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A -- NRA LARC 98-7 FOR RESEARCH TO SUPPORT "HEALTH MANAGEMENT AND FLIGHT CRITICAL SYSTEM DESIGN TECHNOLOGY" AND "CONTROL IN ADVERSE CONDITIONS" IN SUPPORT OF THE NASA AVIATION SAFETY PROGRAM SOL NRA-LaRC-98-7 DUE 101598 POC Richard J. Siebels, Contracting Officer, Phone (757)-864-2418, Fax (757) 864-6131, Email R.J.SIEBELS@larc.nasa.gov -- Mary Jane Yeager, Contracting Officer, Phone (757)-864-2473, Fax (757) 864-7898, Email M.J.YEAGER@larc.nasa.gov WEB: Click here for the latest information about this notice, http://nais.nasa.gov/EPS/LaRC/date.html#NRA-LaRC-98-7. E-MAIL: Richard J. Siebels, R.J.SIEBELS@larc.nasa.gov. NASA LaRC plans to issue a NASA Research Announcement for research efforts to support control upset management technologies and health management and flight critical systems design technolgies. The 3 leading factors in fatal accidents that occur worldwide are loss of vehicle control, controlled flight into terrain (CFIT), and system and component failures. Loss of control in flight, also known as control upset, is the single most frequent cause of fatal accidents and can occur as a result of a variety of factors, including inadvertent entry into severe weather conditions, pilot inattention or error, and vehicle/system errors and failures. Its occurrence could be reduced or eliminated in part by: preventing critical system failures; enhancing the situational awareness of the crew to effectively mitigate the occurrance of adverse flight conditions (including onboard system and component malfunctions, failures or damage that elude prevention, severe weather conditions, etc.); and through guidance and control strategies designed to prevent and recover from control upset. Controlled flight into terrain primarily occurs during approach and landing of the aircraft. The occurrence of CFIT could be reduced or prevented in part by reducing high workload conditions and improving decision-making capabilities of the crew under adverse flight conditions. Proposals will be accepted under this NRA within each of the following two technical areas: (A) Health Management and Flight Critical System Design Technologies, and (B) Control Upset Management Technologies. These technical areas are summarized below. A. Health Management and Flight Critical System Design Technologies The goals of this sub-element are: to contribute to the prevention and reduction of malfunctions and failures in aircraft systems and components; enhance the ability of the flight crew to respond correctly when critical system or component failures occur to prevent related occurrences of loss of control in flight; and reduce the pilot workload associated with safe flight under system and component failures to prevent related occurrences of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). Systems and related components for which health management technologies will be developed and implemented include the airframe structure, propulsion system, and flight systems. Flight critical system design technolgies to be developed include verification methods for hardware and software design correctness, architectures for fault tolerant integrated modular avionics, and design and validation methods to accommodate and recover from operational malfunctions. Technologies for development include processes and methods for design, verification, validation, and certification of complex and highly integrated critical systems. Vehicle classes for development and implementation of health management and flight critical system design technologies include commercial fixed-wing transports, rotorcraft, and general aviation aircraft. B. Control Upset Management Technologies The goal of this sub-element is to improve flight safety for all civil vehicle classes (including commercial fixed-wing transports, rotorcraft, and general aviation aircraft) through the development of advanced detection/prediction algorithms, display formats, pilot cueing, and guidance and control methods for preventing the entry into extreme flight conditions under failure and non-failure conditions when possible, and the safe recovery from extreme flight conditions when they do occur. Extreme flight conditions include abnormal attitudes, accelerations, angular rates, trajectories, or any other flight condition that can occur at or beyond the boundaries of the normal flight envelope of the vehicle and jeopardize its safe operation. Extreme flight conditions can occur as a result of a variety of factors, including weather, pilot inattention or error, and system errors and failures. The anticipated release date of the NRA is on or about July 15, 1998 with an anticipated proposal due ninety (90) days after release. Participation in this NRA is open to all individuals and categories of foreign and domestic organizations, including industry, non-profit organizations, educational institutions and other Government agencies. Technical evaluations will be conducted through a peer review process by discipline specialists. Proposals for up to 5 years of research support will be solicited. Specific milestones and deliverables will be required for FY 1999 and FY 2000. A combined maximum of $6.0 million is available in FY 1999 and FY 2000 funds. The funding profile for the years 2001 through 2003 will be set forth in the NRA. Cost sharing arrangements (contracts and cooperative agreements) will be given greater priority in the selection process. The solicitation and any documents related to this procurement will be available over the Internet. These documents will be in Microsoft Office Suite (Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, or PowerPoint 4.0) format and will reside on a World-Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using a WWW browser application. The WWW address, or URL of the NASA/LaRC Business Opportunities page is http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/LaRC/class.html. Prospective offerors shall notify this office of their intent to submit an offer. It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor the aforementioned Internet site for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Any referenced notes can be viewed at the following URL: http://genesis.gsfc.nasa.gov/nnotes.htm. (0170)

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