Problem Statement for Infill Radar 09JUN25.docx

INFILL RADAR

SYSTEM DESIGN & DEMONSTRATION

EXPERIMENT

PROBLEM STATEMENT

For Air Traffic Control (ATC) Future Technologies (AFT) AFLCMC/HBAA Hanscom AFB, MA Aerospace Management Systems Division 9 June 2025

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.

Phased Array Radar for Wind Turbine Mitigation Demonstration

1. Scope of Agreement

The Government is requesting a solution to this problem statement in order to award a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Procurement for Experimental Purposes Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) effort under the authority of 10 U.S. Code §4023. This is a Request for Proposal (RFP) for vendors to demonstrate a phased array radar as a possible mitigation for wind turbine clutter in air traffic control systems. The Air Traffic System Branch (HBAA) will not pay respondents for their proposals associated with this RFP.

2. Project Overview

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's (AFLCMC) Electronic Systems Directorate, Aerospace Management Systems Division (HBA), Air Traffic System Branch (HBAA), Air Traffic Control (ATC) Future Technology (AFT) Program Management Office (PMO), located at Hanscom Air Force Base (AFB), Massachusetts, is requesting proposals from industry to install and deploy a Commercial Off-the Shelf (COTS) phased array radar system(s) at Travis AFB, CA to demonstrate performance of the radar in a wind turbine clutter environment. It is not required that the radar will have been designed or tested in a windfarm environment prior to this demonstration, but if previous data exists, please include that with your proposal.

3. Background and Problem Statement

Wind generation capacity increased from 934 Megawatts at the end of 2015 to 150.1 Gigawatts in April of 2024. This trend of rapid growth is expected to continue. Wind turbines are frequently developed into industrial-scale projects called wind resource areas (WRAs). Wind turbines present substantial issues for ATC radars because they are a source of stationary and moving clutter. The physical presence of the wind turbines provides stationary clutter, and more importantly, the blades of wind turbines can spin at velocities that mimic the Doppler returns from aircraft. These types of clutter can generate false plots, false tracks, and possibly dual tracks on air traffic control Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) displays, all of which may interfere with the mission of ATC. Additionally, and significantly, aircraft overflying wind turbines may not be detected, or tracks of aircraft may be dropped by an ATC radar due to the aircraft’s radar cross section being smaller than those of the turbines the aircraft is overflying.

4. Description of an Infill Radar

A phased array infill radar system may provide supplemental non-cooperative surveillance to mitigate localized radar performance shortfalls caused by wind turbines. A successfully deployed phased array infill radar would eliminate the need to vector aircraft around a wind farm or move traffic patterns to avoid wind farms, would reduce the risk of mid-air collisions, and improve the air picture for air traffic controllers. Improved radar coverage over wind turbines will allow the U.S. to pursue and meet broader goals of increasing use of alternative and renewable energy resources.

5. Definitions

(1) “Agreements Officer (AO)” is the ATC and Landing Systems Division warranted Agreements Officer with authority to enter into, administer, change, or terminate OTAs. AOs are the only Government employees authorized to enter into an OTA.

(2) “Agreements Specialist (AS)” is the ATC and Landing Systems Division Contract Specialist.

(3) “DoD non-government advisors” or “non-government advisors” means any non- Government employee working in conjunction with the Government and can include individuals employed by Support Contractors, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, and University Affiliated Research Center. See Section 11 for the list of companies the Infill Radar OTA project is expecting to use to review data submitted by Offerors.

(4) “Contracting Activity” means an element of an agency designated by the agency head and delegated broad authority regarding acquisition functions. It also means elements, or another agency designated by the director of a defense agency, which has been delegated contracting authority through its agency charter.

(5) “Effective Date” means the date when this Experimental Procurement is signed and executed by the Agreements Officer on behalf of the Government.

(6) “Experiment” means the Problem Statement as outlined in this document.

(7) “Experimental Procurement” or "OTA" or “EP” refers to the Experimental Procurement, as authorized under 10 U.S.C.§ 4023, between AFLCMC/HBA and Contractor.

(8) “Parties” means Government and Contractor by its authorized agent where collectively identified and “Party” where each entity is individually identified.

(9) “Public Release of Information” means any and all new algorithms or techniques developed as part of this effort would be considered Distribution C until the proper process to get the information cleared for public release is performed. That process would be to adhere to AFI 10- 701, Operations Security (OPSEC), 30 Jul 18 (or DoD M5205.02-M), an OPSEC review will be performed by the Government prior to all public release of information. All Government information intended for public release by Contractor shall undergo a Government OPSEC review prior to release.

6. Statement of objectives For this demonstration, vendors should address how they will meet the following objectives within their response to this RFP.

6.1 COTS phased array radar deployment and installation

6.1.1 Vendors will provide technical details of all processing algorithms, including algorithms, inputs, outputs, and internal processing.

6.1.2 Vendors will deploy and install a COTS phased array infill radar at Travis Air Force Base.

6.1.3 Vendors will be responsible for shipping, installation, siting, and optimization of the radar.

6.1.4 Vendors may be responsible for power to the radar. However, the Air Force Flight Standards Agency (AFFSA) will work with the vendor and Travis AFB to determine if providing local power is possible. Pricing for power to the radar shall be a priced separately so it may be included as an option Agreement Line Item Number (ALIN).

6.2 Coverage volume

6.2.1 The vendor will demonstrate phased array radar coverage in and around the WRA to the southeast of Travis AFB.

6.2.2 The vendor will demonstrate phased array radar coverage in the clear (outside the WRA) at Travis AFB.

6.3 Radar performance

6.3.1 The vendor will provide a brief theoretical expectation of radar performance in and around the WRA showing the benefits to a phased array over a conventional Airport Surveillance Radar.

6.3.2 The vendor will demonstrate the performance of a phased radar for aircraft detection over a WRA.

6.3.3 The vendor will demonstrate probability of detection for targets over and around the WRA.

6.3.4 The vendor will demonstrate probability of false targets over and around the WRA.

6.3.5 The vendor will employ targets of opportunity for aircraft detections over the WRA.

6.3.6 The vendor will employ a minimum of three (3) days of instrumented test flights, one in the morning and one in the afternoon each day, to demonstrate performance over the WRA. AFFSA will work with the California Civil Air Patrol to provide additional targets for flights over the WRA.

6.4 Data Analyses and Metrics

The vendor will conduct data analyses for targets of opportunity and instrumented targets both over and outside the WRA to measure:

6.4.1 Probability of detection of aircraft targets

6.4.2 Probability of false target detection of aircraft targets

6.4.3 Positional accuracy of aircraft targets in range, azimuth, and altitude

6.4.4 Data latency from targets at boresight to time of target message (time, positional information of targets) to delivery for data recording

Table 1 shows typical performance values for these parameters and is presented for reference. These are not performance thresholds for this demonstration.

Table 1: Typical values of selected performance parameters for reference.

Positional accuracy

6.5 Surveillance data format

The vendor will collect data to deliver to AFFSA for independent analysis. The preferred data format is ASTERIX CAT 34 and CAT 48 format; see Attachment 1.

7. Place of performance

The demonstration and data collections will be at Travis AFB, CA. Travis AFB will not be responsible for any damage to the vendor’s radar. Vendors will not interfere nor impact the operational readiness of the 60th Air Base Wind (60th ABS) at Travis AFB. The WRA is southeast of Travis AFB and west of Rio Vista Municipal Airport in Solano Country; see Attachment 2.

8. Period of performance

The period of performance is one (1) year from date of agreement award. Data collections are expected for 45 consecutive days at Travis AFB, exclusive of radar system set-up time and optimizations.

The vendor will need to coordinate with AFFSA and associated personnel for data scenarios and test conditions. Any dedicated flight profiles will be mutually agreed upon by the USAF and the vendor and should include search patterns and radials flown at fixed altitudes.

Data recordings for analysis will be conducted in a method agreeable to the contractor and government.

The vendor will be solely responsible for any maintenance or sustainment operations to its radar and equipment. In addition, the vendor shall provide timely repairs to the radars or communication infrastructure for the duration of the contracted work.

9. Key Deliverables

Timely submission of deliverables is essential to successfully meet the needs of this demonstration.

Table 2: List of deliverables with frequency and due dates.

etc.

10. Disposal

At the conclusion of this demonstration, unless otherwise directed by the Government, the vendor is responsible to remove the radar from Travis AFB and restore the site to its original condition.

11. Operational Security (OPSEC)

The tasking will require security up to and including Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and be within compliance of both the Electronic Warfare and Radar Technology security classification guides as required. General OPSEC procedures, policies and awareness are required to reduce program vulnerability from successful adversary collection and exploitation of critical information. OPSEC will be applied throughout the lifecycle of the contract.

12. Attachments

1. Surveillance to ATC Automation System All Purpose Structured Eurocontrol Surveillance Information Exchange (ASTERIX) Interface Control Document (ICD), NAS-ICD-11013400 September 8, 2020, as supplemented by the Guidance for Infill Radar Requirements ASTERIX Data Fields v12, September 9, 2021

2. Image of geographic area at Travis AFB with wind resource area southeast of the Air Force Base—“Wind turbines and Travis AFB.jpg”

Acronyms:

Agreement Line Item Number (ALIN) Agreement Officer’s Representative (AOR) Air Force Base (AFB) Air Force Flight Standards Agency (AFFSA) Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) Air Traffic Control (ATC) ATC Future Technology (AFT) Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Firm Fixed Price (FFP) National Airspace System (NAS) Other Transaction Agreements/Authority (OTA) Program Management Office (PMO) Request for Proposal (RFP) Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) Wind Resource Area (WRA) United States Air Force (USAF) image1.png