C04a_Attachment 1 Specifications_12444026Q0215.pdf

Solicitation 12444026Q0215 – Procurement of UAV with sensor package

Business requirement for a Fixed Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle UAV The UAV and sensor package are to develop models of floral blooms in semiarid landscapes to evaluate the dynamics in space and time of forage resources for pollinators, particularly bees. Pollinators rely on floral resources that bloom at different times and in different habitats during the year to provide a continuous food supply. While hexacopter UAV can fulfill the collection of datasets for this same purpose, their flying area is limited to small experimental fields, and the fixed-wing UAV can cover large expanses of land in single flights.

Technical requirements for a Fixed Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle UAV

The Forage and Range Research (FRR) Lab incorporates unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in various research projects. Since some projects focus on extracting meaningful ecological metrics across large landscapes, fixed-wing UAV are more suited for these operations. The following are desired specifications for a brand new fixed-wing UAV:

● Must be NDAA compliant.

● Must be fully compatible with a wide variety of sensors, including existing

Micasense multispectral cameras that are part of FRR inventory – In other words, the UAV provider must also sell the integration kits that make the Micasense multispectral sensors work with the UAV.

● Must be able to carry, power and interact with a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensor payload.

● The UAV software must be user friendly and include features such as: terrain following and offline maps as many of our research sites are in montane ecosystems with difficult or no access to internet.

● Must be able to operate without internet connection at remote research locations.

● UAV must be lightweight to be operated and transported by 1 person.

● UAV setup at the field must minimize cumbersome operations for the UAV pilot and operators. It should allow seamless operations at the field where the UAV pilot and operators interact with the UAV via a tablet and easy to follow workflow and safety checklists.

● Must either have remote id built in or be compatible with a remote id module per 14 CFR Part 89

● Must be able to cover at least 500 hectares per flight and withstand wind speeds of 10 m/s or stronger. Flight time needs to be minimum of 50 minutes per battery set.

● Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) feature and the ability to hover is highly preferred so that it allows to fly missions from tight spaces.

● Real Time Kinetics RTK features preferred but Post Processing Kinetics PPK also acceptable.

● UAV must be able to carry a maximum payload weight between 800 g to 1 kg

● Onboard WIFI module 11a/b/g/n/ac

● Safety features must include the ability to return to home when maximum temperature is exceeded, or aircraft loses telemetry connection or if aircraft drifts away from area of interest.

● Operating temperature (in-flight): +10 to +40 °C

● Minimum range of operation 5 miles or 8 km in indirect line of sight