N00014-16-S-BA11-Amendment-0001.pdf

Amendment Number 0001 Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) N00014-16-S-BA11

“FY17 Communications and Networking Discovery and Invention”

The purpose of Amendment 0001 is to answer Technical and Administrative questions received in response to Special Notice N00014-16-S-BA11 entitled, “FY17 Communications and Networking Discovery and Invention" as follows:

Q#1. Will the research effort intended, focus on improving existing ground-based (terrestrial) mobile troposcatter systems or extend troposcatter communications to other CONOPs (e.g. ship-to-ship or ship-to-shore)?

a. If it is ship-to-ship,

i. What level of motion dynamics should be considered? How well do existing tracking solutions handle those dynamics?

A#1: Sea state 4 (moderate); we aren't aware of the tracking solutions.

ii. Is there an existing ship-to-ship troposcatter communication system we should be aware of?

A#1: The Government is not aware of any such systems

Q#2. What are the key limitations of existing systems that you would like to address? Which of the following metrics are most important?

a. Increased throughput (e.g. relative to DART-T) A#2: Important

b. Increased robustness (e.g. higher percentage availability), possibly at the expense of throughput

A#2: Very Important

c. Tracking capability A#2: Very important

d. Link latency A#2: Somewhat important

e. Operation in the presence of potential interference A#2: Somewhat important

f. Other metrics

Q#3. Are there any threshold (or objective) requirements for the metrics listed above?

A#3: None, this effort is D&I, not advanced technology development, so no threshold/objectives specified

Q#4. What link distances are of interest? Is all communication expected to be over-the-horizon or is there a need for line-of-sight capability as well?

A#4: Over-the-horizon, assume 50-100 miles

Q#5. Will one frequency band considered more important than the other (e.g. C vs Ku)?

A#5: No

a. If so, is this due to spectrum availability, aperture size, propagation losses, or some other consideration?

A#5: N/A

Q#6. In order to ensure minimal impact to HW as well as facilitate modular upgrades, can you provide additional information on the existing hardware capabilities?

A#6: Assume CDL and SATCOM

a. What is the type and size of the existing apertures that you would like to reuse?

b. What is the peak power level?

c. Are there other HW constraints we should be aware of (e.g. FGPA capabili ties,etc.)?

A#6: Consult individual manufacturer specs.

Q#7. How much information can the government provide on the target troposcatter system(s) during program execution?

A#7. There have discussion on potential transition platforms with current troposcatter system providers, but would like to understand how much information the government can provide on the existing systems during initial program execution vs how much information we would need to get from potential industry partners.

A#7: This is possible/negotiable.

Q#8: As part of the larger innovative tracking solution, are you interested in algorithms that will mitigate intermittent and/or residual tracking error (e.g. H-ARQ)?

A#8: Yes.

Q#9: Are there interest in better uses of diversity such as improved MIMO techniques?

A#9: Possibly as last resort, only if mobile tropo unfeasible with existing waveform modes or with limited (modular) upgrade with other form of diversities.

Q#10:

On page 12 the BAA states “Page limit: Six (6) pages (excluding cover page, resumes, bibliog-raphies, and table of contents)”

On page 13 the BAA states "There is considerable freedom to formulate the main body of the white paper (not to exceed five (5) pages) as the Offeror sees fit.” It is not clear what part of the BAA is included in the 6th page that is not included in the 5 page main body. Your clarification would be appreciated.

A#10: Refer to Section IV "Application and Submission Information" subsection A (a) WHITE PAPERS for the answers.