Specifications.docx

SPECIFICATION DOCUMENT

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

Southeast Watershed Research Laboratory (SEWRL)

ASTRO FreeFly UAV

1. Introduction As directed by Senate Document 59 (U.S. Congress, 1959), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) established regional watershed hydrology research centers across the nation in the 1960s. Each regional watershed center was located to address specific research needs and important natural resource and environmental issues at the watershed scale within major land resource areas. Experimental watersheds were instrumented at each of the centers to serve as outdoor laboratories providing field data required for conducting scientific investigations aimed at developing a greater understanding of hydrologic processes. The Gulf-Atlantic Coastal Plain physiographic region, an important agricultural production area within the southeastern U.S., was identified in 1965 as a priority location for a regional hydrology research center. The Southeast Watershed Research Laboratory (SEWRL) was established later in 1965 and the Little River in south-central Georgia, U.S. was subsequently selected as the primary field research site.

2. Scope SEWRL is in the process of upgrading its current fleet of UAS to conform to new USDA policies on the use of UAS, following guidelines for “blue UAS”. As current UAS in the SEWRL fleet do not comply with the policies, they must be replaced with compliant UAS as soon as practicable. Data provided by the sensors flown on the UAS will be used in research manuscript development. The research will contribute to comparisons of vegetation, soil condition, and potentials for carbon storage across multiple sites in the U.S. and internationally. As such, research results may eventually be used as bases for environmental assessments, commodity trading, or regulatory and/or management policy. Thus, the UAS must be capable of flying repeated missions over farms in South Georgia in hot and humid environmental conditions.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agriculture Research Service (ARS) Southeast Watershed Research Unit (SEWRU) requires contractor assistance to procure (2) new FreeflyAstro Map UASs for Tifton, Georgia. This UAS will be used to collect imagery for research plots at the Tifton location, generating new datasets, filling objectives of approved NP211 and NP216 research plans. These datasets also provide key information for coordinated research across multiple ARS locations.

3. Tasks The contractor shall provide all equipment specified in section 4. Equipment delivery shall be to the Southeast Watershed Research Laboratory located at 2316 Rainwater Road, Tifton, Georgia 31793

4. Deliverables

The contractor shall include the following as part of this SPECIFICATIONS:

Mapping Payload Controller Vibration Isolator Spare Parts Kit