SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- RECONFIGURABLE TRANSCEIVER, SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO TECHNOLOGY FOR SPACE COMMUNICATIONS
- Notice Date
- 2/10/2003
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Glenn Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, OH 44135
- ZIP Code
- 44135
- Solicitation Number
- RFI-TRANSCEIVER
- Archive Date
- 2/10/2004
- Point of Contact
- Richard J Reinhart, Program Manager, Phone (216) 433-6588, Fax (216) 433-8705, Email Richard.C.Reinhart@nasa.gov - Michael J. Kinkelaar, Contract Specialist, Phone (216) 433-2736, Fax (216) 433-2480, Email Michael.J.Kinkelaar@grc.nasa.gov
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to Richard J Reinhart
(Richard.C.Reinhart@nasa.gov)
- Description
- THIS IS NOT A NOTICE OF SOLICITATION. IT IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI). NASA does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this information, but may release an RFP at a later date based on the need for this type of technology and its feasibility based upon the responses to this request for information (RFI). This request is for information planning purposes and to allow industry the opportunity to provide information on related technologies. Prospective offerors are invited to submit comments or questions to the identified point of contact, no later than March 10, 2003. In responding, use reference RFI-Transceiver. I. Description The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) solicits information and white papers on space qualifiable Reconfigurable Transceivers and Software Defined Radios (RTs/SDRs) and their associated technologies for space-based NASA applications. The purpose of the RFI is to assess RTs/SDRs system architectures and core technology elements to determine an appropriate investment strategy to advance these technologies to meet future mission needs. NASA GRC seeks to advance the technologies of RTs/SDRs to enable advanced on-orbit frequency and waveform reconfigurability and programmability and increase data rate capability while reducing power, mass, and cost of RTs/SDRs for space communications. Technologies of interest include: (1) Signal waveform on-orbit reconfiguration ?On orbit Reprogrammable digital signal processing devices (tradeoffs between ASIC, FPGA, DSP, or other approach) ?Advancements in analog-to-digital converters or digital-to-analog converters, (e.g. increased sampling and resolution capabilities) ?Ability to upload new waveforms ?Memory, storage, or processing advancements ?Adaptive modulation and waveform recognition techniques (2) Advancements in components and processing over GHz frequency bands (S- X-, Ku-, and Ka-Band) ?Tunable RF front ends (pre-launch and on-orbit tunability) ?Wideband tunable circuits or filters ?Adaptive filtering and/or interference nulling (3) Bus architecture ? Plug and play hardware ? High speed interconnects (4) Software architectures, implementation, and verification ? Open source, portable software code ? Low overhead, low complexity ? Verification and software configuration management techniques to insure reliability (5) Radio architecture ? Reduce power and mass ? Retain core capability in the event of failure or disruption ? Architecture trade space between redundancy versus radiation hardened/tolerance ? Allow future hardware expansion The hardware and manufacturing processes shall survive the rigors of space launch (e.g. vibration, shock) and space environment exposure (e.g. radiation tolerant and/or hardened, out-gassing, thermal) II. Technology Readiness Advanced technology concepts should be discussed and explored to the extent that technical feasibility has been demonstrated. Identify the availability of the current technology or product. Discuss any laboratory, ground-mobile, air, or space demonstrations conducted using the technology. The goal is to develop and demonstrate an advanced reconfigurable transceiver that offers the characteristics mentioned in Section I. III. Sample Communication Application Architectures The following section is intended to provide candidate communication architecture scenarios where NASA could use reconfigurable transceivers. Responses may address technologies applicable to those scenarios listed below or may suggest additional architectures of interest to NASA. The list is not intended to provide a complete set of transceiver requirements, but rather a starting point for transceiver technology drivers and requirements. ?Waveform reconfigurability and frequency tunability at build time and on-orbit within S-, Ku, and Ka-band to enable interoperability between NASA spacecraft and various government or future commercial relay satellites. ?Waveform reconfigurability and frequency tunability to accommodate various supply vehicles docking to International Space Station. ?Ability of hub spacecraft within constellation or ad-hoc network to communicate with new participants. ?Ability of daughter spacecraft to reconfigure to hub spacecraft in the event of a hub spacecraft failure within a constellation. ?Ability to reconfigure between S- and Ku-band to operate with TDRSS ?Reconfigurable waveforms within the unified S-band for different phases of missions (launch, cruise, deployment, navigation). ?Ability to change planetary spacecraft/probe capabilities as backbone infrastructure changes or matures (e.g. addition or relay spacecraft at L1 or L2) ?Adaptive modulation to utilize gains in link margin for direct to ground (X- and Ka-band) applications. ?Reconfigurable waveforms and frequency tunability to compensate for aging or failed electronics ?Reconfigurable waveforms and frequency tunability at build time to provide commonality of space qualified components and parts to reduce space qualification and NRE costs. ?Ability to change spacecraft capabilities (as space hardware allows) in response to ground network infrastructure changes (i.e. update or change waveforms to reduce legacy ground equipment maintenance and operations costs) IV. Response Requirements The following information is requested in accordance with this RFI: 1.A description of related technologies and experience within your organization or company that would support the NASA technology needs as described above. For each technology identified, provide a brief description of the technology and how it would support the NASA need. 2.Describe the communications architecture or scenario where the suggested technology or component will benefit or enable. Be specific as to the functions that are reconfigured or modified before, during, or throughout the scenario or mission. Describe the benefit and any penalty (power, mass, complexity, risk) of using reconfigurable transceivers over traditional spacecraft transceivers. Identify additional communication architectures or scenarios other than those provide in Section III that require reconfigurable transceivers. Describe system or component technology gaps to enable data rate advancements for 100?s Mbps up to 1 Gbps. Identify limiting factors to increase data rate and bandwidth in X-, Ku-, and Ka-band. 3.Describe the advancements of the technology or approach compared to current space qualified or space qualifiable transceivers used today or other competitor products in terms of capability, cost (including life cycle cost), mass, power, and complexity. Describe the advancements over comparable space hardware. Describe the benefit to NASA to adapt or pursue the suggested technical approach. 4.Provide an assessment of the effort (schedule and ROM cost) required to raise the technology to a sufficient level to demonstrate the technology in the space environment. Note other organizations funding the technology development or using the products intended for space applications. 5.If appropriate for your organization, provide your assessment of the limiting factors to advance the core technologies to enable the characteristics and system architecture described above. 6.Provide the name of a business and technical point of contact for your organization or company along with their phone number, e-mail address and mailing address. V. Submittal Instructions Respondents should address all the items in the order that they are listed in Section IV to Richard C. Reinhart, NASA Glenn Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Road, MS 54-8, Cleveland, Ohio 44135, TEL: 216-433-6588, E-mail: richard.reinhart@nasa.gov. NASA GRC would be pleased to meet with potential respondents to discuss this RFI or host contractor presentations at GRC related to this RFI. THIS RFI IS ISSUED SOLELY FOR INFORMATION AND PLANNING PURPOSES AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to this RFI will not be returned. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. NASA expects that responses to this RFI will initiate discussions about the mutual benefit of partnering and, if NASA and the responder agree that a partnership is in the best interest of both parties, the partnership will be documented in an appropriate agreement. Questions regarding this RFI shall be directed to the Contracting Officer at (216) 433-2736 or via e-mail to michael.j.kinkelaar@nasa.gov. THIS SYNOPSIS IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT, NOR WILL THE GOVERNMENT PAY FOR THE INFORMATION SOLICITED. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the review. An ombudsman has been appointed -- See NASA Specific Note "B".
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