SPECIAL NOTICE
A -- Living Sensors
- Notice Date
- 8/21/2017
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541711
— Research and Development in Biotechnology
- Contracting Office
- Other Defense Agencies, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Contracts Management Office, 675 North Randolph Street, Arlington, Virginia, 22203-2114, United States
- ZIP Code
- 22203-2114
- Solicitation Number
- DARPA-SN-17-74
- Archive Date
- 10/5/2017
- Point of Contact
- Dr. Lori Adornato,
- E-Mail Address
-
DARPA-SN-17-74@darpa.mil
(DARPA-SN-17-74@darpa.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Living Sensors, RFI, DARPA-SN-17-74 Responses due Wednesday, September 20, 2017 - 4:00 PM ET POC: Lori Adornato, DARPA/BTO; E-mail: DARPA-SN-17-74@darpa.mil URL: http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities The Biological Technologies Office (BTO) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) requests innovative ideas and approaches to support development of new sensing capabilities in the surface and subsurface marine environment through observation and interpretation of organismal behavior. Marine species have developed a wide variety of strategies to successfully compete in their natural habitats. The ability to utilize natural biological activity to provide distributed, persistent sensing could greatly expand ocean monitoring capabilities. DARPA is interested in responses from communities with expertise in relevant fields, such as marine biology, robotics, electrical engineering, optics, signal processing, communications, biochemistry, and ocean engineering, and can leverage knowledge from applications in sensor development and marine ecology broadly. DESCRIPTION Despite advances in underwater sensor technology, spatial and temporal coverage remains limited, particularly in contested environments. Barriers to persistent, wide-spread sensing include sensitivity/specificity, high sensor/platform costs, limited access to regions of interest, and routine maintenance robustness associated with corrosion prevention, biofouling removal and battery exchange. By reimagining organisms as sensing elements, these obstacles can be largely circumvented. Inorganic sensors or sensor nodes contain certain common elements including sensors/actuators, a processor, memory, power and communications. Replacement of electromechanical devices in whole or in part with living sensors proves attractive since the organisms provide data through their natural behaviors. In some cases, signal processing and storage can be performed remotely thereby reducing the need for local infrastructure and maintenance. DARPA seeks novel concepts to form living sensor elements based on organismal function, behavior, and response to environmental stimulus. Output signals from the organisms should provide actionable information for surveillance operations. The addition of remotely accessible living sensors will greatly increase maritime awareness while reducing risk to US assets. Include in your response one or more of the followings topics related to potential approaches: 1) Sensor and sensor network conceptual design. 2) Concept of operation. 3) Methods to use energy emitted from an organism or groups of organisms as the input signals to new sensing or imaging modalities. 4) Techniques to understand and utilize avian olfaction and/or marine chemoreception to detect compounds or phenomena of interest. 5) Means to convert marine species migration patterns, settlement strategies, or other life cycle travel including magnetic field orientation, into tactically useful information for naval operations. Strategies to collect and transmit these data should be considered. 6) Algorithms for translating complex biological sensor data into actionable information while minimizing uncertainty. 7) Methods to transmit data to remote observers using biological means. 8) Techniques to interpret changes in the natural underwater soundscape relative to human activities. Information regarding locating the source of anthropogenic disturbance is particularly of interest. 9) Suggestions for completely novel applications of marine species behavior to defense applications. Responses shall also identify high-impact, real-world applications for the approaches to change the marine sensing paradigm. Responses based on existing or historic marine mammal programs are specifically excluded from this RFI. FORMAT Respondents to this RFI should limit responses to no more than 5 pages and indicate clearly which numbered topic(s) above each response addresses. Respondents may submit multiple responses, to address different topics. Respondents are encouraged to be as succinct as possible, while providing actionable insight. If specific published articles are relevant to the response, please provide these within the appropriate section of the citations only. Each submission should be typed in 12 point, single-spaced font on 8.5 by 11 inch pages, with 1-inch margins. All submissions must be electronic, adhere to the content formatting described above, and use one of the following file formats: Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word. SUBMISSION All technical and administrative correspondence, questions regarding this announcement, how to respond to this RFI, and submissions themselves should be sent to DARPA-SN-17-74@darpa.mil. Please refer to Living Sensors RFI in all correspondence. Emails sent directly to the Program Manager may result in a delayed response or no response. DISCLAIMERS AND IMPORTANT NOTES This is an RFI issued solely for information and new program planning purposes; it does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Submission is voluntary and is not required to propose to a subsequent Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) (if any) or other research solicitation (if any) on this topic. DARPA will NOT provide reimbursement for costs incurred in responding to this RFI. NO CLASSIFIED INFORMATION SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE RFI RESPONSE. It is the submitter's responsibility to clearly define to the Government what is considered proprietary data. Any proprietary information should be clearly labeled as "proprietary." DARPA will disclose submission contents only for the purpose of review and evaluation. Respondents are advised that DARPA is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI.
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- SN04638812-W 20170823/170821232105-6b51650399cb3c05ad2eb2d31dca4543 (fbodaily.com)
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