large increase in the potential user base as automobile-like ease-of-use is applied, and redundant propulsion overcomes user safety perceptions. Emissions: Environmental constraints are pushing for the elimination of 100Low Lead (LL) fuel used in most GA aircraft, with aviation fuel the #1 source of lead emissions into the environment. Aircraft also have no emission control systems (i.e. no catalytic converters etc.), so they are gross hydrocarbon polluters compared to automobiles. Electric propulsion offers the opportunity to leapfrog to dramatically lower life cycle carbon emissions while eliminating the need for leaded aviation fuels, as well as decreasing overall energy use by approximately 3 to 6x from current small aircraft. Community Noise: Airports are facing increasing noise restrictions, and while commercial airliners have dramatically decreased their community noise footprint over the past 30 years, GA aircraft noise has essentially remained the same. Since GA airports are located in closer proximity to neighborhoods and businesses, achieving GA noise reductions is highly desired. Electric propulsion offers both drastic reductions to motor noise (without any need for mufflers), as well as facilitating the use of low tip speed propellers due to the variable rpm capability of electric motors. Low tip speed propellers have the potential to decrease noise by >20 dB, from current certification levels of 85 dB. Operating Costs: GA operating costs have risen dramatically due to average fuel prices of over $6 per gallon for aviation gasoline, which has constrained the market over the past decade and resulted in 50% lower aircraft sales and 35% less yearly operations. Electric propulsion has energy costs that are 2 to 4 times lower for the same amount of energy, and when coupled to requiring 3 to 6x lower energy use, can achieve 6 to 24x lower energy costs. Even amortizing expensive batteries the reduction in energy costs is 3 to 10x lower than existing GA operations, if high utilization business models are applied. Higher reliability electric motors also have the potential to decrease maintenance costs compared to either internal combustion or turbine engines. Research will include systems analysis, conceptual vehicle design, and technology application studies that include the following work areas. Develop Concept of Operations and Required Vehicle Capabilities A: Mission Definition A Mission Definition and Concept of Operations (CONOPs) will be developed to understand how the proposed vehicle would be operated by users, and better understand the user needs and required capabilities. Key parameters to identify for this NASA-Auto Industry mission investigation would include Typical Range Distribution, Desired Effective Door-to-Door Speed, Ground Infrastructure to Utilize with Resulting Field Length Determination, Typical Number of Passenger Distribution, etc. This definition will include comparing several potential business models (i.e. private vs shared ownership) and predict the market evolution (from early adopter needs to mainstream market). The vehicle utilization for these various models will be compared as a major factor impacting the cost feasibility to be evaluated in other tasks. This information will help determine the combined capabilities required, and how the vehicle can best integrate with current transportation solutions to provide a unique solution that can maximize door-to-door speed, while maximizing convenience, flexibility, environmental responsibility, safety, and ensuring user and community acceptance. B: Required Vehicle Capabilities Once the desired mission is well understood, these user requirements will be mapped into the Required Vehicle Capabilities as well as Desired Resulting Attributes. This definition will include the vehicle goals such as the resulting Level of Ease of Use, Community Noise, Energy Use, Safety Rate, Comfort, and Total Operating Cost. The resulting vehicle goals will have metrics established as evaluation criteria, objective function, and active constraints for the design space to be explored. Advanced Concept Development A: Definition of Matrix of Concepts Based Upon Certification Classification Perform an analysis of alternatives of potential vehicle concept paths that can meet the proposed CONOPs and Required Vehicle Capabilities. A major factor impacting the vehicle concept will be the mechanism of certification that will be utilized for complying with FAA regulations. In order to represent the entire design space applying to this new market, concepts will be generated that apply to the following FAA certification categories, as well as develop concepts which are independent of current regulatory constraints. Categories include Part 103 Ultralight, ASTM Light Sport Aircraft F37, FAA Part 23, as well as the new certification standards being developed in ASTM F44. B: Configuration Ideation Develop candidate vehicle approaches, resulting in first principles analysis and 3D geometric models. C: Identification of Enabling Technologies for Proposed Configurations Identify the key enabling technologies in the proposed configurations, as well as the technology gaps. Technologies of interest include electric propulsion, range extender APU, automation, human-machine interface (ease of use), high volume manufacturing processes, structural morphing, advanced materials, advanced sensors, lightweight landing gear/ground systems, etc D: Comparison of Concept Ideation and Downselect to Several Configurations of Interest Perform a subjective comparison of all proposed concepts to downselect to a few candidate concepts of maximum interest for further analysis. C: Baseline State of the Art Comparative Models Establish currently available vehicles and competing modes of transportation, including both automobile and General Aviation vehicle types. Collect the resulting data that permits comparison across the evaluation metrics for the design reference missions. Comparative Analysis of Advanced Concepts Downselect to Preferred Near-Term and Long-Term Visionary Concepts A: Identify Sub-Scale and Full-Scale Vehicle Concept Development Pathways B: Develop Technology Maturation Plan C: Develop 2nd Year Plan or 3 Year Follow-on Research Arc D: Perform FAA Review to Determine Compliance Concerns NASA Langley will look to leverage their extensive experience in the following discipline expertise areas, with the intent of this collaboration to provide the unique ability of LaRC to develop advanced integration concepts that leverage new technologies to achieve new mission capabilities. In particular this mission requires highly compact vehicles that can achieve a dramatic improvement across all the above defined metric and goal areas.This research leverages the unique knowledge LaRC has developed relating to distributed electric control integration concepts to achieve transformational flight capabilities. 1)Systems Analysis: Advanced Concepts specific to the High Speed Mobility mission, including baseline concepts such as a General Aviation Cirrus SR-22 aircraft. Information will include mission requirements and constraints, FAA/ASTM aircraft certification categories and requirements, On-Demand Mobility modeling results of projected demand, OpenVSP geometry models, concept renderings, propeller analysis results, mission analysis results, vehicle weight breakdown, analyses that demonstrate technology disciplinary gaps and sensitivities, technology goals for establishing concept feasibility, and a three year development plan to achieve vehicle feasibility demonstrations. 2)Controls: Strategies for achieving vehicle control ease of use at various levels of automation, required supporting sensor capabilities, and distributed electric propulsion control strategies. 3)Structures and Materials: Discussions on the use of advanced manufacturing to leverage advanced aerospace materials towards leveraging lower cost automotive processes, structural layout. Investigation of adaptable or morphing structures capable of meeting strict bounding box geometry constraints. 4)Propulsion: Advanced electric motor characteristics for use in Distributed Electric Propulsion systems. 5)Acoustics: Acoustic analysis results of baseline single engine propeller and distributed electric propulsion concepts. 6)Aerodynamics: Aero-propulsive analysis including vortex lattice, panel method, and CFD results. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Langley Research Center is seeking capability statements and/or letters of interest from all interested parties, including Small, Small Disadvantaged (SDB), 8(a), Woman-owned (WOSB), Veteran Owned (VOSB), Service Disabled Veteran Owned (SD-VOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) businesses, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)/Minority Institutions (MI). No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. NASA Langley Research Center is interested in pursuing partnering relationships through Space Act Agreements (Non-Reimbursable basis only). Interested offerors/vendors having the required specialized capabilities to meet the above requirement should submit a capability statement and/or letter of interest of 1 to 2 pages indicating the ability to perform aspects of the effort described herein. This synopsis is for information and planning purposes and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation. Respondents deemed qualified will be contacted regarding interest in pursuing a partnership through a Space Act Agreement. All responses shall be submitted to Brad Gardner (robert.b.gardner@nasa.gov) and Mark Moore (mark.d.moore@nasa.gov) no later than July 11, 2014. Any referenced notes may be viewed at the following URLs linked below.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/NASA/LaRC/OPDC20220/MobilityResearch/listing.html)
- Record
- SN03397705-W 20140619/140617235520-4c13fcdc7ea33910514c563ce2be0720 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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