NRA (NASA research announcement)"risk reduction for future community testing with a low-boom flight demonstration vehicle" NASA and its partners have a goal of understanding community response to…

This is a firm fixed-price definitive contract awarded by the Langley Research Center, a civilian agency, to Fidell Associates Inc., a for-profit subchapter S corporation, under the NASA Research Announcement (NRA) "Risk Reduction for Future Community Testing with a Low-Boom Flight Demonstration Vehicle". The objective is to conceptualize a sonic boom community response test, identify key risks and development requirements, and conduct risk reduction activities. The contract has a ceiling value of $952,183.00 and runs through December 31, 2018. There is no set-aside designation for this contract.

NRA (NASA research announcement)"risk reduction for future community testing with a low-boom flight demonstration vehicle" NASA and its partners have a goal of understanding community response to sonic boom noise generated by low boom supersonic aircraft. Detailed understanding of this response will support the development of 8 international standards for certification of a new generation of supersonic civil aircraft. In the near future, NASA envisions the potential for collecting the needed community response data through a series of community overflight research studies with an experimental low-boom aircraft. Advocating, planning and conducting such studies will be no small task, and there are numerous risks and development areas that merit early investigation. The objective of this subtopic is therefore to conceptualize a sonic boom community response test, identify key risk and development requirements associated with the envisioned test and propose and conduct risk reduction activities in priority areas that require further understanding or risk mitigation. The conceptual test plan should address a broad scope of test elements. Elements that need careful assessment include, but are not limited to: selection of communities to participate in the future studies (e.g. number of communities and the criteria for their selection) study participants within the communities (e.g. number of participants and method/criteria for their selection) annoyance data required and acquisition methods acoustical data required and prediction/acquisition methods analysis methods to obtain useful noise-annoyance dose-response relationship(s) sonic boom exposure (single event levels, number of booms per day, time of day) approaches for improving test efficiency and affordability outcome of phase 1 conceptual plan for a community overflight test with a low-boom research aircraft that will establish a relationship between community residents annoyance and their noise exposure from low booms. Identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks associated with conducting community studies with a low-boom flight demonstration vehicle. Complete documentation of selected approaches to mitigate identified risks. If this includes flight experiments to be conducted in phase 2, then test objectives, test plans and methods, and expected results shall be described. Outcome of phase 2 documentation of research activities conducted and analysis of results. Documentation of test protocols and approaches that result in improved knowledge and reduced risk associated with advocacy, planning and execution of a future sonic boom community response test.