A -- RFI: URGENT Data Collection

Request for Information (RFI): URGENT Data Collection SN07-31 Other Defense Agencies, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Contracts Management Office, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA, 22203-1714, UNITED STATES DESCRIPTION DARPA seeks information from qualified organizations describing their ability to collect and fuse light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor and color electro-optical (EO) data in support of the URGENT program. Interested organizations who respond to this RFI may be invited to brief the government on their capabilities at a series of government-only briefings to be held Tuesday, 8 May 2007, at DARPA in Arlington, Virginia. BACKGROUND The objective of the Urban Reasoning and Geospatial Exploitation Technology (URGENT) program is to develop a 3D urban object recognition and exploitation system that enables advanced mission planning and situation analysis capabilities for the warfighter operating in urban environments. DARPA/IXO has solicited proposals for URGENT Phase 1, which focuses on the development of novel and innovative approaches to urban object recognition from light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor and electro-optical (EO). Specifically, URGENT?s objective is the recognition of 150 unique urban objects as detailed in http://dtsn.darpa.mil/ixo/solicitations.asp#0713. This RFI requests information from qualified organizations on their ability to perform data collection in support of the URGENT program. URGENT will perform exploitation of 2D/3D data acquired by one or more collection systems over an urban region. Each URGENT data set will consist of (1) airborne LIDAR and color EO data, and (2) ground based LIDAR and color EO data. The data will be provided with the respective airborne and terrestrial LIDAR and EO data registered, and with the airborne and terrestrial collections registered. The government anticipates up to three URGENT data collections will occur during Phase 1 of the URGENT program in order to provide URGENT performers with data that includes examples of all objects in the URGENT 150 objects of interest list under a with a variety of conditions and view angles. While the size of the region may vary with different collection scenarios, URGENT?s collection area will typically be between 1 to 5 square kilometers. The spatial sampling densities for ground and airborne LIDAR sources will range from 3 centimeter to 30 centimeter Independent Post Spacing. Airborne color EO data will be collected at 15 centimeter resolution while terrestrial color EO data will be collected at 5 centimeter resolution. The 3D LIDAR data will be provided as point cloud data sets in compressed ASCII format consisting of ordered quadruplets of Northing, Easting, Elevation, and Uncalibrated Intensity referenced to the WGS-84 coordinate frame. Note that airborne LIDAR collected under the URGENT program may be labeled as FOUO (For Official Use Only). FOUO URGENT data must be protected by recipients to prevent disclosure. Servers providing access to FOUO data will use encrypted methods of communication to access that data. No FOUO URGENT data will be allowed on public web or anonymous FTP servers. All CDs or DVDs containing FOUO URGENT data must be labeled as FOUO. INFORMATION SOUGHT This is a request for information in the form of a technical briefing on available LIDAR and color EO collection platforms applicable to URGENT data collection requirements. DARPA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the URGENT transition partner, intend to host a series of government-only briefings by interested organizations on 8 May 2007. Depending upon the number of responses to this RFI, organizations will be provided 45 or more minutes to present their capabilities to: [1] collect and register terrestrial LIDAR and color EO sensor data; [2] collect and register airborne LIDAR and color EO sensor data; [3] register airborne LIDAR and EO data with terrestrial LIDAR and EO data; and [4] provide meta data for all collected sensor data. At a minimum, the data will be provided as X-Y-Z-R-G-B point clouds but additional data standard formats may also be provided. Both the original data in the sensors' coordinate systems and the point-by-point mapping of these data from the sensor coordinate system to the registered data coordinate system should be provided. Meta data provided should include sensor orientations, noise statistics, GPS position and time, pulse count, pulse intensity, and calibrated pulse range. Airborne collected data sets should also include aircraft roll, pitch, heading and position. INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPONDERS DARPA appreciates responses from all capable and qualified sources, including but not limited to, universities, university affiliated research centers, federally-funded research centers, private or public companies, and Government research laboratories. Organizations interested in presenting should submit the following information as a Microsoft Word file by email to [email protected]: 1. Organization name 2. Physical address 3. Responders technical and administrative points of contact (names, addresses, phones and fax numbers, and email addresses) 4. Area of interest for URGENT data collection (e.g., terrestrial or airborne collection) 5. Brief summary of data collection expertise in your selected URGENT area of interest. Respondents are encouraged to convey the relevant information as succinctly as possible. DARPA requests that responses be limited to no more than 3 pages. Responses to this RFI are due no later than 1300 EDT (1:00 p.m.), on Friday, 4 May 2007. ANY INQUIRIES ON THIS RFI, WORKSHOP, AND/OR EXERCISE MUST BE SUBMITTED TO [email protected]. NO TELEPHONE INQUIRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED. DARPA will host a website in support of RFI SN07-31, URGENT Data Collection. The Website will contain information supplementary to this document such as Question & Answer lists (in the event that clarifications are needed) and the final briefing format. The URL for the website is http://dtsn.darpa.mil/ixo/newsevents.asp. In the event of any discrepancies between material published on this website and FedBizOpps, the FedBizOpps announcement takes precedence. DISCLAIMERS AND IMPORTANT NOTES This is an RFI issued solely for information and new program planning purposes; the RFI and government-only capability briefings do not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or proposal abstracts. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Submission of a briefing and attendance at the 8 May 2007, briefings is voluntary and is not required to propose to subsequent Broad Agency Announcements (if any) or research solicitations (if any) on this topic. DARPA will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred in responding to this RFI or participating in the RFI workshop or exercise. NO CLASSIFIED INFORMATION SHOULD BE SUBMITTED, NOR SHOULD ANY CLASSIFIED INFORMATION BE PRESENTED DURING THE 8 MAY 2007 BRIEFING. Respondents are advised that DARPA is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received, or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI. Submissions may be reviewed by: the Government (DARPA, NGA and partners) and Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) contractors (such as Schafer Corporation, CACI International, and Solers Inc). Points of Contact Stephen Davis, Contracting Officer, Phone 571-218-4949, Fax 703-807-4952, Email [email protected]