A -- FORWARD LOOKING GROUND PENETRATING RADAR

Notice Date

May 8, 2001

Contracting Office

U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command Acquisition Center -- Washington Operations Office, 2461 Eisenhower Ave., Alexandria, VA 22331-0700

ZIP Code

22331-0700

Response Due

June 8, 2001

Point of Contact

Peggy Melanson, Contracting Officer, 703-325-6096

E-Mail Address

Click here to contact the Contracting Officer via (Peggy.Melanson@cacw.army.mil)

Description

FORWARD LOOKING GROUND PENETRATING RADAR MARKET SURVEY. The US Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) Acquisition Center-Washington (CAC-W) on behalf of the CECOM Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), Science & Technology Division is soliciting vendors having forward-looking mine detection technology with capabilities discussed below. The objective of this research and development effort is to assess forward looking ground penetrating (synthetic aperture, stepped frequency, ultra-wideband) radar (FL GPR), and complementary sensors and detection algorithms, to detect, in near real-time on a mobile platform, such as the HMMWV, metallic and non-metallic anti-tank mines at distances of up to 35 meters in front of the ground vehicle. The vendor shall demonstrate FL GPR technology developed previously for a forward-looking vehicle mounted mine detector application capable of detecting, with a high probability of detection and low false alarm rate, mines out to 35 meters in front of the vehicle. This effort shall consist of two tasks. Task 1 shall consist of a series of data collections and demonstrations of a mobile FL GPR data acquisition system mounted onto an HMMWV-known commercially as the "Humvee to begin 6-months after contract award". Task 2 shall consist of providing results from concurrent research into improving the design of component technologies of the mobile FL GPR data acquisition system. These component technologies include compact antennas, high speed signal processing, mine detection and imaging algorithms, mine marking, sensor modeling, platform kinematics, and vehicular requirements. The contractor shall demonstrate a mobile data acquisition suite of sensors capable of evaluating FLGPR mine detection sensors and algorithms for near real-time detection and imaging of anti-tank, surface emplaced and buried, metallic and non-metallic mines. Near real-time is based on a 30 Hz rate for data acquisition, mine detection and clutter rejection, geolocation, and detection display and alert to the operator. The near real-time rate shall enable the FL GPR data acquisition system to acquire, analyze, and display detection data while moving down a test mine lane at 5 kph. The mobile FL GPR data acquisition system to be demonstrated shall be a Humvee-mounted configuration incorporating upgrades to existing vehicle-mounted, forward looking radar designs to accomplish near real-time data acquisition, target detection, and display to an operator. This combined system shall be mounted onto the Humvee for near real-time data acquisition and recording; and for near real-time, mobile forward-looking mine detection technology assessment purposes. The contractor shall demonstrate "Change Detection" techniques on the Humvee-mounted real-time FLGPR data acquisition system. Change Detection is the recording of radar imagery and comparing this recorded imagery to subsequent imagery collected at a later time. Vehicle positional measurement requirements for Change Detection shall also be demonstrated. The contractor shall demonstrate near real-time algorithms to perform the Change Detection investigation. Developmental algorithms designed to enhance the data and provide for real-time target detection and display to an operator shall be demonstrated for the FL GPR data acquisition system. Algorithm designs shall include, but not be limited to, image enhancement, clutter rejection, super-resolution and polarimetric evaluators to provide regions of interest to an operator display. These regions shall be evaluated in near real-time for detecting targets and classifying them as mines. The resultant mine targets shall be located with respect to the vehicle frame of reference. All submittals will be reviewed; however, the contractor shall be responsible for any costs associated with preparing responses. The response should be no longer than five pages and must include information supporting claims that the contractor can satisfy the requirements, including time schedules. Those interested should respond at the following address: CECOM Acquisition Center-Washington, AMSEL-AC-WB-B, 2461 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, Virginia 22331-0700 (Attention: Peggy Melanson, 703-325-6096).

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010510/ASOL012.HTM (W-128 SN50L5K3)