MODIFICATION
58 -- Response to questions received regarding this Request for Information.
- Notice Date
- 8/15/2011
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 517410
— Satellite Telecommunications
- Contracting Office
- ACC-APG (C4ISR), HQ CECOM CONTRACTING CENTER, 6001 COMBAT DRIVE, ABERDEEN PROVING GROU, MD 21005-1846
- ZIP Code
- 21005-1846
- Solicitation Number
- W15P7T11RC207
- Response Due
- 8/22/2011
- Archive Date
- 10/21/2011
- Point of Contact
- Nicholas A. Bartolomei, 443-861-4924
- E-Mail Address
-
ACC-APG (C4ISR)
(nick.bartolomei@us.army.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- 8/15/2011 Answer to Questions and Recommendations Solicitation Number W15P7T-11-R-C207 Blue Force Tracking - 3 (BFT-3) Improved Satellite Network Requirements 1.In order to properly compare the various vendor responses and to make this RFI response meaningful, we would strongly recommend the government specify the WGS downlink "allocated EIRP" to the BFT3 network so that the vendor community can answer to the same requirement rather than making assumptions that are not real. Government Response: At this point in time the government is not looking for an apples-to-apples comparison between products that are available from various vendors. Indeed, we are not necessarily looking for a WGS based solution. The requirements included in the RFI are objective requirements, not hard requirements. The objective of the RFI is to solicit industry to better understand what is doable. To this end any help industry can provide is appreciated. Also, see the Government response to questions 2 and 5, below. 2.What WGS beam types will be available for BFT-3 use? Government Response: At this point in time use of WGS for BFT-3 is only a concept. Accordingly, no WGS beams have been designated for BFT-3 use. Today WGS resources are allocated on a yearly priority basis. Depending upon the prioritization, WGS resources may or may not be made available to support the FBCB2/JBCP mission. A solution that provides the Government the most flexibility regarding use of WGS beams is most desirable. Again, the objective of the RFI is to solicit industry to better understand what is doable. 3.How many WGS sub-channels will be available in a BFT-3 network? Government Response: See Government response to question (2) above. 4.The WGS digital channelizer allows independent gain settings down to individual sub-channels. This is generally characterized by applying available transponder power in terms of total percentage of channel power. What range of available sub-channel power, in %, should the contractor design the link to support? Government Response: See Government response to question (2) above. 5.I am interested to know if you are only seeking information in the X-band frequencies or are potential solutions in other frequencies of interest. Government Response: The government is not necessarily looking for a WGS or X-band based solution. The RFI is looking for a solution based upon use of a military satellite. If military bandwidth is not available, commercial satellite bandwidth backup is desired - it need not be commercial X-band. For example, the backup could be commercial L-band. The requirements included in the RFI are objective requirements, not hard requirements. 6.The Aviation system terminals have the antenna mounted outside and the modem inside the aircraft. Would the land based systems also have the antenna mounted outside and the modem inside the vehicle? Government Response: No. The Government is looking for a single box ground vehicular based transceiver that includes the functions of the antenna, RF, and modem. The physical size of this unit objectively should not exceed 8.75" x 8.75"x 6.0". 7.Please describe the transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) polarization requirements. Specifically, does the RF on the BFT3 terminal need to be able to switch polarizations on both the Tx and Rx, e.g. transmit right hand circular, receive left hand circular and vice versa? Government Response: Generally speaking a common left or right hand polarization is required for both transmit and receive. However, the RFI does not include any polarization based requirements. 8.It would help characterize the waveform better for the aviation systems if data can be provided on signal loss due to helicopter rotor blades interacting with X-Band systems. Has signal loss been characterized in terms of blockage and multipath as a function of elevation angle specific to WGS? Government Response: The main issue associated with use of BFT-3 on aviation systems is line of sight blockage by the aircraft rotors. Generally speaking, the concepts of forward error correction and/or signal spreading need to be employed to compensate for this interference. The characteristics of the applicable military aircraft are as follows: (Please note that a table of the following characteristics should be available for download as an attachment to this amendment.) Aircraft: UH-60 Main/Fwd Rotor Diameter: 53ft.-8in. Number of Main/Fwd Blades: 4 Chord (Blade Width): 21in. 100% Rotor RPM: 258 CL Fwd/Main Rotor to CL Antenna (Approx.): 131in Vertical Distance between Rotor Main/Fwd Blade and Antenna (approx.): 48in. Tail/Aft Rotor Diameter: 11ft. Number of Aft Blades: 4 CL Tail/Aft Rotor to CL antenna: 260in. Aircraft: AH-64A Main/Fwd Rotor Diameter: 48 ft. Number of Main/Fwd Blades: 4 Chord (Blade Width): 21in. 100% Rotor RPM: 289 CL Fwd/Main Rotor to CL Antenna (Approx.): 87in Vertical Distance between Rotor Main/Fwd Blade and Antenna (approx.): 42in. Tail/Aft Rotor Diameter: 9ft.-2in. Number of Aft Blades: 4 (X-Config) CL Tail/Aft Rotor to CL antenna: 271in. Aircraft: AH-64D Main/Fwd Rotor Diameter: 48 ft. Number of Main/Fwd Blades: 4 Chord (Blade Width): 21in. 100% Rotor RPM: 292 CL Fwd/Main Rotor to CL Antenna (Approx.): 87in Vertical Distance between Rotor Main/Fwd Blade and Antenna (approx.): 42in. Tail/Aft Rotor Diameter: 9ft.-2in. Number of Aft Blades: 4 (X-Config) CL Tail/Aft Rotor to CL antenna: 271in. Aircraft: CH-47 Main/Fwd Rotor Diameter: 60 ft. Number of Main/Fwd Blades: 3(x2) Chord (Blade Width): 32in. 100% Rotor RPM: 225 CL Fwd/Main Rotor to CL Antenna (Approx.): 204in Vertical Distance between Rotor Main/Fwd Blade and Antenna (approx.): 60in. Tail/Aft Rotor Diameter: 60ft. Number of Aft Blades: 3 CL Tail/Aft Rotor to CL antenna: 239in. Aircraft: OH-58D Main/Fwd Rotor Diameter: 35 ft. Number of Main/Fwd Blades: 4 Chord (Blade Width): 10.75in. 100% Rotor RPM: 390 CL Fwd/Main Rotor to CL Antenna (Approx.): 153in. Vertical Distance between Rotor Main/Fwd Blade and Antenna (approx.): 30in. Tail/Aft Rotor Diameter: 65in. Number of Aft Blades: 2 CL Tail/Aft Rotor to CL antenna: 94in. Aircraft: H-46 Main/Fwd Rotor Diameter: 51 ft. Number of Main/Fwd Blades: 3 Chord (Blade Width): 18.75in. 100% Rotor RPM: 264 CL Fwd/Main Rotor to CL Antenna (Approx.): 214in. Vertical Distance between Rotor Main/Fwd Blade and Antenna (approx.): Fwd 60in. Aft 75in. Tail/Aft Rotor Diameter: 51ft. Number of Aft Blades: 3 CL Tail/Aft Rotor to CL antenna: 182in. Aircraft: CH-53E Main/Fwd Rotor Diameter: 79 ft. Number of Main/Fwd Blades: 7 Chord (Blade Width): 30in. 100% Rotor RPM: 179 CL Fwd/Main Rotor to CL Antenna (Approx.): 325in. Vertical Distance between Rotor Main/Fwd Blade and Antenna (approx.): 75in. Tail/Aft Rotor Diameter: 20ft. Number of Aft Blades: 4 CL Tail/Aft Rotor to CL antenna: 270in. Aircraft: CH-53D Main/Fwd Rotor Diameter: 72.2 ft. Number of Main/Fwd Blades: 6 Chord (Blade Width): 26in. 100% Rotor RPM: 185 CL Fwd/Main Rotor to CL Antenna (Approx.): 341in. Vertical Distance between Rotor Main/Fwd Blade and Antenna (approx.): 86in. Tail/Aft Rotor Diameter: 16ft. Number of Aft Blades: 4 CL Tail/Aft Rotor to CL antenna: 193in. 9.Can data be provided specific to WGS X-Band to help facilitate accurate link budgets and network sizing? Specifically items like a.What is the basic unit of satellite transponder channel bandwidth (Is it 2.6 MHz?) b.What are the satellite peak and beam edge G/T and EIRP? c.What is the satellite uplink saturation flux density (SFD)? d.What is the expected SNR? e.Are there any FCC and ITU guidelines for X-Band that should be considered applicable for the WGS satellite link calculations? Government Response: Information regarding the characteristics of military satellites is best obtained from the USAF satellite program office. The required characteristics of a WGS Terminal are specified in MIL-STD-188-164. 10.The RFI states that one of the goals is to obtain better data throughout (or for better update/refresh time) than the current BFT-2 system. Are there any desirable goals in terms of such a throughput and/or update/refresh times (both transmission and actual data)? For example, rate of certain kbps in Inbound or Outbound direction on certain % improvement over current BFT-2 system or update in 1 second etc. Government Response: The objective data throughput and message latency requirements are already contained in the RFI 11.Are there any desired objectives for encryption /transec internal to the satellite network (Between Satellite Modem and Satellite Hub) or the external encryption currently in place is deemed sufficient? Government Response: We would expect both the user data and control messages internal to the satellite network to be protected with FIPS 140-2 compatible encryption. 12.Are there any applications planned in the future that might require other than 90 byte messages? Government Response: Yes. We would expect the satellite network to be able to handle IP datagrams up to 1500 bytes in length. However, the preponderance of the data traffic on our networks will be small situation awareness messages that are slightly less than 90 bytes. 13.Can you clarify the definition of platform in the BFT context? Does it mean from Land /Air to Gateway or Land/Air to NOC or something else? Government Response: Platform to platform refers to messages that originate on a tactical platform (Bradley, Blackhawk helicopter, M1 Tank, etc) and are addressed to another tactical platform. Typically, this message would go (1) from the source tactical platform to the satellite, (2) from the satellite to the earth station, (3) from the earth station to the satellite, and (4) from the satellite to the destination tactical platform.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/088e2b2050086cb2633948265e1e61b9)
- Place of Performance
- Address: ACC-APG (C4ISR) HQ CECOM CONTRACTING CENTER, 6001 COMBAT DRIVE ABERDEEN PROVING GROU MD
- Zip Code: 21005-1846
- Zip Code: 21005-1846
- Record
- SN02535328-W 20110817/110816000002-088e2b2050086cb2633948265e1e61b9 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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