The RFP Database
New business relationships start here

SolarRadio-AFRL-RVBX-FY18-01-Solar Radio Flux Monitoring


New Mexico, United States
Government : Military
RFP
Go to the link
This document has expired, therefore the above link may no longer work.

05 December 2017 (Suspense: 3 pm MDT on 22 January 2018, see paragraph 9)

SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS and REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - Note, there is not attached file to this synopsis.


Title: AFRL/RVKVB Sources Sought tracking number: SolarRadio-AFRL-RVBX-FY18-01; Solar Radio Flux Monitoring


1. SYNOPSIS: The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Battlespace Environment Division, is issuing this sources-sought synopsis as a means of conducting market research to determine the availability of industry and academic sources with the capabilities and capacity to provide engineering solutions and/or research and development with respect to the monitoring of solar radio flux levels performed by the Air Force. The result of this market research will contribute to determining the appropriate level of applied research and/or advanced technology investment within the context of sustaining the existing system. It will also inform the method of procurement for any future investment. The applicable North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code assigned to this effort is: 541715.


2. NOTE!! THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION. This request for capability information does not constitute a request for proposals; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred. Please note, if a solicitation(s) are issued, then they will be issued by a separate solicitation number(s) in the future on Fed Biz Ops.


This notice is for planning purposes only and does not commit the Government to any contractual agreement. If you have any technical or contracting question(s), please send your written questions via an e-mail to the Contracting Officer and Contract Specialist only. All technical questions will be forwarded to the Program Manager who will respond through the Contracting Officer or Specialist. Note, no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions.


3. AFRL is seeking potential offerors with the capability to provide solutions relating to the future of the US Air Force Radio Solar Telescope Network (RSTN). RSTN operates at 4 sites world-wide (Massachusetts, Hawaii, Australia and Italy) to provide 24-hour coverage of radio emission from the Sun as a component of the USAF mission to monitor space environment impacts. The existing system monitors two types of data: provision of 802-channel radio spectra continuous from 25 to 180 MHz (merged from a biconical antenna below 75 MHz and a Yagi antenna above 75 MHz) with a cadence of 3 seconds; and continuous flux-calibrated 1-second-cadence measurements at 8 fixed frequencies made by telescopes tracking the Sun across the sky, connected to 8 separate receivers. A log-periodic feed at the focus of a 28-foot parabolic dish measures 245, 410 and 610 MHz, while an 8 foot dish (1415, 2695, 4995, 8800 MHz) and a 3 foot dish (15400 MHz) on a common weight-balanced mount are used for the other frequencies.


The two opportunities being presented by the Government in this synopsis are as follows:



(i) Replacement of the pedestal and/or drive system for the 28-foot and 8+3-foot mounts. Replacement motors for the existing drive system are no longer available, and a viable solution that can be maintained for several decades into the future is sought. Both systems are pedestal configurations sitting on a tower. The 28-foot reflector weighs up to 3000 lbs., while the 8+3-foot reflectors together weigh up to 500 lbs. The towers are adequate to support the combined weight of the dishes and pedestals. The drives in both systems should be able to achieve a velocity of 2.75°/sec and acceleration of 1°/sec2 in both azimuth and elevation axes. Travel limits should be ±360° in azimuth and -1° to 180° in elevation, with hard stops in elevation within a few degrees of the travel limits. Pointing accuracy should be no worse than ±8 arcminutes for the 8+3-foot mount and ±15 arcminutes for the 28-foot mount, with tracking accuracies no worse than 0.5° and 1°, respectively, maintained up to wind speeds of 40 mph. It should be possible to stow the antennas in 55 mph winds, and in the stow position the antennas need to survive winds up to 125 mph. The antennas need to operate in the temperature range -20 to +120 F and up to a relative humidity of 100% at 80 F. Since these antennas are operational systems that spend on average 12 hours tracking the Sun every day, maintainability on the timescale of decades is an important issue. Further technical details can be provided on request.


(ii) Development of a next-generation solar radio monitoring system. In order to make cost-benefit decisions for investing in science and technology enabling future monitoring of solar radio bursts, the Government seeks vendors capable of implementing new architectures that, at a minimum, must reproduce current capabilities. The current single-frequency receivers are Dicke radiometers that were designed in the 1970s. The current monitoring covers frequency ranges that were important for USAF interests at that time. Developments in the use of technology since that time suggest that there are modifications that would assist the USAF mission, and there have been corresponding developments in digital techniques that make enhanced monitoring feasible. In particular, global navigation using satellite signals (GNSS) did not exist when RSTN was designed. Strong (and often of limited frequency bandwidth) solar radio bursts in the frequency range 1.0-1.6 GHz are capable of disrupting GNSS, and so an obvious expansion of RSTN is to extend continuous spectral coverage at least up to 2000 MHz. Calibration is an important aspect of RSTN operations and must be achieved over a wide dynamic range in order to be sensitive to the full distribution of solar radio bursts. The target for calibration accuracy is 5% up to 1000 solar flux units (sfu, where 1 sfu = 10-22 W m-2 Hz-1), 10% up to 10000 sfu, and 20% up to 106 sfu. The system should be able to measure minimum fluxes of 0.3 sfu at 245 and 410 MHz, 0.5 sfu at 610 MHz, 1 sfu at 1415-8800 MHz and 5 sfu at 15400 MHz, yielding a target dynamic range of at least 105. Additional considerations include the following:


• GNSS transmissions are circularly polarized, and the solar radio bursts that affect them tend to show only one sense of circular polarization, so dual-circular polarization capability is likely to be needed for any spectrometer covering the 25-2000 MHz range. This capability is useful but not critical at higher frequencies.
• A single feed is unlikely to be able to cover such a broad frequency range, so it is assumed that several different receiving elements would be needed.
• The existing 28-foot and 8+3 foot antennas are likely to be available, or alternative antenna configurations may be needed depending on the resulting solution. However, to maintain calibration accuracy, nominal pointing errors at the highest frequency received by a given aperture will need to affect the measured solar flux by less than 5%, bearing in mind that the diameter of the Sun is over 0.5°.
• Above 2 GHz, current capabilities could be reproduced either as four fixed-frequency systems or as part of a single broader-bandwidth system.
• The current upper frequency of 15400 MHz can be taken as a guideline, but coverage to higher frequencies may be attained, e.g., if a wider radio-frequency bandwidth is being sampled directly at the telescope.
• These will be operational systems so robustness and ease and cost of ongoing maintenance are important factors.


4. It is not anticipated that any elements of this effort will require access to and processing of classified information.


5. Efforts undertaken within the above scope may take the form of applied research and/or advanced technology development. Accordingly, elements of this effort may be supported by a mixture of 3600 funding OR Other appropriations, as appropriate, for each activity pursuant to the FAR, DFARS, Regulations, Fiscal Law, and the Availability of Funds prior to any solicitation and potential award.


6. The Government recognizes that research and development brings significant uncertainty about required levels of effort and feasibility. The Government further desires to encourage novel approaches and ideas that may carry significant risk but also offer significant reward. Offerors are hereby notified that the Government intends to exercise the maximum allowable flexibility during the course of this effort to accommodate unforeseen difficulties, dead-ends or new leads that may impact cost or schedule in the performance of the negotiated tasks. Additionally, be advised that through the advancement and new directions of the work encountered, additional or deleted work, time and funding may be utilized to continue and mature the research and development of this requirement to a level where it is acceptable and functional to the Air Force Research Laboratory and to the Government.


7. Information regarding your organization's capabilities and experience must be in writing and should include information relevant and specific to the technical areas below. It should address each of the following qualifications: (1) Experience: An outline of previous similar projects, specific experience in performing the items listed below; (2) Personnel: Name, professional qualification and specific experience of scientists and/or technical personnel who are likely to play key roles; and (3) Any other specific and relevant information about this particular area of procurement that would improve the government's knowledge of interested organizations' capabilities.



Interested organizations must demonstrate and document, in any capability statements submitted, extensive experience with and the ability to perform the requested tasks. Organizations should clearly demonstrate the capability to administer and coordinate interrelated tasks in an effective and timely manner, as well as the ability to operate effectively across Government and contractor teams. Documentation may include, but not be limited to, contracts both Government and commercial, identification of the organization for whom the work was performed (include government points of contact both technical and contractual), references, (i.e. names, titles, telephone numbers), and any other information serving to document the organization's capability, e.g., awards, commendations, etc.


8. The successful offeror will be required to:


(i) Demonstrate the ability to provide a cost-effective solution for continued operation of the existing 28-foot and 8+3-foot telescopes as described above. If chosen, a particular solution will be applied at all 4 RSTN sites: there are minor differences in the weights of the 28-foot dishes at the individual sites, but these are small enough that a single solution should work at all sites.


And/or:


(ii) Demonstrate the capability to provide solutions for an operational next-generation solar radio emission monitoring system taking into account the issues described above. This can take the form of documented experience with similar systems, or the outline of a proposed architecture with sufficient detail that it can be assessed for its ability to meet USAF needs with regard to capability, sustainability and affordability.


9. Submission Instructions: Any proprietary information should be marked accordingly. Interested organizations that believe they possess the capability and capacity necessary to successfully undertake either or both of the tasks described above are invited to submit their capability statement via email or standard mail (note, Fed Ex, UPS, or other express mail is preferred and recommended) by 3 pm MDT on 22 January 2018. . If your organization has the potential capacity to perform these contract services, please provide the following information: 1) Organization name, address, email address, Web site address, telephone number, NAICS codes, and size and type of ownership for the organization as well as any claimed socio-economic status (e.g. 8(a) certified program participant, small disadvantaged, veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran owned, HUB Zone or women-owned); and 2) Tailored capability statements addressing the particulars of this effort, with appropriate documentation supporting claims of organizational and staff capability. If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements.


 


 


10. Submit Statement of Capabilities to the personnel outlined below. All work performed under the contract will be limited to U.S. citizens only.

Det 8 AFRL/RVKVB
Attn: Contracting Officer
Mr. Francis M. Eggert
3550 Aberdeen Ave
Bldg 570, Ste 1160
Kirtland AFB, NM 87117
(505) 846-7603 phone
Francis.eggert@us.af.mil


Det 8 AFRL/RVKVB
Attn: Contract Specialist
Ms. Shannon Falconi
3550 Aberdeen Ave
Bldg 570, Ste 1160
Kirtland AFB, NM 87117
(505) 853-3237 phone
Shannon.falconi@us.af.mil


AFRL/RVBXB
Deputy Program Manager,
Ms. Jenny Sanchez
Kirtland AFB, NM 87117


 


Francis M. Eggert, Phone 5058467603, Email Francis.Eggert@us.af.mil - Shannon Falconi, Contract Specialist, Phone 505-853-3237, Email Shannon.Falconi@us.af.mil

    1. Home
    2. Articles
    3. Login or Register

    4. Search

    5. Add/Announce your RFP