SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- INDUSTRY PRODUCT ROADMAP FOR THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL ANDELECTRONICSENGINEERS "IEEE" 802.11S WIRELESS MESH NETWORKING
- Notice Date
- 9/16/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541512
— Computer Systems Design Services
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas, 77058-3696, Mail Code: BH
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- NNJ14ZBH031L
- Response Due
- 9/25/2014
- Archive Date
- 9/16/2015
- Point of Contact
- Ashley E. Harral, Contract Specialist, Phone 281-792-7921, Fax 281-244-5331, Email ashley.e.harral@nasa.gov - Rochelle N Overstreet, Contracting Officer, Phone 281-483-6768, Fax 281-483-4066, Email rochelle.n.overstreet@nasa.gov
- E-Mail Address
-
Ashley E. Harral
(ashley.e.harral@nasa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- NASA/JSC is hereby soliciting information about potential sources for the fabrication of the standards-based wireless mesh networking for implementing a next-generation cognitive, cooperative, opportunistic, and disruption-tolerant communication architecture for space operations. In surface and space proximity scenarios, standards-based mesh technology offers: -Interoperability with Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) hardware. NASA has been flying off-the-shelf laptops, using Androids to control free-flyers like Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES), and using Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) to communicate with payloads external to the International Space Station, including wireless cameras. -Lightweight shared infrastructure. International Space Station carries parallel infrastructures to provide overlapping Radio Frequency (RF) coverage areas for many different radio designs using non-interfering spectrum and power levels. This technique assures no interaction between systems. However, this philosophy of approach cannot be practically extended to deep-space missions. Wireless and wired mesh networking has been a research topic for decades. However, since that time we have observed: -The mesh features of 802.11-2012 are not required or adopted by the WiFi consortium. -Mesh networking has never been packaged for consumers. Mesh-capable hardware is available for purchase by consumers. Consumers would need to overwrite the factory firmware with something more adventurous even than DD-WRT to be able to access these hardware features. Even then, the mesh is clumsy to set up and a determined hobbyist would need to spend considerable time experimenting and reading through on-line forums to carefully select hardware and then execute a useful mesh. Consumer interest in and eventual demand for the technology is therefore unknown. -We examined Layer 2 and Layer 3 protocols and found that the 802.11s protocol is preferable because it offers better performance and because the mesh can self-assemble using Media Access Control (MAC) addresses (as Ethernet does) before Internet Protocol (IP) addresses have been assigned. However, there is increasing reason to believe that 802.11s was a passing fad that is being abandoned by the industry. --Significant platforms such as Windows, Android, and iPhone have never supported 802.11s mesh networking even for hardware that was capable. --Consumers are increasingly interested in buying 802.11ac radios in new platform purchases. 802.11a/g/b/n-only products will gradually be phased out. Presently, there are effectively only two drivers with available products: the ath9k and rt2800usb. Demand and availability for the Atheros model series 9k chipset could drop quickly as Atheros model series 10k becomes the core for new developments. Meanwhile, the Intel Centrino line is displacing Atheros in the marketplace, and this product line has never meshed, even under Linux (the iwlwifi driver). Therefore 802.11s appears on a path to extinction. --Drivers for 802.11ac chipsets available today, such as the Atheros 10k, do not support mesh point mode. The Open802.11s community indicates that Qualcomm has not included firmware meshing, has not made the firmware source available to developers who could execute firmware meshing, and has not implemented a soft MAC interface which would allow a Layer 2 mesh protocol to be implemented in software. Atheros was accommodative to meshing, Qualcomm has not been. --Existing implementations of 802.11ad do not support meshing. It is our opinion that this technology would benefit greatly from high-performance meshing because it is built on short-hop, directional-beam, line-of-sight, high-capacity radio links. Without meshing, these links individually are brittle, while mesh technology could offer resilience. Firmware meshing would be necessary to maintain performance of these mult-gigabit capable radio links. This leads to soliciting information concerning the following questions: -Is there any prospect therefore of an a/b/g/n/ac (or subset) consumer-grade chip-set? Is there a mesh-capable 802.11-2012 compliant chipset, supported by open-source drivers, that is or could be radiation hardened and ruggedized to support payload projects of varying criticality? What is the Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost of radiation hardening a mesh capable 802.11 chipset, and why? What is the ROM cost of adding mesh capability (including delivery of source-code for drivers) to an 802.11ac chipset, and why? -Should we abandon the pursuit of a Layer 2 mesh requirement and shift focus toward Layer 3 protocols? What markets will drive demand for mesh-capable chipsets in the emerging generation of technologies? Vendors of proprietary mesh backbones? Was IEEE 802.11s a fad that will be dropped in the emerging generation of hardware now that research interest has waned, or why will 802.11s be added later to enhanced versions of the chips? -What about Long Term Evolution (LTE)?Will mesh-capable handsets emerge? Will mesh-capable base stations emerge? Will base stations shrink to reasonable (human portable) size/weight/power yet be possible to radiation harden? The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center is seeking capability statements 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) for the purposes of determining the appropriate level of competition and/or small business subcontracting goals for Industry Product Roadmap for IEEE 802.11s wireless mesh networking. The Government reserves the right to consider a Small, 8(a), Woman-owned (WOSB), Service Disabled Veteran (SD-VOSB), or HUBZone business set-aside based on responses hereto. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released it will be synopsized in FedBizOpps and on the NASA Acquisition Internet Service. It is the potential offerors responsibility to monitor these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. Vendors having the capabilities necessary to meet or exceed the stated requirements are invited to submit appropriate documentation, literature, brochures, and references. Interested offerors/vendors having the required specialized capabilities to meet the above requirement should submit a capability statement of 10 pages or less indicating the ability to perform all aspects of the effort described herein. Responses must include the following: name and address of firm, size of business; average annual revenue for past 3 years and number of employees; ownership; whether they are large, or any category of small business*, number of years in business; affiliate information: parent company, joint venture partners, potential teaming partners, prime contractor (if potential sub) or subcontractors (if potential prime); list of customers covering the past five years (highlight relevant work performed, contract numbers, contract type, dollar value of each procurement; and point of contact - address and phone number). 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 fully qualified will be considered in any resultant solicitation for the requirement. All responses shall be submitted to Ashley Harral no later than September 25, 2014. Please reference in any response. Any referenced notes may be viewed at the following URLs linked below.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/NASA/JSC/OPDC20220/NNJ14ZBH031L/listing.html)
- Record
- SN03513541-W 20140918/140916235855-0379edde102f6aa464a795a81c4c6aa8 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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