DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM SBIR 21.4 Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Army Applied SBIR Opportunity (ASO) Announcement April 1, 2021: ASO issued for pre-release April 14, 2021: Army begins accepting proposals May 20, 2021: Deadline for receipt of proposals no later than 12:00 p.m. ET IMPORTANT Deadline for Receipt : Proposals must be completely submitted no later than 12:00 p.m. ET, May 20, 2021. Proposals submitted after 12:00 p.m. will not be evaluated. The final proposal submission includes successful completion of all firm level forms, all required volumes, and electronic corporate official certification. Classified proposals will not be accepted under the DoD SBIR Program. This BAA and the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal (DSIP) sites are designed to reduce the time and cost required to prepare a formal proposal. The DSIP is the official portal for DoD SBIR/STTR proposal submission. Proposers are required to submit proposals via DSIP; proposals submitted by any other means will be disregarded. Proposers submitting through this site for the first time will be asked to register. Effective with this announcement, firms are required to register for a login.gov account and link it to their DSIP account. See section 4.14 for more information regarding registration. The Small Business Administration, through its SBIR/STTR Policy Directive, purposely departs from normal Government solicitation formats and requirements and authorizes agencies to simplify the SBIR/STTR award process and minimize the regulatory burden on small business. Therefore, consistent with the SBA SBIR/STTR Policy Directive, the Department of Defense is soliciting proposals as a Broad Agency Announcement. SBIR/STTR Updates and Notices: To be notified of SBIR/STTR opportunities and to receive e-mail updates on the DoD SBIR and STTR Programs, you are invited to subscribe to our Listserv by emailing
[email protected]. Help Desk: If you have questions about the Defense Department's SBIR or STTR Programs, please call the DoD SBIR/STTR Help Desk at 1-703-214-1333, or email to
[email protected]. Topic Q&A : The Topic Q&A for this BAA opens on April 1, 2021 and closes to new questions on May 4, 2021 at 12:00 PM ET. Proposers may submit written questions through Topic Q&A at https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/login or through the SBIR Mailbox at usarmy.pentagon.hqda-asa-alt.mbx.army-applied-sbir-program@mail.mil. In Topic Q&A, the questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing. Once the BAA closes to proposal submission, no communication of any kind with the topic author or through Topic Q&A regarding your submitted proposal is allowed. Questions should be limited to specific information related to improving the understanding of a particular topic’s requirements. Proposing firms may not ask for advice or guidance on solution approach and you may not submit additional material to the topic author. If information provided during an exchange with the topic author is deemed necessary for proposal preparation, that information will be made available to all parties through Topic Q&A. Proposing firms are advised to monitor Topic Q&A during the BAA period for questions and answers. Proposing firms should also frequently monitor DSIP for updates and amendments to the topics. This Army Applied SBIR Opportunity (ASO) is issued under the Army Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for SBIR/STTR 21.4. All proposals in response to the technical area(s) described herein will be submitted in accordance with the instructions provided under 21.4, found here: https://beta.sam.gov/opp/b79ded14dcf54451bcfb11bddf5cd259/view?keywords=%22army%20sbir%22&sort=-relevance&index=opp&is_active=true&page=1. a. Eligibility The eligibility requirements for the SBIR/STTR programs are unique and do not correspond to those of other small business programs. Please refer to Section 3.1, Eligible Applicants, of BAA 21.4 for full eligibility requirements. b. Anticipated Structure/Award Information Please refer to Section 1, Funding Opportunity Description, provided in BAA 21.4 for detailed information regarding SBIR/STTR phase structure and flexibility. For this BAA, Department of the Army will accept Phase I proposals for the cost of up to $259,613 for a 6-month period of performance. Proposers should refer to Section 4, Application and Submission information, of BAA 21.4 for detailed proposal preparation instructions. Proposals that do not comply with the requirements detailed in BAA 21.4 and the research objectives of this ASO are considered non-conforming and therefore are not evaluated nor considered for award. Phase I proposals shall not exceed 5 pages. Phase I commercialization strategy shall not exceed 2 pages. This should be the last section of the Technical Volume and will not count against the 5-page limit. Please refer to Appendix A of BAA 21.4 for detailed instructions on Phase I proposal preparation. c. Evaluation of Proposals Section 5, Evaluation of Proposals, in BAA 21.4 provides detailed information on proposal evaluation and the selection process for this ASO. d. Due Date/Time Full proposal packages (Proposal Cover Sheet, Technical Volume, Price/Cost Volume, and Company Commercialization Report inclusive of supporting documentation) must be submitted via the DoD SBIR/STTR Proposal Submission website per the instructions outlined in BAA 21.4 Section 4.3 Electronic Submission no later than 12:00 p.m. ET, May 20, 2021. Army SBIR 21.4 Topic Index A214-010 Full Color, Low Power, High Brightness Micro-Display Capabilities OBJECTIVE: Technologies that use micro-light emitting diodes (LEDs) offer the potential for significantly increased luminance and efficiency, unlocking new possibilities in high-dynamic-range (HDR), augmented/mixed reality, projection, and non-display applications. Organic LEDs (OLEDs) are the technology of choice for VR due to their advantages in latency, contrast ratio, and response time. A few commercial augmented-reality (AR) displays have demonstrated very compact and lightweight form factors. Seeking input from industry for innovative full color display component technology in micro-displays to be integrated into augmented reality head/helmet-mounted display systems. Work with an integrator to integrate into a vision system. Demonstrate capability to function to display imagery to user with near to eye optics. DESCRIPTION: Micro-display will meet full daylight readability luminescence requirements (>1,000-Foot-lambert />3,400-Candela per square meter) and night performance (<0.3-fL/<1-nit at 8 bits per color) while using sufficiently low power to be applicable to untethered mounts. Consideration of light security and personal protective equipment should be included even though this is just the image source. Of the specifications listed below; contrast and resolution are considered to be the most important given a minimum 65 horizontal degree field of view optic. Operation with a waveguide, prism, reflective visor, and other concepts should be considered. Potential technologies of interest include but are not limited to inorganic LED microdisplays and OLED microdisplays with advanced and readily manufacturable approaches for daylight readability luminance levels. Key requirements include: Display power per channel (at max luminance with 50% pixels driven): less than 1W (T): less than .5W (O) Display format resolution: HD demonstrator; 1920x1080/1200 and 4K objective Display addressable gray/color level format: greater than 24 bit RGB (T) Contrast (On/Off): greater than 10,000:1; Checkerboard Contrast: greater than 1,000:1 Display gray shades – video (Night): 32 gray shades (no ambient) (T) Display luminance greater than 1,000-fL white (RGB) for day; less than 0.3-fL night Frame rate: greater than 60Hz (Hertz) (T) less than $500/display in quantities in 1000s PHASE I: A low fidelity demonstration of a display that can meet the above requirements. A test plan is required to show how the requirements will be met. A thorough explanation/path of how the full capabilities will be met based on the demonstration. Deliverable includes demonstration and any ancillary equipment required to drive demonstration. A test report is required documenting the results. PHASE II: Develop prototype from Phase I that can be made commercially viable for augmented reality head/helmet mounted display systems. A fully functional display prototypes capable of meeting all performance requirements above. A Preliminary Design Review (PDR) and Critical Design Review (CDR) at the Government’s facility. Both the PDR and CDR shall present a path to full production with cost detailed. Deliverable includes five (5) pre-production displays and any ancillary equipment to drive a demonstration with commercial video interface such as HDMI. PHASE III: Develop full color display component technology in micro-displays for augmented reality system head/helmet mounted display systems. Work with an integrator to integrate into a vision system. Demonstrate capability to function to display imagery to user with near to eye optics. Build twenty (20) production representative systems to supply to the Government for final operational testing. KEYWORDS: Microdisplay; Inorganic LED display; OLED display; Augmented reality; AR; Virtual reality; VR; Vision system; High-resolution display; REFERENCES: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/j.2637-496X.2016.tb00949 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/j.2637-496X.2018.tb01069 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/j.2637-496X.2016.tb00918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroLED The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b(7) of the solicitation.