6913G625Q300052 Wake Lidar Replacement Statement of Work.pdf

LiDAR Evaluation for Wake Turbulence Research

RFQ No. 6913G625Q300052

Statement of Work

US DOT Volpe Center – Aviation Weather & PNT Applications Division (V345)

1. BACKGROUND

The Volpe Center is a federal fee-for-service organization within the Office of Research and Technology of the U. S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). The Volpe Center’s mission is to improve the nation’s transportation system by anticipating emerging issues and advancing technical, operational, and institutional innovations. In partnership with sponsoring agencies, the Volpe Center provides technical research and analysis services to the USDOT, other Federal agencies, state agencies, and other organizations in connection with the transportation-related components of their missions.

Since 2003, the Volpe Center has been operating Lockheed Martin Coherent Technologies (LMCT;

formerly Coherent Technologies Inc./CTI) WindTracer pulsed LiDARs for FAA’s Wake Turbulence

Program Office (WTPO). The data collected from these LiDARs has been used to support many FAA initiatives to increase the capacity of the National Airspace System without compromising safety, by allowing the Volpe Center to characterize the strength and location of wake vortices generated by a wide variety of aircraft. At its peak, the Volpe Center has operated four separate WindTracers, deployed at airports across the United States. Due to the aging WindTracer equipment and obsolescence of parts, there is a need to explore replacement LiDAR candidates which can be used to support various wake turbulence safety and efficiency initiatives.

2. OBJECTIVES

In coordination with the FAA Wake Turbulence Program Office, the Volpe Center would like to engage with a candidate service provider to explore the performance of a more recently designed and manufactured scanning pulsed LiDAR system in order to determine if it can meet the needs of the WTPO.

This assessment will be accomplished by performing a side-by-side data collection campaign adjacent to an LMCT WindTracer LiDAR. This data collection campaign will take place at the Volpe Site, at 780

Burlway Road, Burlingame, California 94010.

At a high level, for informational purposes, the overall comparison will involve [note that this description includes some tasks that will be performed by the Volpe Center and some tasks that will be performed by the contractor, and is included to help the contractor understand the overall plan for this effort; specific tasking is detailed in Section 3]:

- The installation of a Test LiDAR (TL) in San Francisco, California, at the Volpe Site, immediately adjacent to a WindTracer;

- The collection of WindTracer and TL wake data associated with aircraft arriving on runways

28L/R at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) for a period of approximately 90 calendar days.

- Processing of both WindTracer and TL data to generate “wake tracks” (defined in Section 3);

- Evaluation of the collected wake tracks from both the WindTracer and TL during the early part of the 90-day data collection.

- Depending on the evaluation results, potential revision of the wake data collection parameters for the TL for the remaining data collection period.

- Uninstallation of the TL from the Volpe Site; and

- Re-processing of collected TL data.

The contractor will be responsible for the installation, operation, and data processing associated with the data from the TL, as well as the removal of the TL after the data collection. The Volpe Center will be responsible for the operation and data processing associated with the WindTracer. The Volpe Center will also perform the data analysis for the comparison of wake tracks between the TL and the WindTracer.

The details of specific tasks and divisions of responsibility between the Volpe Center and the contractor are described in Section 3.

3. TASKS / AREAS OF WORK

3.1 Task 1 – Physical Installation and Uninstallation of the Test Lidar

The contractor will install a scanning pulsed LiDAR at the Volpe site outside San Francisco International

Airport to support a side-by-side comparison with an LMCT WindTracer LiDAR. The TL must be capable of collecting wake tracks as defined in Task 2. The TL must be safe to deploy at the Volpe Site, which is only a few thousand feet laterally from the approach paths to SFO runways 28L and 28R. A responsive proposal must certify that the TL meets any eye safety, electromagnetic interference, and any other safety requirements that may be implicated by its location.

The Volpe Center will arrange for infrastructure to support the contractor’s lidar, including physical security, power, and internet access as required. A responsive proposal must include power and internet requirements, as well as any other infrastructure needed to perform the test, so that the Volpe Center can determine if installation at the SFO Site is practical and/or if infrastructure improvements are required to support installation. Attachment A includes details about the deployment site and the existing infrastructure, including:

- A site diagram, satellite imagery, and photographs;

- Information about available electrical power; and

- Information about networking availability.

The TL will be deployed for approximately 90 calendar days; the exact timeline will be set according to mutually agreeable scheduling at the physical installation kickoff meeting. The contractor should be prepared to deploy the TL within 60 days of award. The contractor’s proposal should be consistent with a continuous deployment for the 90 day test campaign (e.g. if there are any consumable items, the lidar should have enough consumables to support that duration of deployment). The TL should not require routine maintenance during the 90 day deployment period.

At the end of the test, the contractor must remove the TL from the Volpe Site and either:

1) restore the TL installation site to its original condition; or

2) confirm with Volpe staff that whatever modifications that will remain after the end of the deployment are acceptable to the Volpe Center

The contractor must be prepared to restore the TL installation site to its original condition.

At a mutually agreeable time after award, but before deployment, the contractor and the Volpe Center will conduct a kick-off meeting to discuss plans for the physical installation/uninstallation process. The contractor should include any relevant personnel, including those who will be responsible for installation and removal of the TL. This meeting will allow the contractor and the Volpe Center to plan the specific tasks necessary to support deployment and create a detailed timeline for deployment.

Government-Provided Information:

- Attachment A: SFO Test Site Layout and Available Infrastructure

Table 3-1: Task 1 Deliverables

No. Deliverable Due Date

3-1-1 Physical installation kick-off meeting

Any mutually agreeable time before installation

3-1-2 Initiation of Test Lidar wake data collection

Within 60 calendar days of award

3-1-3 Test Lidar uninstallation Within 30 days of end of data collection

3.2 Task 2 – Lidar Configuration, Data Collection, and Initial Processing

3.2.1 Requirements for Wake Data Collection

After the physical installation of the TL at the Volpe Site, the contractor must configure the TL for operation to collect wake tracks, and ideally intermittent measurements of wind data (see Section 4.2.2 for details), for the agreed-upon dates spanning approximately 90 calendar days of data collection.

A wake track is a set of physical/engineering quantities which are associated with an individual wake vortex. The wake track is derived from LiDAR measurements of the atmosphere within the scan region.

Individual measurements are processed and aggregated into a time series associated with each wake vortex being characterized.

A wake track must include at least the following parameters for each individual measurement in the time series:

- Unique identifier for the specific wake vortex being characterized;

- Date and time of measurement, to a precision of at least the nearest integer second;

- Age of the wake vortex at the time of measurement to a precision of at least the nearest integer second;

- Two-dimensional position of the wake core in a clearly-documented coordinate system;

- Direction of wake rotation (i.e. some way to distinguish between the vortices associated with the left and right wing, or port vs starboard of a given aircraft); and

- Wake circulation at the time of measurement o A responsive proposal must include information about the type of circulation measurement produced by the TL (e.g. whether the circulation is total circulation or circulation derived from integration between specific radial bounds)

Additional parameters that are desirable to include in the wake track, but are not required, are:

- ICAO aircraft type designator of the generator aircraft;

- Any relevant parameters used in processing of the TL data, which provide insight into the quality of the wake measurement, e.g. signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR)

The TL must be able to collect wake data with a revisit time (i.e. the amount of time it takes the lidar beam to complete wake data collection and return to the same geometric location) of no more than 10 seconds. The TL must be able to continuously collect wake data for at least 300 seconds per aircraft passage, in order to enable the collection of wake data associated with long-lasting vortices.

The details of the planned wake scan, including both the minimum requirements and desirable additional scan geometry options, are documented in Attachment B.

3.2.2 Initial Data Processing During Data Collection

The contractor must perform the processing of the TL data to generate wake track data, which will ideally include the association of wake tracks with the aircraft generating the wake, identified by at least the

ICAO aircraft type designator. The Volpe Center anticipates that the contractor may need aircraft arrival data on SFO Runway 28L and 28R to link the wake tracks to aircraft arriving at SFO. If the contractor needs this information from the Volpe Center, its proposal should include a preferred mechanism for the

Volpe Center to provide the aircraft arrival data. If the contractor can acquire this data itself, the contractor should include information about the source of the data in its proposal.

A lidar and data processing system which is capable of providing the raw Doppler spectral data, as well as processed in-plane velocity field, is preferable to a system which can only provide wake tracks. If it is possible within the contractor’s data processing architecture, in addition to the wake track data, the contractor must provide the raw Doppler spectral data, and should provide the entire processed in-plane velocity field for each scan. A responsive proposal must include mechanism(s) by which the contractor proposes to deliver data to the Volpe Center, as well as mechanism(s) by which the contractor prefers to receive data (e.g. the aircraft arrival data mentioned above) from the Volpe Center if needed.

The contractor must provide a “data dictionary” which contains detailed documentation of all provided data. This “data dictionary” must be adequate for the Volpe Center to decode all provided data – both raw data and processed data – to extract the encoded information. It must contain the logical structure of the data and detailed descriptions of the appropriate interpretation of all data fields.

The contractor must provide monitoring of the performance of the TL to identify any problems with the data collection during the 90-day period. The contractor is free to choose the mechanism for performance monitoring (e.g. active remote monitoring or automated monitoring), but must identify any technical problems which would interfere with data collection and communicate those problems, with proposed solutions, to the Volpe Center as soon as possible, but no later than within 72 hours of the onset of the problem.

The Volpe Center will be simultaneously collecting WindTracer data to compare wake track data from the TL with the WindTracer wake tracks. The contractor should provide wake track data to the Volpe

Center from the first 30 days of data collection as soon as possible but must provide it no later than 45 days after the beginning of data collection, so that the Volpe Center can perform an early evaluation of the TL’s performance.

Based on a comparison of wake tracks generated by the TL with the WindTracer, the Volpe Center anticipates that it may be desirable to modify lidar operational parameters, scan parameters, or data processing parameters, in order to improve the rate of data accumulation; improve the quality of accumulated data; change the region of interest for wake track processing; or for other purposes. If the

Volpe Center proposes any modifications to lidar, scan, or data processing parameters, the contractor can provide input on whether, in its opinion, the modifications will achieve the Volpe Center’s aims.

The contractor must be prepared to make changes to the lidar operational parameters, scan parameters and wake data processing parameters at least once during the data collection campaign so that the Volpe

Center can explore the TL’s capabilities.

In order to facilitate planning of the wake vortex data collection campaign, the contractor must support a kick-off meeting to resolve any outstanding questions before deployment. The contractor must also provide staff to support biweekly (i.e. once every two weeks) meetings during the agreed-upon timeline for the measurement campaign, which will provide an opportunity for the Volpe Center and the contractor to discuss the progress of the ongoing campaign.

The kick-off meeting will occur at a mutually agreeable time before the start of the measurement campaign. The contractor should include relevant personnel to engage in discussions about the lidar, scan, and data processing parameters, including what can and cannot be changed during a collection campaign.

The biweekly meetings must begin approximately two weeks after the start of the approximately 90 calendar day measurement campaign and continue through the end of the measurement campaign.

The contractor must provide ongoing monitoring of the TL to identify any technical problems with data collection that arise during the measurement campaign. If any technical problems are identified, the contractor must contact the Volpe Center within 72 hours of the onset of the problem so that the contractor and the Volpe Center can discuss the nature of the problem and proposed solutions. The monitoring can be performed in whatever way the contractor believes is most feasible.

Government-Provided Information:

- Attachment B: Scan Parameters / Geometry

- (If needed) Aircraft arrival database for SFO 28L / 28R arrivals

Table 3-2: Task 2 Deliverables

3-2-1 Wake data collection kick-off meeting

Any mutually agreeable time before the beginning of data collection

3-2-2 Biweekly status meetings

Two weeks after the beginning of data collection and every two weeks thereafter

3-2-3

Processed wake track data from the first 30 days of collection

As soon as possible after 30 days of collection, but no later than 45 days after the start of collection

3-2-4

Processed wake track data from the remaining 60 days of collection

Within 30 days after end of collection

3-2-5 Processed lidar data dictionary Within 30 days of award or day 1 of collection, whichever is earlier

3-2-6

(if possible)

Raw Doppler spectra from the

90 days of collection

Within 30 days after end of collection

3-2-7

(if raw data is provided)

Raw lidar data dictionary Within 30 days after end of collection

3-2-8 Site monitoring

Ongoing; notification of technical problems within 72 hours of onset of problem

3.3 Task 3 – Reprocessing of Raw Lidar Data

The Volpe Center anticipates that it may be desirable to re-process the raw lidar data collected during the campaign with different processing parameters (e.g. different assumptions about lidar core size; different processing windows; different vortex models). The contractor must provide support to the Volpe Center in reprocessing of lidar data after the end of data collection. This support can be in the form of reprocessing by the contractor or instructions by the contractor to the Volpe Center on how to perform reprocessing itself by using whatever software the contractor uses to process the raw lidar data. The contractor must provide the Volpe Center with reprocessing support for at least two different subsets of data (e.g. the data collected before and after any parameter changes performed under Task 2).

Ideally, the contractor would provide the Volpe Center with the tools to perform later re-processing of the raw data without the involvement of the contractor. A responsive proposal will address whether the contractor will provide Volpe with the relevant processing software to use generate wake tracks using updated processing parameters, including information on any restrictions that would prevent the Volpe

Center from reprocessing data after the data collection campaign ends.

The contractor must be prepared to either deliver re-processing software with adequate instructions for the

Volpe Center to perform re-processing on its own, or complete re-processing for the Volpe Center, by 90 days after data collection. If the contractor chooses to perform the re-processing, the Volpe Center will provide a set of modified re-processing parameters to the contractor by 60 days after data collection.

Table 3-3-1: Task 3 Deliverables

3-3-1 Wake Processing Software &

Documentation OR Re-processed

Wake Tracks with Modified

Parameters

Within 90 days after data collection

4.0 TRAVEL

Travel to the Volpe Site will be required for the site visit (if the contractor chooses to participate);

installation of the TL at the Volpe Site; and uninstallation of the TL at the Volpe Site. The contractor must be prepared to coordinate with Volpe staff to determine mutually agreeable dates so that Volpe can facilitate access to the Volpe Site.

5.0 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The overall period of performance is from date of award through 06/24/2026.

6.0 ATTACHMENTS

Attachment A: SFO Test Site Layout and Available Infrastructure

Attachment B: Scan Geometry for SFO LiDAR Evaluation