A -- TACTICAL TARGETING NETWORKED TECHNOLOGY (TTNT) INDUSTRY DAY

Notice Date

October 25, 2000

Contracting Office

Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL -- Wright Research Site, Det 1 AFRL/PK, Bldg 167, Area B, 2310 8th Street, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, 45433-7801

ZIP Code

45433-7801

Solicitation Number

Reference-Number-TTNT-ID-00

Point of Contact

Dawn Ross, Contract Negotiator, Phone (937) 255-5182, Fax (937) 656-9074, Email Dawn.Ross@wpafb.af.mil -- Richard Chance, Contracting Officer, Phone (937) 255-5182, Fax (937) 255-9074, Email

E-Mail Address

Dawn Ross (Dawn.Ross@wpafb.af.mil)

Description

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Special Projects Office, and Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) Information Directorate will be Co-hosting an Industry Day on Tuesday, 14 November 2000, at the Hope Hotel and Conference Center, Area A, Bldg 823, Wright-Patterson AFB OH, 45433. The purpose of the Industry Day is to familiarize industry and academia with the Tactical Targeting Networked Technology (TTNT) initiative and the associated technology needs in the areas of networked communications. The TTNT initiative is part of the Special Projects Office thrust in networked targeting under the Affordable Moving Surface Target Engagement (AMSTE) and Advanced Tactical Targeting Technology (AT3) Programs. A Program Research and Development Announcement (PRDA) solicitation is anticipated to be released shortly after Industry Day. The objective of TTNT is to design, develop, evaluate, and demonstrate technology required to provide a tactical targeting network on tactical aircraft which provides low latency, high throughput, low lifecycle cost, and coexists with Link 16. In the networked forward battlespace of the near future, U.S. Forces must exploit distributed sensor platforms to rapidly and precisely locate tactical targets and support real time fire control processes. Examples of such near future tactical targeting systems are the DARPA Advanced Mobile Surface Target Engagement (AMSTE) and Advanced Tactical Targeting Technology (AT3) Programs. AMSTE focuses on targeting moving and concealed ground targets using networked radar sensors, and may involve following hundreds of targets over a period of hours and being able to precisely target a subset of these targets upon demand. AMSTE involves providing fire control solutions and guidance updates directly to seekerless weapons, as well as sharing sensor information for targeting and for weapon guidance. AT3 focuses on the suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), providing a capability to target an emitter to at least 50 meters Circular Error Probability (CEP) within 10 seconds from a distance of over 50 nautical miles. AT3 needs to be able to group targeting participants on an ad hoc basis, and to be able to locate multiple emitters simultaneously in a dense pulse environment. Essential to achieving the full potential of distributed tactical targeting technologies is a flexible, dynamic, low latency, high capacity tactical data link capability. Current tactical data links, such as Link 16, are static preplanned networks with constrained participation and use. Projected growth in use of tactical data links such as Link 16 is expected to result in an increasing demand for capacity that will grow to exceed the potential of Link 16. To achieve the full potential of tactical targeting networks, DARPA is initiating development of robust Tactical Targeting Network Technologies (TTNT) and is planning for demonstration of a TTNT concept. TTNT will explore advanced data link technologies that enable rapid reconfiguration, low latency, and wideband modes to operate transparently with existing links. The program goal is the demonstration of a TTNT concept that supports real time battle driven tactical targeting participation and capacity assignments, flexibility to customize, coexistence with existing tactical data links such as Link 16, "zero" latency limited mainly by propagation time, throughput over an order of magnitude greater than current tactical data links, and dramatically lowered lifecycle cost. TTNT concepts that permit 200 platforms, 100 nautical miles ranges, sensor and other data (not voice) transfer at a total TTNT system rate of 10 Mega bites per second (MBPS), with a single platform having an allocated rate from10 KBPS to 2 MBPS, with "zero" latency (less than 2 milliseconds) define the desired performance goal. It is envisioned that TTNT may be based upon an advanced modulation underlay (such as very wideband spread spectrum or orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)) to the existing Link 16. Issues that must be addressed in defining a TTNT demonstration system involve (1) determining the modulation and coding needed for the physical link layer, i.e. defining the advanced modulation signal set which offers the most potential for meeting the program goals (2) defining system control and media access concepts, such as how users ingress/egress from the network, whether a base station is needed or not, how power management is performed, and how logical links are established/disestablished (3) defining how to achieve the equivalent of full duplex operation by a data link terminal (4) how to achieve coexistence with existing data links such as Link 16 and other occupants of the coexisting data link spectrum. A program goal is to achieve a TTNT design that is inexpensive enough for TTNT to be ubiquitous; a way to achieve this may be for TTNT to have a modular digital architecture capable of insertion into existing Link 16 installations/terminals. In the near future a web site will be established at http://www.pixs.wpafb.af.mil/ that will provide more detailed information and material to be presented during the Industry Day, as it becomes available. Badging and sign-in will begin at 0730 hours and the government briefing will begin at 0830 hours and conclude at 1130. The briefing will be UNCLASSIFIED. One-on-one sessions will be available from 1230 to 1430, and 1500 to1700; these sessions will be twenty minutes and will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. Request attendees register for the Industry Day and the one-on-one sessions, providing Name, Company/Organization affiliation, Address, Telephone number, and E-mail address not later than 10 Nov. Registration data can be faxed to (937) 255-7984, attn: Lt Matt Glen (Matthew.Glen@wpafb.af.mil), voice (937) 255-5900 x 4284). Any advance questions pertaining to the solicitation may be e-mailed or faxed so that they could be addressed at Industry Day. Points of contact for contractual type questions may be addressed to either Dawn Ross via email at dawn.ross@wpafb.af.mil or Rick Chance, Contracting Officer, via email at richard.chance@wpafb.af.mil. This Industry Day is for informational purposes only for any and all DOD contractors and colleges and universities. Participation is totally voluntary, and the Government will not reimburse the attendees for any cost associated with participation and is under no obligation to award any related contract associated with this event. Please note that TTNT information will be made available in the near future on the ASC/SYG PIXS website located at (http://www.pixs.wpafb.af.mil/) and interested parties are advised to check this site periodically for program status and solicitation documents. *****

Web Link

Visit this URL for the latest information about this (http://www2.eps.gov/cgi-bin/WebObjects/EPS?ACode=P&ProjID=Reference-Number-TTNT-ID-00&LocID=904)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20001027/ASOL002.HTM (D-299 SN505148)