This is a notice of intent to sole source. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, intends to issue a sole source contract to Altavian Inc. of Gainesville, Florida, for one NOVA 2.1 aircraft, replacement parts, and support for the Unmanned Aircraft System NOVA 2.1. in accordance with the authority of FAR 6.302-1, Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Unmanned Aircraft System uses the Nova 2.1 unmanned aircraft. The UAS comprises of the following features: navigation and control, flight, ground station, airframe, and payload. The unmanned aircraft shall operate as a fully autonomous aircraft during takeoff, coverage of areas pre-programmed by waypoints, and landing. The unmanned aircraft shall respond to real-time updates from the ground station. The system shall accept waypoints for fixed takeoff, loitering, and landing location in the form of absolute (latitude, longitude) or relative (easting, northing) coordinates. The unmanned aircraft shall possess an inherent emergency fail-safe mechanism if loss of communication, loss of navigation, low power, and control surface de-trimming are to occur. Fail-safe response includes a series of steps with adjustable timing for maintaining a straight and level course, for maintaining a continuous roll angle and loitering to reacquire a signal, for returning to ground station at a specified altitude and loitering in order to reacquire a signal, for initiating automatic landing sequence at pre-designated landing zone, and for initiating slow circling descent until touchdown if a safe landing zone cannot be reached. The unmanned aircraft shall have a full and seamless transition, during active flight, to manual piloting via remote transmitter in the event of autopilot destabilization or pre-programmed ground control failure. The unmanned aircraft shall respond to real-time manual control inputs during autonomous flight mode. Automatic, on the fly, calculations of the flight plan shall be generated from user entered specifications of target site and photogrammetric coverage requirements including minimum forward overlap, minimum side overlap, desired ground sample distance, and camera interior orientation parameters. At the ground station, real-time status reports shall show conditions of flight critical systems including, but not limited to, communication link, autopilot, batteries, navigation sensors, and GPS. Additionally, real-time telemetry reports for flight characteristics shall be reported in order to comply with Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) regulations and flight protocols including, but not limited to, altitude, heading, roll, pitch, position, range to ground station, airspeed, ground speed, and calculated wind speed. The autopilot system shall provide feedback during the pre-flight process to the user if not all flight essential systems are properly functioning. Telemetry, flight status, and command communications with the aircraft shall be recorded real-time at the ground station. The unmanned aircraft shall be capable of takeoff with zero runway, from a standstill position, in zero wind conditions at maximum takeoff weight capacity without additional ground equipment. Roll, pitch, and yaw stability shall be maintained in wind conditions up to 25 mph with control surfaces that allow independent actuation on the yaw, pitch, and roll axes. The flight shall have minimum linear ground coverage of 55 km at the airspeed needed to allow the payload to capture frame imagery with a forward overlap of 60% or more at the specified nominal resolution. The minimum stall speed shall be 15 m/s to facilitate landings in short fields. A glide scope ratio greater than or equal to the standard requirement to land an aircraft in an engine-off condition at the maximum FAA approved line of sight operating range and nominal operating altitude is required. A rate of climb equal to or greater than the standard necessary to achieve a climb out angle of 45 degrees, to facilitate short field takeoff and emergency low altitude recovery in zero wind conditions, is required. The capability of landing on water without additional ground support to facilitate safe recovery during operations in marine and aquatic environments is required. Redundant power systems with automatics failover for a minimum of two hours from both primary and secondary sources are required. The setup shall be self contained, man packable, and be operated without specific site or transportation requirements. Daylight visible interfaces for all flight control systems shall be implemented. The radio communication equipment shall meet both Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements and FAA approval for unmanned aircraft systems. The fuselage, of the unmanned aircraft, shall be waterproof to prevent damage to payload during water landings or rainy conditions. All flight critical systems, including but not limited to power source, propulsion, controls, and avionics must be waterproof to facilitate safe operations in adverse weather, aquatic, or marine conditions. Aircraft silhouette, paint, and markings shall facilitate visual identification of the orientation of the unmanned aircraft at the maximum FAA approved line of site operating range. The airframe shall be impact resistant to prevent damage to payload during routine terrestrial landings. The subsystems, including but not limited to propulsion, controls, power source, and wiring systems shall be serviceable and replaceable without having to replace the aircraft in its entirety. The wings, tails, and propellers shall be replaceable in the field if damage occurs during routine operation in order to continue the mission. The minimum payload shall be 2 kg in addition to any inherent flight essential components. The fuselage shall be radio transparent at all the aircraft's orientations relative to the ground station. The fuselage shall integrate a Mode-C transponder that is compatible with the avionics and ground station system. The fuselage shall provide an obstruction free space of 15 cm x 15cm x 25 cm for the payload and a tap for the main batter power bus at a minimum of 13.8 volts. The aircraft shall have the capacity to fly with a total weight of 8 kg. The payload shall provide visible spectrum frame imagery at the nadir view during straight and level flight. The sensors shall meet the weight and size restrictions of the NOVA 2.1 aircraft (15 cm x 15 cm x 25 cm, 2 kg). The imaging system shall provide a 5 cm ground sample distance at FAA approved altitude with 60% forward overlap along a flight line in a single pass in zero wind conditions. The imaging system shall provide continuous coverage of 2 cm ground sample distance imagery at FAA approved altitude along a flight in line. The imaging system settings, including but not limited to exposure, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, etc. shall be controllable real-time from the ground station during flight to ensure the desired image quality and resolution. The imaging system shall be capable of being manually triggered from the ground station to allow for custom framing. The imaging system shall be mounted in a strap down configuration with a navigation and GPS system capable of providing 3D position and orientation, known as directly georeferenced exterior orientation paramaters. The imaging system shall have an interchangeable lens system compatible with imaging sensors greater than or equal in dimensions to the Micro 4/3's standard. The navigation system shall provide an integrated INS/GPS solution with dynamic orientation accuracy on the order of 1 degree RMS. The payload shall transit the status of all sensors to the ground station in real-time in order to verify continuity in the data collection. The payload shall provide a single mechanism for in-flight storage and post mission data transfer for all payload sensors. The payload shall integrate new sensors using standard interfaces, included but not limited to USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, RS-232, and an x86 compatible computer capable of running Microsoft Windows XP. The payload components shall be enclosed in suitable radio frequency shielding to prevent interference with flight essential radio communications. POC is John Vohlken at
[email protected] and the alternate POC is Jesse Lugo and
[email protected]. Please submit any inquiries or information to the above listed personnel. In order to receive notification of any changes to this notification, interested vendors must REGISTER TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATION on the Federal Business Opportunities website at http://www.fedbizopps.gov/. If you are not registered, the Government is not responsible with providing you with notification of any changes to this posting. In addition, in order to generate a Interested Parties List, all interested bidders must also REGISTER AS INTERESTED VENDOR which is also located on the Federal Business Opportunities website at http://www.fedbizopps.gov/. Registration Requirements: DFARS 252.204-7004, Required Central Contractor Registration (CCR) applies to this procurement. You must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration in order to be eligible to receive an award from this solicitation. Information on CCR registration and annual confirmation requirements may be obtained by calling 1-888-227-2423 or via the Internet at http://www.ccr.gov. Prospective contractors must be registered in the Department of Defense CCR database prior to award. Lack of registration in the CCR database will make an offeror ineligible for award.