PROPOSER'S DAY CONFERENCE DARPA will host a Proposer's Day Conference in support of the Wireless Network after Next (WNaN) Adaptive Network Development (WAND) effort on 27 February 2007 at George Mason University, Arlington Campus Professional Center, 3401 North Fairfax Drive, Room 239, Arlington, VA; beginning at 8 a.m. and lasting until 4:30 p.m. The purpose of this conference is to provide information on the BAA 07-07, Wireless Network after Next (WNaN) Adaptive Network Development (WAND), promote additional discussion on this topic, address questions from potential proposers, and provide a forum for potential proposers to present their capabilities for teaming opportunities. The goal of the WAND effort is to design and develop the network technologies necessary to establish ultra-large (tens of thousands of nodes), highly-scalable, highly-adaptive ad-hoc networks that provide robust networking across densely-connected deployments of inexpensive wireless nodes. The premise of the WNaN vision is that WAND-enabled networks will adapt to changing conditions and mission requirements by adjusting the topology of the network and the operational mode of the wireless nodes, particularly at the physical and link layers, to create and maintain a rich, multiply-connected network fabric. This rich interconnection fabric will provide superior battlefield communications at lower system cost and enhance survivability by ensuring information, applications, and services are readily available within the tactical environment. Previous practice has been to build high cost and hence sparsely deployed nodes, and to organize the network around these nodes. This program aims to shift the approach used to design military wireless networks from design for radio range to design for node density. WNaN has two complementary components: (1) Low-cost, multi-channel, spectrum-agile, MIMO-capable wireless nodes built with inexpensive RF circuit technology (WANN focus), and (2) Network with densely deployed low-cost wireless nodes and adaptive network layers that mitigates the shortcomings of the nodes by leveraging the rich interconnection topologies (WAND focus). When integrated together and deployed, these two components create a distributed, intelligent network entity that is more than the sum of its parts. The result will be a novel mobile wireless communication system that is both inexpensive and high-performance. As currently defined, the WAND effort will include 3 sequential phases. DARPA plans to solicit proposals for all three phases of the WAND effort with the forthcoming BAA. The overall program concept and specific objectives will be presented at the Proposer's Day meeting. The meeting will be unclassified and will be open to the public. Conference Registration Instructions: Conference participants are requested to register NLT 20 February 2007 at
[email protected]. Please include your name, organization, email address and phone number. Directions to the facility, local hotels and transportation information, and other materials will be emailed upon registration. There is no fee for the conference. The attendee list will be available at the meeting. If you do not wish to be included on the attendee list you must send email notification to
[email protected] or call Karen Martin at 703-522-5123 by 20 February 2007. Citizenship and non-Permanent Resident Instructions for Conference participants: Attendees are required to provide, as appropriate, either a US Citizenship Verification document, which must be submitted by 20 February 2007, or a DARPA Form 60 Foreign National Visit Request to complete registration. Note that the Foreign National Visit Request, if required, must be submitted by 20 February 2007 to allow time for processing. Presentation Instructions to Conference Participants: Additionally, attendees who would like to present company overviews during the conference, discuss their technology expertise, and/or discuss teaming opportunities in scheduled presentations at the conference may request to do so. Presentations may have up to five (5) slides and are limited to five (5) minutes each (including logistical issues). Presentations must be approved in advance by both the organization that funded the research and the DARPA Program Manager. The DARPA Program Manager will screen the proposed material. Attendees desiring to reserve a time to present at the meeting should send the presentation in a PowerPoint or PDF electronic format by 20 February 2007 to
[email protected]. The number of time slots is limited, and will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis. Poster Instructions for Meeting Participants: Attendees who would like to share information at the conference may bring posters to display outside of the conference room. All posters to be displayed at the conference must be approved in advance by both the organization that funded the research and the DARPA Program Manager. Attendees desiring to display a poster should send it in a PowerPoint or PDF electronic format by 20 February 2007 to
[email protected]. The DARPA Program Manager will screen the proposed material. Poster space requests should be emailed to
[email protected] or communicated to Karen Martin at 703-522-5123 when registering for the WAND meeting. NOTE: DO NOT CONTACT THE CONTRACTING OFFICER IDENTIFIED BELOW WITH RESPECT TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. ALL QUESTIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO
[email protected].