20-02447 LOG155-AERD_SHADOWGRAPH_CAMERA_INTEGRATION_SON RFQ POSTING 06252020.pdf

STATEMENT OF NEED FOR SUPPLY OR SERVICE

PURPOSE:

The Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division of the NOAA Fisheries has developed a glider based, active acoustics equipped, autonomous program to assess the status and trends of

Antarctic krill in the Southern Ocean to replace standard ship-based surveys. The glider fleet consists of Teledyne Webb Research (TWR) Slocum G3 electric underwater gliders. Properly assessing the status and trends of krill requires the ability to discriminate other small biological scatterers that can reflect acoustic signals from krill swarms. Integration of a low power shadowgraph camera system that can be programmed to collect individual images at a variety of time lapse intervals (<= 0.1 second to 1 hour), and bursts (multiple, at least 5, successive images acquired at <= 0.05 second interval) is required to image the water during deployments.

Shadowgraph camera here is meant as an imaging system with a camera with tele-centric lens imaging a volume of water illuminated using a collimated light located on the opposite side of the volume and directed at the lens, providing backlighting for the semi-transparent targets passing through the imaged volume. All targets with lengths of 100 micrometers to 50 millimeters within the imaged volume must be in focus, resolvable and measurable. The shadowgraph camera images will provide data necessary to validate the acoustic data being collected by the gliders, essentially being able to differentiate Antarctic krill (lengths 10 to 60

mm) from other organisms, and will provide data to identify and fully differentiate other, smaller

100 um to 25mm plankton taxa. The successful vendor will produce two intermediate work products prior to integration of the units onto the gliders. These intermediate work products shall include a working bench model of the shadowgraph camera; a frame and housing to that meets the requirements, and will then provide the final products to TWR for integration

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

The shadowgraph camera system shall:

a) be capable of operating to an underwater depth of 1000m, with a crush depth rating of at least 1500m

b) have a digital storage capacity of a minimum of 3 TB (6 TB preferred), using removable microSD cards.

c) have a minimum individual true image with at least 12 effective megapixels acquired at >=

10 frames per second (fps), and 6 effective megapixels acquired at >= 20 fps.

d) Shall have a minimum image sensor pixel size > 2 micrometer

e) Shall have an electronic exposure duration sufficiently short to prevent any motion blur or loss of resolution for targets passing through the imaged volume at a speed of up to 50 cm/s. The exposure duration must be programmable by the user and range from a minimum of <= 0.0001 to 0.2 seconds. Automatic exposure compensation shall be available.

f) be capable of variable exposure duration within the image sequence acquired during bursting operation.

g) Have an optical path between 12 and 16 cm, and the height of the camera system above the dorsal side of the glider shall be between 15 and 20 cm.

h) have optical windows composed of sapphire and range between 3 and 5 cm in diameter

i) Have an integrated red-light (620–630 nm) LED strobe, synchronized with the camera image sensor acquisition, to provide illuminate targets within the optical path.

Additionally

j) Given that the science bays are located midway along the body of the glider, the camera system shall be designed such that the camera body affixes to attachment points on the science bays of the glider and the power and communications are connected via subsea or other external plug.

k) The computer, storage and controllers shall be mounted internally within the science bay

l) The design of the camera system shall not use horizontal braces to provide rigidity to the camera system that might catch debris that could impact the flight control of the glider

m) The maximum diameter of the camera system shall be 22cm (the diameter of the glider body)

n) The camera system (frame, external lenses) shall have some biofouling mitigation to reduce or eliminate the biofouling that can limit the duration of the missions. Such biofouling mitigation measures can include any combination of chemical (e.g. copper biofouling plates; biofouling paint or chemicals); optical (e.g. UV light), physical (e.g.

mechanical wipers).

Integration, power, and control:

o) The camera must use power (5 to 14 volts) that is supplied by the existing glider battery power system

p) Programmability of the camera (on/off; sequencing; time lapse; exposure, etc.) will be integrated into ‘proglets’ used by the TWR-G3 to control the camera.

OEM manufacturer participation:

q) Because the science bays contain other instrumentation and will require pressure testing to ensure integrity of the gliders. The successful Vendor must work with TWR to ensure the integration does not interfere with existing science components, guidance and other control functions of the gliders

DELIVERABLE SCHEDULE:

Bench model: Within 45 Days After Award

Evaluation frame and model: Within 120 Days After Award

Units delivered and integration completed February 7, 2021

TECHNICAL POINT OF CONTACT (TOC): PROVIDED UPON AWARD