20240715 HBUC_EOIR_RFI v2.pdf

Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-sUAS) EO/IR Camera Request for Information (RFI)

C-sUAS Product Information

BACKGROUND:

The United States Air Force (USAF) Counter small-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-sUAS) branch is requesting information regarding Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) camera technologies related to combatting the sUAS threat (groups 1 and 2) as presented in Table 1.

UAS

Group

Maximum Weight (lb)(MGTOW)

Nominal Operating Altitude (ft)

Speed (kn)

Representative UAS

1 0-20 < 1200 AGL 100 RQ-11 Raven, WASP, PUMA

2 21-55 < 3500 AGL < 250 ScanEagle, Flexrotor 3 55-1320 < 180 FL Ahield AI V-BAT, RQ-

7B Shadow, RQ-21 Blackjack

4 >1320 Any Airspeed

MQ-8B Fire Scout, MQ-1A/B Predator

5 >180 FL MQ-9 Reaper, RQ-4 Global Hawk

Table 1: US DoD UAS Groupings with Groups 1-2 highlighted in grey.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. The document below contains a form to be filled out concerning the description of the C- UAS technologies that a respondent desires to submit back for this RFI. The form allows Contractors to provide their product’s detailed specifications and can be used by the Government to determine which systems meet their needs.

2. THIS IS NOT A NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) ISSUANCE. This request is issued for the purpose of exchanging information and market research that will allow industry to best communicate to the Government their capabilities through this exchange of information. Responses to this request are voluntary and will not affect any contractor's ability to submit a proposal if, or when, an RFP is released. The requested information is for planning purposes only and does NOT constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that a procurement action will be issued.

No entitlement to payment by the Government of direct or indirect costs or charges will arise as a result of the submission of information in response to this request.

The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any improperly identified proprietary information.

No award will be made as a result of this request. This request is for informational purposes only to promote exchanges of information with industry. The Government will not pay for any information and/or materials received in response to this request for information and is in no way obligated by the information received.

3. *** Responses to this request are due no later than Wednesday, 14 August 2024 31 July

2024, at 3:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time (EST) to Contracting Officer, Robert Gill at Robert.gill.12@us.af.mil and Program Manager, Alex Raveau at alexandre.raveau@us.af.mil. Responses to this notice may not be returned. Please request a confirmed receipt ***

4. Failure to provide documentation may result in the government being unable to adequately assess the product’s capabilities and its suitability to meet government requirements. However, the information provided on this form shall NOT exceed the CONTROLLED UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION (CUI), formerly UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO. If existing substantiation is desired to be submitted in addition to this form (e.g., DD1494, additional slick sheets, photos, system architecture diagrams, etc.), please attach in your response as separate files. Classified data should not be submitted in response to this RFI without prior coordination with the Points of Contact (POC) below. If classified data is desired to be included, first contact the POCs below to establish an appropriate means of transmittal for classified data.

Primary Point of Contact:

Contracting Officer, Robert Gill, Robert.gill.12@us.af.mil

Secondary Point of Contact:

Program Manager, Alex Raveau, alexandre.raveau@us.af.mil

5. Please specify/label all units, as appropriate, for numerical items.

6. Please fill out all sections below.

7. Please provide all documents listed under “Document List” at the end of this RFI, if able.

8. If the documentation is too large to send via email, please drop-off via DoD Safe (up to 8 GB total) for Robert.gill.12@us.af.mil and alexandre.raveau@us.af.mil. In the Short note to the Recipients section, type “2024 C-sUAS EO/IR RFI Response: (vendor’s name)”.

COMPANY INFORMATION:

Vendor Name and contact information mailto:Robert.gill.12@us.af.mil mailto:alexandre.raveau@us.af.mil mailto:Robert.gill.12@us.af.mil mailto:alexandre.raveau@us.af.mil mailto:Robert.gill.12@us.af.mil mailto:alexandre.raveau@us.af.mil

Address

CAGE/UEID Number (if applicable)

EO/IR GENERAL INFORMATION:

Product Name / Model Number

What data formats does the system generate, process, or export? What data formats does the system ingest? What type of I/O is used?

List formats and interfaces if able to.

Is wireless transmit/receive available, or intended to be used?

What is the estimated file size(s) and time to download and transfer approximately 8 hours worth of operational/test data?

What media would be used to transfer data to event coordinators/analysts? (i.e. CD/DVD, thumbdrive or USB hard drive, etc.)

Does your system interface with any existing C2 applications?

List C2(s) if able to and which data format/language they use to communicate.

What types of environments has the system been successfully operated in (i.e. test or operational)?

Is this data available upon request?

What is the reliability (Mean Time Between Failures and/or Mean time Between Critical Failures (mins/hours)) of the system?

How is your MTBF/MTBCF calculated?

(i.e. theoretical prediction, field data, or life testing?)

Number of personnel needed to install system? Estimated Setup time?

Does your system have troubleshooting functions? And can fault data be downloaded?

(i.e. Built-In-Test [BIT], Fault-isolation-test [FIT], log files, after action reports, elapsed time indicators [ETI])

Provide any warranty/RMA information

List the country the system is manufactured in, where it must go for intermediate or depot level repairs, and any export control considerations if they exist.

List any limited life items, or replaceable/serviceable items (filters, batteries, etc) in the system.

Was a Failure Modes & Effects Analysis (FMEA) or Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) performed on your system?

Provide Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and your calculation file (reasoning)

If the camera has been manufactured and fielded with any organization, please describe the quantity produced/fielded (in total, and if able to, specify organization).

Provide a list of external support equipment your system requires for setup/operation/updates

Has your system received an ATO and/or what stage are you in the RMF process?

Please provide a graphical representation that illustrates the architecture of your EO/IR camera.

At a minimum show the major subsystems, key functions, software architecture, and physical/electrical interfaces.

Data interfaces should include but not limited to physical layer and transport protocols.

What training/familiarization information is available?

(i.e. powerpoint training for operation, system maintenance/troubleshooting, install and setup procedures, technical documentation, etc)

Is your system covered by a specific Security Classification Guide (SCG)? If so please list it, and provide it if able. Simply listing the SCG title and date is acceptable.

If any government sponsor has mandated the usage of a specific SCG for operation or testing of your component/subsystem, please list and/or provide, as able.

Please list IP assertions and rights of the system.

(e.g., Government owned, purpose rights, limited, etc.)

What cyber hardening and testing have been done on the system?

Can this system operate Unclassified, or does it require a Classified environment/network?

(please explain)

Is there an existing digital model of the system? If yes, please elaborate on the type of model.

Has a HERO, HERP, HERF report been completed on the EO/IR camera? If yes, please attach. If in the works, please give estimated date of completion.

Additional comments not addressed above that you feel would help us understand your system.

EO/IR SYSTEM HARDWARE

Please list all hardware components required to operate the system.

(e.g., server, maintenance laptop, network switches, media converters, etc.)

What is physical size of the system? List per subcomponent as necessary.

(e.g. LxWxH, server xU)

What is the total weight of the system (lbs)?

List per subcomponent as necessary.

What are the power requirements (Watts) to operate the system? List per subcomponent as necessary.

Are any specialized tools or training required to install, maintain, or repair the system?

Describe the storage/transportation/logistics of the system.

(include sizes of transit cases, special equipment/handling, etc)

Describe the overall construction grade and materials used to protect the system from damage from exposure to the sun, rain/ice, salt fog, corrosion, hail, lightning, and other environmental hazards.

Be specific in regards to any United States Military Standard Compliance or equivalent.

What are the minimum and maximum operating temperatures?

List per subcomponent as necessary.

What weather conditions has the camera been tested and operated in?

What are the weather tolerances or limitations?

(i.e. day/night, wind, precipitation, ice, etc. if applicable)

What minimum, recommended, and maximum processing power does the system require? List separate requirements for subcomponents as necessary.

(e.g. CPUs, Cores, Cuda Cores, threads, etc,)

Is the hardware cleared to process, store, and cleanse classified data?

Cleansing refers to the process of destroying any classified data contained on a hard drive so that it cannot be recovered.

What is the range of the system?

Please provide distance of Group 1 and 2 drone detection and identification with evidence (HMI capture and range), if able to do so.

EO/IR UNCLASSIFIED CAPABILITIES

Detector Type(s)

What detectors/emitters combinations can be be integrated simultaneously into the optic

Array Format(s)

Pixel Pitch

Spectral Band

(EO/daycam, NIR, SWIR, MWIR, LWIR, etc)

Spectral Range

(specific values)

Sensitivity

(NEI, NEP, NETD)

Frame Rate

Resolution

Aperture Diameter

Effective Focal Lengths

FOV modes and/or zoom levels

(i.e. name such as WFOV, NFOV and corresponding FOV in degrees, continuous, or step zoom lenses)

Video Outputs and Formats Available

(e.g. HDMI, HD-SDI, 4K, etc)

Is there a native/included recording function?

If so, what video file format?

How much video/data storage does your system have?

Describe any provisions for annotating the imagery collected with metadata describing the date, time, location, scale, and other pertinent data related to the imagery or camera system.

Imaging Capabilities (black hot/white hot, color pallettes, optimizations)

Max Gimbal Rates (deg/sec) for pan/tilt

RMS Stability or Jitter

Maximum Static Pointing Angle Error (µrad) for pan and tilt

Describe any capability of the optic to automatically focus the lens of a sensor to resolve a target, independent of its background, at a known range, when given a slew-to-cue (if capable)

Describe any automated and aided target recognition capabilities within the system, to include probability of detection and false alarm rates, capability for off-board trackers, number of simultaneous targets that can be tracked within coverage area, automated target classification, and geolocation accuracy (on-board and off-board).

Provide a description of any tracking functions (video tracker, slew-to-cue functionality, etc ) included in the system and any optimization for a particular detection role (marine, aircraft, vehicles, personnel).

Describe all user controls, including system mode and parameter/performance controls and any automated controls such as gain and level, etc.

Is your system able to be controlled over a network or serial connection? If so, what system controls can be accessed or manipulated?

If your subsystem is an active, persistent or wide-area surveillance optical system, please describe the overall functionality and specifications of the system, to include at a minimum (in addition to the above optical parameters):

- Instantaneous Horizontal FOV

- Scan rate and/or revisit rate

- Image recognition schema/algorithms

Does your system have a NIIRS rating? If so, what is it?

Does your system have forensic/analytic functions for recorded imagery?

Describe how the vendor tests and validates the EO/IR camera’s capabilities.

EO/IR SOFTWARE

Please briefly describe software.

Does it rely on specific or unique hardware?

List all licensing fees and licenses required to operate the software.

List any certifications the software has received.

List certifications the software is currently receiving.

EO/IR PRICE AND SUPPORT

Where can the Government purchase your camera?

Has your camera been offered, sold, or leased to the General Public?

Provide available Government contracts and POCs if able to.

Provide price for follow on support for system. List different pricing models if applicable.

Provide price for reach back support. List different pricing models if applicable.

Provide cost per unit and any reductions in price that may result from larger quantity buys.

Provide price for on and offsite Field Service Representative/Field Service Engineer (FSR/FSE) support.

What is the lead time to acquire one camera?

What is the lead time to acquire 10 cameras?

Describe vendor’s roadmap for the EO/IR camera? (planned updates, planned added capabilities, planned end of support)

Documentation List

Please provide the following list of documentation attached to the RFI (digitally), if able to.

- Technical Data

- Generic layout of external interfaces

- Interface Control Document (ICDs), System Design Document (SDD), System Requirements Document (SRD), or any other applicable documents that describe the design and interfaces.

- Pricing Models

- Test Data/Results

- Failure Analysis

- HERO, HERF, HERP

- JF-12, if applicable

- Any other additional documents