Funding-Research and Development Capability Statements; September 30, 2010
Agency
Navy
Description
This BAA synopsis is being posted to both the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) page located at http://www.fbo.gov and the Navy Electronic Commerce on Line (NECO) site located at https://www.neco.navy.mil. While it is understood that FBO is the single point of entry for posting of synopsis and solicitations to the Internet, NECO is the alternative in case FBO is unavailable. Please feel free to use either site to access information posted by the Naval Sea Systems Command.
A - UNIVERSITY AND NON-PROFIT SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT N00178-10-Q-3903 - Open through 9/30/10 The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), is soliciting scientific and engineering research "white papers" to identify capabilities of University and Non-Profit Institutions to conduct basic research, applied research, and advanced research projects in a wide variety of scientific and engineering disciplines.
PLEASE NOTE: NSWC is seeking submission of capability statements only. Specific research proposals may be returned to the submitting institution with a request to submit a capability statement. Research projects are expected to require a high level of technical expertise, primarily involving PhD level personnel; personnel requirements include, but are not limited to, the following categories: distinguished postdoctoral, senior postdoctoral, postdoctoral, professors, and graduate students. Awards under this BAA are expected to take the form of grants, cooperative agreements, other transactions, or contracts. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 541712 -- Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences. NSWC anticipates making multiple awards of grants, cooperative agreements, other transactions, or contracts. When appropriate, research grants will be the preferred award method. All white papers received that indicate interest in a particular research area will be reviewed for potential research projects in that area, the topic number should be clearly identified. Selection of a source for each separate research project will be based primarily on "best match" of technical merit (offeror's interest, expertise, and capability) and potential for contribution to accomplishment of Navy/DOD missions, as presented in the white papers and considering other relevant information available to the evaluator. Anticipated cost will be considered in the selection, but cost will not be the primary determining factor. The selected source for each project will be requested to submit a detailed cost and technical proposal. Submission of a white paper or a detailed proposal does not assure the offeror of a subsequent award.
White papers should be submitted as a MS Word file either (1) as an email attachment to dlgr_nswc_xds13@navy.mil OR (2) on CD to Grants Officer (N00178-10-Q-3903), NSWCDD (Code CXS13), 17632 Dahlgren Road, Suite 157, Dahlgren, VA 22448-5100. Hard copy submissions are neither required nor desired.
White papers should be formatted as follows: A. Cover Page (one page) - identify offeror by name and address, include point of contact (Office of Sponsored Programs, etc.) with telephone number and email address, include date of submission, indicate that submission is in response to this BAA; B. Overview (one page) - provide overview of offeror's capabilities (physical plant and equipment as well as human resources); C. Costing (one page) - provide representative salary costs (hourly rates) for the following labor categories: distinguished postdoctoral, senior postdoctoral, postdoctoral, professors, and graduate students. In addition, identify and provide all applicable indirect (facility and administration) rates that would be charged on each research project; provide name, address, and point of contact, including telephone number, of applicable government auditor and government Administrative Grants Officer/Administrative Contracting Officer; D. Specific Research Area Information [one page for each research area (listed below) in which you have interest/capability to conduct research projects] - provide specific capability information applicable to the research area to supplement information provided in the overview; identify/discuss specific human resources expertise, specific facilities or equipment relevant to the research area, offeror's prior participation in related research projects, and any other relevant information. All white papers received will be maintained for a period not to exceed three years and will be considered as candidate sources for research projects during that period. Offerors may replace, update, or withdraw white paper submissions at any time. All white papers submitted for topics may be considered for research efforts at the Dahlgren Laboratory. The following white papers submitted under previous announcements are still eligible for consideration: (1) N00178-09-Q-3000 white papers will be considered as candidate sources until 30 Sept 2011. (2) N00178-08-Q-3004 white papers will be considered as candidate sources until 30 Sept 2010. (3) White papers submitted under BAA N00178-07-Q-3003 are no longer being considered. At the end of the three year period, the capability statements are destroyed. Each grant or cooperative agreement that may be awarded to an institution of higher education under this announcement must contain the Military Recruiting on Campus clause in DODGARS 22.520(f), which may be accessed at http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/321006r22p.pdf
Any institution that has been identified under the procedures established by the Secretary of Defense to implement P.L. 103-337, section 558, is not eligible to receive a grant or cooperative agreement in Response to this solicitation. Questions regarding this announcement may be submitted to Grants Officer (N00178-10-Q-3903, NSWCDD (Code CXS13), 17632 Dahlgren Road, Suite 157, Dahlgren, VA 22448-5100, to email dlgr_nswc_xds13@navy.mil or to facsimile (540) 653-6810. This announcement will remain open and white papers will be accepted through 30 September 2010. Awards may be made at any time after this notification is published, but only those offerors who have submitted white papers will be considered. This notice constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for University and Non-Profit Scientific and Engineering Research for Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, and, as such, solicits the participation of all offerors capable of satisfying the Government's needs. This BAA should not be construed as a commitment or authorization to incur costs in anticipation of a grant, cooperative agreement, other transaction, or contract; the Government is not bound to make any awards under this announcement. This announcement can also be found at www.grants.gov.
Representative research areas requiring scientific and engineering research expertise for which "white papers" (capability statements) are solicited include:
Topic a: System Impact Due to Computational Electromagnetic Analyses: Navy computational electromagnetics is currently used to investigate coupling between various antennas installed on the topside of Navy ships to determine possible electromagnetic interference (EMI), field levels, and coverage/blockage impacts of the antennas due to shipboard structure. This analysis only takes into account the "front-end" of the system to which the antenna is attached. What is desired is an understanding of the impact that predicted EMI at the antenna will have on the system to determine what the end-users will encounter. Although many aspects of this system impact analysis are system specific, research is desired to understand the impact on system level performance using the predicted coupling, field levels, and coverage/blockage analyses.
Topic b: Text Data Mining and Network Analysis for the Mitigation of Technology Surprise: This effort seeks to develop new methodologies that utilized semi-formatted/unformatted data feeds along with network based information in order to mitigate technology surprise. We are specifically interested in new techniques that combined together text data mining approaches/features and network analysis based approaches/features. In addition we are interested in using these combined techniques to improved data visualization, dimensionality reduction, clustering, or classification results.
Topic c: Next Generation of Technologists: Provide
support for developing and maintaining a cadre of active research
scientists who can distill and extend results from worldwide research and
apply them to Naval problems, to promote hiring and development of new
scientists, and to encourage collaboration with universities, private
industry, and Naval Research Enterprise laboratories, in particular the
corporate Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Establish a long-term program
to create the next generation of Technologists at Naval R&D centers;
generate and sustain the interest and excitement of adolescents in careers
in mathematics, physics, engineering and or other sciences, invigorate
the science and math curricula, and enhance science and math training
for teachers.
Topic d: Data Collection and Development of Computational Models for Biological Systems: NSWCDD is interested in collecting and analyzing data on host-pathogen interactions following exposure to microbes and/or their toxins. As part of data analysis, NSWCDD is interested in the development of computational models of the exposures. For example, NSWCDD is interested in experimentally deriving pathogen numbers, growth/death rates, spread kinetics, toxin production, and/or host responses from relevant in vivo and in vitro models. Depending on which pathogen and host, data could be collected from BAL fluid, blood, lung homogenates, lymph nodes, other tissues relevant to the infection or exposure and relevant in vitro systems. Exposure routes are primarily via inhalation (aerosol, intratracheal, intranasal) but other routes are also of interest (injection, intravenous, dermal, etc.). Targeted hosts include rabbits as well as other relevant species depending on the type of pathogen. Computationally, NSWCDD is interested in developing mathematical models to capture the data and predict subsequent experimental results. Computational models may include both stochastic and deterministic models. The ultimate aim of this work is to better predict and describe a host-pathogen interaction, including man, following exposure to pathogens and/or toxins relevant to chemical and biological defense.
Topic e: Sensor Technologies Applied To Detection In Foliage Rich Environments: The Navy and Joint Service/Joint Agency community are continually addressing the need to detect personnel and human presence in foliage rich environments. Sensor technologies applicable to this capability gap include optical, radio frequency, seismic, acoustic, and magnetic, as well as the broad range of measurements and signals intelligence sensing capabilities. Multiple ongoing efforts in this research area are seeking solutions in the following areas: innovative sensing technologies across the electro-magnetic, acoustic, and seismic spectrum, data fusion and unique data display and presentation techniques with a focus on improving detection probability and human understanding, and data dissemination methods for improving access to all command echelons.
Topic f: Autonomous Behaviors, Advanced Payloads And Payload Data Processing For Unmanned Vehicles: Research autonomous behaviors for unmanned systems including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) and Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) and the application of autonomous behaviors to surface and expeditionary warfare. Research the application and integration of advanced sensor payloads for unmanned vehicles and data processing for these payloads. This research is to develop and demonstrate behaviors and integrated payloads that increase the military utility of unmanned vehicles while reducing personnel requirements to operate and field these vehicles.
Topic g: Azimuth Sensing System: There is an urgent need for a system capable of improving targeting accuracy. Current weapon systems are capable of engaging targets with an accuracy that exceeds the limits of the targeting equipment. Currently only laser designation provides a practical solution to this problem, however, this makes the operator vulnerable to counterattacks. Accurate knowledge of a user location coupled with range, heading, and elevation to target provides a solution where a brief range-finding designation will allow for a targets location to be know well enough to call for a precision strike. Provide a non-magnetic azimuth sensing system for use on man-portable targeting devices such as laser range finders and laser designators. This system shall eliminate well known problems with digital magnetic compasses. This will allow for operation in urban environments, near vehicles, and while wearing body armor. The system will improve on the accuracy of a digital magnetic compass even in good magnetic environments. Reduce Target Location Error (TLE) to be less than 10m, permitting accurate target location at ranges of 10km from observer to target. Due to the needs of the user, the system must work inside a building and be small in size. These limitations rule out the use of all current GPS interferometrics and star finder technologies. The most promising solutions are currently based on gyro-compassing, however novel ideas are encouraged. The program goals require objective parameters to be demonstrated within 3 years. The systems characteristic are as follows: Threshold :a. Man portable fieldable itemb. Less than 1 mil Vertical angle accuracy c. Boresightable to optics d. Volume less than 0.1 cu ft e. 6 mils azimuth accuracy f. 5 lbs g. 500 deg/s survivable slew rate (may need recalibration) h. less than 200 sec startup time Objective:a. Handheld fieldable itemb. less than 1 mil Vertical angle accuracy c. Boresightable to optics d. Volume no more than 0.25 cu in e. 1 mils azimuth accuracy f. 0.5 lbs g. 1000 deg/s operational slew rate (without recalibration) h. less than 30 sec startup time
Topic h: Laser Designator Research: The Marine Corps is looking for opportunities to help transition research and lab development to fieldable technologies. This opportunity is limited to the field of handheld laser designation. Areas of interest include but are not limited to: Novel laser technologies. Novel seeker technologies. Laser spot imaging technologies.1.54um or 1.064um wavelength laser and seeker technologies
Topic i: Laser
Designator Modeling and Requirements Definition: The Marine Corps is
currently investigating the true requirements needed to mark targets to
hand off to airborne laser spot trackers and to laser guided weapons.
While older hard requirements exist, newer systems may not require as
much laser energy as previous systems. Research is required to assist
with the determination of overall system requirements. The goal is
to develop a model that can be used to predict performance of the
entire system, including the laser designator, atmosphere
including particulates, reflectivity and geometry of the target,
the characteristics of the laser spot tracker and laser seekers, and
other pertinent data. This new model must also be validated and
verified against existing models and actual field experiments. The initial
goal of this model is to provide both the transmitter
(designator) developer and the receiver (Laser Spot Tracker and Weapon
Seeker) developer with the required energy on target so that they can
develop their systems independently.
Topic j: Lead-Free Electronics: The transition to a Lead-free electronics industry is a global initiative driven by the desire to reduce unwanted toxic materials in the environment and consequently, in the human population. There are a number of directives driving the transition to Lead-free electronics including the European Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive and the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, which banned the use of Lead in electronics starting in 2006. In the past, alloying Tin with Lead was purposefully done to enhance manufacturing and reliability of the electronic assemblies. Many of the newer Tin based materials, such as pure Tin or Tin alloys, are less resilient to meeting DoD performance demands. The replacement of Lead-bearing alloys with Tin or Tin-based alloys has presented an increased likelihood of failures attributed to weakened solder joints, growth of Tin whiskers, and the development of Tin plague. For instance, the Physics behind the incubation and growth of Tin whiskers is not completely understood. Even after several years of investigation and many studies, no adequate Lead-free solution has yet been found to prevent Tin whisker formation. To date researchers have found no true "drop-in" replacement for Lead bearing alloys used in electronic packaging and soldering applications. Numerous opportunities exist for research in A. Tin Whisker growth mechanisms and models B. Electronic system risk analysis and models C. Effects of materials and environmental factors D. Mitigation steps to reduce impact and effects of lead-free materials.
Topic k: Electromagnetic Railgun
Launcher Development: The US Navy is pursuing the development of
an electromagnetic launcher (also known as a railgun)
for long range naval surface fire support. An electromagnetic launcher
consists of two parallel electrical conductors called rails, and a moving
element, called the armature. Current is passed down one rail, through
the armature, and back up the other rail. The interaction between
the magnetic field and the current causes the armature to accelerate.
This will create high temperature and strong forces in the breech, rails and
armatures. In order to develop the Electromagnetic Railgun Launcher,
we are working on developing model and simulation tools,
and instrumentation that can survive the extreme environment. These
tools will help us understand the multiphysics
phenomena (dynamics, thermal, electromagnetic, armature to rail interface,
etc.) of the launcher and therefore develop a successful system.
Topic l: Pulsed And High Power Electromagnetic Technologies: Technologies including electrical energy storage, pulsed power switching, electromagnetic launcher components, compact high-voltage sources, ultra-wideband technology, high power microwave technologies, detectors and sensors, and all associated modeling; and thermally induced material failure mechanisms. Analysis of high heating rate linear and non-linear processes. Additionally, hypersonic technologies to include materials, electronics, test and evaluation assets, and associated modeling and simulation. Also high speed projectile technologies to include hypersonics, materials, Guidance Navigation & Control (GN&C), and modeling and simulation.
Topic m: Spatio-Temporal Statistical Methods: The ability to exploit the spatial and temporal characteristics of data is becoming more important in DoD applications. We seek innovative theoretical and methodological approaches for analyzing spatial data, especially when events and measurements also have a time component. We are interested in research that produces novel techniques for all types of spatial data analysis, including spatial point processes, geostatistics, areal data analysis, and spatial interaction or flow. Of particular interest are spatio-temporal methods that deal with data that are often messy and missing.
Topic n: Advanced Quantitative Social Science Research: Social science is increasingly considered an integral tool in understanding modern threats and challenges to US national interests. We seek novel theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding and addressing the key strategic issues of our time. Research proposals can draw upon game theoretic, statistical, agent-based modeling or other quantitative methodologies to help further our understanding of topics relating to global threats and US national security. Requested studies should draw upon quantitative social science analyses that address current and future challenges of strategic importance to the US with case studies that show specific applications. Analysis areas include, but are not limited to: irregular warfare, economic development and stability, building partner capacity, stabilization, transnational organizations, failed states, globalization, conflict and cooperation, and energy security.
Topic o: Analysis of Evolving and Dynamic Networks: Methods for identifying common sequences of interactions in networks that change over time would be very useful. These could be used to increase one's understanding of the network and to predict future interactions. Also of interest are methods for identifying the most common combination of sequences between nodes. For example, the first is a series of contacts over time between a pair of nodes in a network, and the second consists of multiple series of contacts between pairs of nodes. It should be noted that all sequences may be arbitrarily long. We seek innovative methods for the identification of common sequences and their combinations, as well as the ability to recognize those that are most likely responsible for an outcome or event of interest. For example, such methods would search for the most common combination of sequences that would end at a time when an event of interest (some outcome) occurs. Additionally, each extracted combination of sequences would need to be characterized according to its likelihood of occurrence in absolute terms and according to its likelihood of occurrence relative to other combinations. The goal is to develop and implement promising methods. Networks of interest could be very large, so computational aspects need to be addressed when developing software tools. This includes, but in not limited to: computing platforms, operating systems, computer memory, storage capacity, availability (i.e. open-source) and scalability.
Announcement
Number: N0017810Q3903
Closing
Date: September 30, 2010
Link
to Full Announcement
Contact
Information
Tina
Lynn, Voice: 540-653-8325,Fax: 540-653-6810