SPECIAL NOTICE
A -- Request for Information (RFI) - LTE Technologies for Tactical Environments - SCO RFI_LTE - with table
- Notice Date
- 12/20/2016
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Army, Army Contracting Command, ACC - APG (W911QX) Adelphi, 2800 POWDER MILL RD, ADELPHI, Maryland, 20783-1197, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20783-1197
- Solicitation Number
- W911QX-17-T-0067
- Archive Date
- 3/7/2017
- Point of Contact
- Allison S. Murray, Phone: 3013940754
- E-Mail Address
-
allison.s.murray.civ@mail.mil
(allison.s.murray.civ@mail.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- SCO RFI_LTE - with table Request for Information (RFI) LTE Technologies for Tactical Environments 1. Introduction The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD)/Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) requests submissions that address leveraging the increased data capacity available in 4G LTE-Advanced or 4G LTE-Advanced Pro communications architectures to improving tactical command, control and communications capability at the maneuver Brigade level and below. 2. Objectives The objective of this RFI is to solicit information and suggestions from industry, including network service providers, operators, infrastructure providers, equipment manufacturers, system integrators, consultants, and others, pertaining to a viable LTE in Tactical Environments (LiTE) solution. 3. Key Action Dates Submissions shall be received within 60 calendar days of RFI release, no later than 1159am on 20 February 2017. 4. Requirements 4.1 Submissions may address all or part of these requirements as described in the "Scope of Responses" section. 4.2 Submissions shall be compatible with commercial smartphone technology for data display and user application processing. Any modification required to User Equipment (UE) should be addressed. 4.3 Submissions shall address augmenting the military's radios' over-the-air link with effective, tactically-relevant LTE capabilities that are suitable for use at Company and below in the context of maneuver Brigades and multiple divisions. 4.4 Submissions shall subscribe to the following tenets of LTE deployment into Tactical Environments: - Leverage the LTE ecosystem and economies of scale to deliver affordable solutions - Leverage LTE investments in highly integrated chipsets to deliver best performance - Translate the LTE "user experience" to military tactical environment (i.e. continuity of service across the battlespace, ease of network entry, etc.) - Use modular architecture to allow rapid technology insertion (i.e. allow for new antennas, new chipsets, new User Equipment (UE), etc.) - No modification to UE internal and external interfaces to preserve economies of scale and prevent point solutions - Push the computational burden to the eNodeB instead of UE whenever possible to manage system size, weight, and power (SWaP) 4.5 Submissions shall address electromagnetic hardening of commercial technology to support military operations in contested environment against near-peer adversaries that have the capability to disrupt access to the communication channels. The objective of this request is to seek submissions of technology that harden the eNodeB and the smartphone/UE to maintain overall performance in the presence of multiple active jammers. 4.6 Submissions shall address the technology used to harden the UE. Preference is given to solutions that have a clean hardware abstraction layer to allow for rapid technology insertion, including upgrading the UE to subsequent generation smart phones and/or upgrading the hardening solution without disturbing the UE. Submissions need to clearly define the system level approach and assumptions or constraints on the eNodeB, UE, and supporting elements needed to accomplish the above objective. 4.7 Submissions shall address anti-jamming capabilities at the eNodeB. Effective anti-jamming may be accomplished via an appliqué (external hardware and software) or via standard-compliant mechanisms such as beamforming, or through a combination of the two. As above, submissions need to clearly define the system level approach and assumptions or constraints on the eNodeB, UE, and supporting elements needed to accomplish the above objective. If standard-compliant mechanisms (e.g., "custom beamforming") mechanisms are submitted, the submitter must document specific performance claims (including range, data rate, J/S performance, number of UEs supported, etc.). Interfaces for software and hardware integration with other components must be clearly defined and shall conform to existing standards where possible. 4.8 Submissions shall specify the minimum LTE Release required, bands supported, the spectrum requirements, and the details of any anti-jamming frequency hopping among bands. Solutions may operate across multiple LTE bands and may use LTE Carrier Aggregation as a means to avoid jamming. Any requirements, assumptions, or constraints on eNodeBs and UEs must be clearly identified. 4.9 Submissions shall include information regarding the number of simultaneously active users (see below), the ability to maintain uninterrupted voice calls when transiting from one area of the battlespace to another, and ability to retain the same IP address and security associations when moving throughout the battlespace. 4.10 Submissions shall address how on-the-move eNodeBs manage support of UEs and any use of Self Organizing Network (SON) capabilities to detect and avoid hostile interference. Solutions may use LTE-standard support capabilities, such as SON to support the interactions among UEs and eNodeBs and among eNodeBs. 4.11 Submissions shall address how unintended interference with adjacent eNodeBs while on the move in varying terrain is mitigated. Solutions must account for the fact that eNodeBs will, primarily, be mounted on vehicles and will be operating on the move, at times in the proximity of other vehicles carrying eNodeBs. Solutions that allow vehicular antennas that do not require stowage while on the move are preferred. 4.12 Submissions shall address how EnodeBs will operate in the presence of other friendly-force communications, radar, and electronic warfare equipment. Solutions shall identify the means whereby operational flexibility is maintained while spectrum is dynamically sensed, coordinated, and deconflicted, with minimal requirement for operator interaction. The coordination mechanism may be external to the LRW communication systems; solutions should be prepared to interface with external sources of C2. 4.13 Submissions shall address whether and how portions of the LTE network may be partitioned from other portions. If any eNodeB or subset of eNodeBs is partitioned from other eNodeBs and the rest of the tactical network, calls and connections from UEs must continue to be accepted and serviced. Traffic must continue to be routed according to network policies. This may require the distribution of essential Enhanced Packet Core (EPC) capabilities and caching of key database content among eNodeB systems. Calls and connections that are capable of continuing when the network becomes partitioned (such as a connection between two UEs served by the same eNodeB, or a connection between UEs connected to eNodeBs that have mutual connectivity but are no longer connected to the rest of the network) must continue without interruption when the rest of the network becomes partitioned, and must continue when the partition is "healed." Submissions shall provide details of the provisioning mechanisms required to enable UEs to access the network, as well as mechanisms for revoking access to potentially lost UEs across the distributed network. 4.14 Submissions shall address the possibility, particularly at lower echelons, that Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) resources may not be available for backhaul. Accordingly, SCO is interested in solutions that provide backhaul via "in-band" methods such as described in (Favraud & Nikaein, 2015). 4.15 Submissions shall address whether the use of LTE Proximity Services (ProSe) to provide device-to-device service to military users that are otherwise isolated from the LTE network due to distance or interference is used with an explanation of why or why not, and the specific LTE release on which these capabilities depend. 5. Scope of Responses 5.1 The information obtained may be used to finalize requirements for the LiTE project and determine if viable products exist. Your thoughtful responses and your time to assist SCO by responding to this RFI is appreciated. 5.2 Providers shall include a cover page that identifies: company name, company mailing address, point of contact information (e-mail and phone numbers). 5.3 Submitters may offer technology for any of the following: the UE, the eNodeB, the Self-Organizing Network capability, the Enhanced Packet Core, wireless mesh backhauling, or other system support elements. For all of these possibilities, submissions shall clearly define the system level approach and assumptions or constraints on each of the system elements in order to accomplish the above objectives. 5.4 All submissions shall be limited to a maximum of twenty (20) pages. Respondents shall submit one (1) electronic version (PDF) by the date listed in the Key Action Dates and must be submitted via e-mail to SCO.RFI@sco.mil. Responses should be unclassified, or at most secret collateral. Classified submissions must be coordinated with SCO Security (SCO.Security@sco.mil) prior to submission. 6. System Requirements Solutions shall identify the applicable capabilities in the table, which is provided in Section 6 of the attachment to this RFI (titled "SCO RFI_LTE - with table"), and complete the system requirements matrix for those applicable capabilities (please complete separate entries for vehicular-mounted, UAS-mounted, and dismounted/manpack systems). Assume 24- and 72-hour mission times, always-on, 80% receive and 20% transmit for UEs. Indicate intended power source in "Power Consumption" cell as well as wattage requirements. 7. Key system characteristics Submitters shall define the key characteristics of their proposed solutions in sufficient detail that SCO can determine both the efficacy of the proposed solution, but also the potential interactions with other proposed solutions. Care should be taken to provide as thorough a description of the capabilities as possible. The lists of key system characteristics and system requirements are not exhaustive, and submitters shall expand upon these lists as appropriate. - Protection against different types of jammers (submitter must specify the types of jammers for which protection is provided) - J/S performance for 1 jammers (submitter must specify the types of jammers and test conditions) - J/S performance for N jammers (N>1, submitter must specify the maximum value of N supported by the proposed solution): free space, rural, and dense-urban propagation environments. - Operating range in presence of N jammers (free space, rural, dense-urban environments) - Effective Data rate / Packet-Error-Rate in presence of N jammers (free space, rural, dense-urban environments) - Frequency diversity (ability to operable across wideband): LTE (and possibly non-LTE) bands supported, and maximum and minimum total and instantaneous bandwidth. - Frequency hopping (ability to periodically change operational frequency bands): Frequency bands supported, hopping rates, channels affected, etc. - Network Size: Number of UEs and eNodeBs simultaneously supported, plus any constraints on numbers of UEs per eNodeB, topological and interconnectivity requirements, etc. Note: Minimum 2500 UEs and 200 eNodeBs. - External requirements, such as a reliance on GPS for timing and/or positioning information of eNodeBs. 8. Acronyms eNodeB Enhanced Node B EPC Enhanced Packet Core FDD Frequency-Division Duplex HW Hardware IC Integrated Circuit J/S Jamming to Signal (Strength) Ratio LiTE LTE in Tactical Environments LTE Long Term Evolution OSD Office of the Secretary of Defense ProSe Proximity Services SCO Strategic Capabilities Office SWaP Size, Weight, and Power TBD To Be Determined TDD Time-Division Duplex UE User Equipment 9. References Favraud, R., & Nikaein, N. (2015). Wireless mesh backhauling for LTE/LTE-A. Proceedings of the Military Communications Conference (MILCOM) (pp. 695-700). Tampa, FL: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
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