Call_0005-_SOO_I-_Visualization_System_for_3D_Location_and_Tracking.pdf

Visualization System for 3D Location and Tracking Statement of Objectives BAA 13-012/Call 0005/ SOO I

April 24, 2017 Science and Technology Directorate Department of Homeland Security

DISTRIBUTION NOTICE: Further dissemination only as directed by DHS Office of Policy DESTRUCTION NOTICE: Destroy by any method that will prevent disclosure of contents or reconstruction of the document.

Visualization System for 3D Location and Tracking Statement of Objectives

April 13, 2017

Table of Contents

1.0 Problem Statement

2.0 Purpose and Scope

3.0 Background Environment

3.1 Mission Scenarios

3.2 Current Technology Shortfalls and Threats

4.0 Potential Solution Attributes

4.1 Concept of Operations (CONOPS)

4.2 Additional Capabilities

5.0 Solution Capabilities and Requirements

5.1 Must Have Requirements (Key Performance Parameters, KPP’s)

5.2 Desired/Future Capabilities

6.0 System Support

6.1 Period and Place of Performance

6.2 Contract Deliverables

6.3 Regulatory/Legal Requirements

6.4 System Affordability

6.5 Training

6.6 Other Considerations

6.7 Storage and Maintenance

Visualization System for a 3D Location and Tracking System

April 4, 2017

1.0 Problem Statement

The proposed solution is supported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Science & Technology (S&T), First Responders Group Broad Agency Announcement Solicitation Number, HSHQDC-13-R-B0012 Call 005. First responders have the need for a technology that provides a real-time three dimensional (3D) visualization system for rendering the exterior, and if possible, the interior of a building as well as adjacent buildings.

Currently, first responders, in particular, firefighters and tactical law enforcement personnel, frequently operate in multi-story buildings, schools, and warehouses under hazardous conditions.

Exposure to such conditions without the ability to visualize the interior and exterior of the location hinders the effectiveness of first responders during the course of an incident. The Incident Commander (IC) ultimately is responsible for ensuring the safety of operational personnel and a solution that provides the ability to generate a visual mapping of the exterior, and if possible the interior of a building during an emergency response scenario would assist the IC in ensuring the safety and tracking of his personnel.

2.0 Purpose and Scope

This solution shall provide the first responder responding to an incident with situational awareness regarding the exterior, the interior of the structure, and landscape of buildings, as well as adjacent buildings. The buildings may be multi-story apartment or office buildings, rural homes, warehouses, or schools. The technology should provide first responders and ICs with the ability to perform 3D rendering of the exterior, and if possible the interior in terms of architectural and semantic information within five minutes or less of arrival at the response location. It should not interfere with the performance of any normal responder tasks. To ensure that any technology developed during this effort meet the needs of first responders, it is anticipated that members of the DHS S&T First Responders Resource Group (FRRG) will be asked for their input and comments periodically throughout the development cycle.

3.0 Background Environment

Firefighters routinely face various obstacles when responding to incidents and emergency situations. First responders are cognizant of the fact that if they want to survive the destructive force of a burning building, they must have knowledge of how buildings are constructed. Moreover, successful firefighters have realized this and endeavored to keep up with changes in building construction. However, with the architectural designs of these buildings changing rapidly, firefighters and other first responders require a technological solution that can produce real-time visualization of these spaces under varying environmental conditions.

One solution that the first responder community has utilized to mitigate the challenges facing fire departments and other emergency personnel is geographic information system (GIS) technology, which can integrate diverse data sources to capture, manage, analyze and display geographically referenced information. When used properly, GIS can help develop and customize a detailed fire station deployment analysis for a specific community which can help reduce response times.

However, although this technology is effective, it is more of a pre-planning tool as it pre-populates previously gathered data by the first responder regarding the environment and surrounding areas.

First responders particularly firefighters and tactical law enforcement units who frequently operate in multi-story buildings under hazardous conditions need a solution that can generate a 3D rendering of the building’s exterior, and if possible, the interior, to ensure visualization capabilities for responders wearing location and tracking devices during an emergency response scenario in near real time.

3.1 Mission Scenarios

There are multiple applications for this solution, including providing much needed situational awareness of the physical spaces first responders will be entering and working within during active incidents from fire suppression to dealing with an active shooter event with or without hostages involved. This exterior, and if possible interior visualization capability, will allow the IC to track the location of first responders inside the structures they enter and provide critical intelligence and information of the environment they are physically deployed to.

3.2 Current Technology Shortfalls and Threats

The increasing size and complexity of exterior and interior structures of multi-story buildings has led to greater challenges when first responders report to an incident. Additionally, the complexity of the external and internal structure could cause the indoor travel time required to reach specific building areas to be much longer than outdoor routes, which responders may not be able to tell without accurate visualization. This technology would provide the information necessary to answer these challenges and unknowns.

In addition, building structures may be concrete, steel, glass, or any combination of modern building materials and of varying heights. Hazardous conditions, such as extreme fluctuations in temperature from the outside to the inside building environment may cause additional challenges for the first responder. Low lighting, darkness, unstable light conditions, and smoke-density also represent some of the hazardous conditions the first responder may encounter within the indoor structure.

4.0 Potential Solution Attributes

The technology will provide first responders and ICs real time visualization of the exterior, and if possible, the interior of various building structures. It will also identify and report data to include major structural components, such as doorways, windows, walls and how may stories the structure consists of, as well as adjacent building structures.

The technology used to render the building should also have the durability and resiliency to succeed in extreme environmental operating conditions common to first responders. If used inside the structure, the technology should meet the standards referenced in the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1801 “Standards for Thermal Imagers for the Fire Service” 2013 Edition, to include water and humidity; extreme temperatures (both hot and cold); and particulate and smoke-filled environments.

4.1 Concept of Operations (CONOPS)

The solution will be activated by a first responder upon arriving at a scene. The solution should use available technologies/tools such as Google Earth to provide a 3D rendering of the exterior incident scene as well as buildings adjacent to the incident scene. Optimally, building diagrams, floor maps, blueprints, etc. could be ingested into the technology solution to render a 3D visualization of the buildings interior. If this technology is not readily available, the ability to add/delete/modify architectural structures (windows, doors, etc.) in real time should be optional.

• The technology should have the ability to provide output which can be ingested by multiple National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) compliant systems and interoperable with open source platforms and viewers”.

4.2 Additional Capabilities

The technology should have the ability to detect elevation changes and display the changes accurately within the visualization system within various building structures (i.e. as a responder enters a multi-storied commercial building, the technology should indicate and display when an elevation change occurs between floors to include above and below grade).

5.0 Solution Capabilities and Requirements

5.1 Must Have Requirements (Key Performance Parameters, KPP’s) The proposed solution:

• Shall minimize connectivity to the internet as the environments first responders operate in often prevent or challenge internet connectivity.

• Shall refrain from requiring pre-deployment by the first responder or operational manipulation beyond turning the device on and off.

• Shall calibrate in 1 minute or less after arriving at the scene:

o 5 minutes or less should be the maximum time for calibration which includes the en route time from the first responders pre-location to the incident.

• Shall succeed in extreme environmental operating conditions common to first responders:

o If used indoor, this includes water and humidity; extreme temperatures (both hot and cold); and particulate and smoke-filled environments. Additionally, it should be able to work in darkness, low light, and unstable lighting conditions, to include blocked or obstructed lens, or reflective conditions such as flares or fog.

• Shall render high quality image resolution while operating under various environmental and structural conditions.

• Shall generate a 3D rendering of the building’s exterior and adjacent buildings in real-time.

• Shall generate 3D representations of the affected building and incident scene and be scaled to accurately reflect the location of transmitters being tracked within the structure.

• Shall use an address or GPS (latitude/longitude) to identify the location of the property being responded to.

• Shall leverage Google Earth or other tools/technologies to render a 3D visualization of the structures exterior as well as adjacent structures.

• Shall be able to determine the number of floors of the structure from the rendering.

• Shall accept and display the data outputted from multiple magnetic quasi-static transmitters

(data format can be discussed) and display the location of the transmitters in the proposed visualization system in real time.

• Shall display which floor the transmitter(s) are on and their location (i.e. front, back or middle of the house….left side right side, etc.).

• Shall be able to track all transmitters individually or collectively.

• Shall be able to turn on the track for one or all transmitters (tracks should be in different colors).

• Shall be able to replay all tracks after an event.

• Shall provide the operator the ability to add architectural elements, such as doors, windows and stairs, as needed and available.

• Shall provide seamless integration with the Precision Outdoor and Indoor Navigation and

Tracking for Emergency Responders (POINTER).

5.2 Desired/Future Capabilities

The proposed solution:

• Shall have the ability to archive/store/retrieve the digitized images of the interior mapping as the information is transmitted to the IC. It should also have the ability to retrieve stored maps created during routine inspection activities, pre-planning of response at a location, training exercises at a location, and prior responses.

• Shall generate 3D representations of the inside of an affected building.

• Shall have the ability to capture structural changes (i.e. floor collapses, wall crumbles) as they occur inside the various building structures and transmit that information to an individual who is outside of the building.

6.0 System Support

6.1 Period and Place of Performance

The anticipated period of performance for the contract shall be between 12-18 months, and shall not exceed the latter. All developmental activities will be performed at the contractor-designated site(s).

DHS may require the contractor to perform preliminary and critical design reviews and/or product presentations at DHS-specified locations.

6.2 Contract Deliverables

DHS is committed to ensuring the success of their technology by requiring the project performer to provide DHS multiple prototype deliverables which will be used for post-contract testing and evaluation. A minimum of 20 prototype visualization systems that operate in conjunction with DHS S&T’s POINTER system shall be provided as a final project deliverable.

DHS is also committed to ensuring the use of their technology by the first responder community by documenting metrics regarding product sales and estimated production costs for the first three years after commercialization. Additionally, to promote first responder technology awareness DHS may participate in operational exercises, demonstrations, and conferences for the first three years after commercialization.

6.3 Regulatory/Legal Requirements

DHS is committed to providing information regarding the availability of their technology to the first responder community by requiring the project performer to submit applications to be added to the DHS Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Authorized Equipment List (AEL), the Inter-Agency Board for Equipment Standardization and Interoperability (IAB) Standardized Equipment List (SEL) and the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act of 2002 as a final deliverable.

6.4 System Affordability

It is envisioned that the solution will be cost effective so that first responders from a wide variety of jurisdictions will be able to afford this software.

6.5 Training

Training information as required shall be provided on any specialized equipment, and shall include how to properly setup, deploy, store, clean, and maintain the basic unit. If a replaceable part is included in the device, proper procedures for replacing that part should be specified. Any specialty requirements of personnel conducting setup, maintenance, storage, extraction, or delivery will be identified including certification requirements. Training material shall be available initially in hard-copy, and subsequently in soft-copy format.

6.6 Other Considerations

Human Interface Requirements: The target user includes emergency response units (fire service, law enforcement, emergency medical services) or any public safety agencies that utilize visualization systems to location and tracking their personnel. The solution should be simple and easy to use for first responders and emergency personnel.

Logistics and Readiness: The solution developed under this award is envisioned as a visualization system that 3D renders buildings in real-time and allows the location of transmitter worn by first responders to be tracked within the rendered structure.

6.7 Storage and Maintenance

The contractor shall identify all necessary storage and maintenance requirements for the proposed solution including: the required maintenance schedule, if any cleaning or maintenance is needed for the solution either during use or in order to be reused subsequent times, identification of the specific components of the solution that requires the maintenance, the type of maintenance required, and whether the maintenance can be performed in the field by operational personnel or if it will be required to be returned to the manufacturer for the required maintenance.