Immersive Gaming of C5ISR Training and Testing

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 A214-022 Immersive Gaming of C5ISR Training and Testing OBJECTIVE: Develop and demonstrate a material solution to provide adaptive, scalable, cost effective training and testing to improve the Command, Control, Communication, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) system operations for the Army's Signal Soldiers. DESCRIPTION: The desired solution at completion will significantly improve (or revolutionize) the network systems training and testing (TT) for the Warfighters, and enable the adaptive, scalable and cost-effective TT to keep pace with the rapid advance of the technology. The solution will address planning, installing, operating, and maintaining techniques, tactics, and procedures (TTPs) in the area of NetOps as well as the test and evaluation (T&E) on the hardware (HW) and software (SW) and other human machine interface (HMI) functions. The solution will provide immersive 3D simulated tactical network systems, address both individual and collective tasks as well as a variety of common challenging scenarios faced by the Warfighters to enable warfighters to be trained and use the latest HW/SW in the simulated operational environment. The solution will use a Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA) to enable integration of 3rd party vendors and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to produce software modules for their respective network systems. The desired solution will enable users to set battle space scenarios, training collaboration between multiple-users, training with the latest HW/SW packages just clicks away, assess the HW and SW capabilities and provide the near-real time operational feedbacks to improve the products, shorten the product development-testing-training-fielding cycles, and ultimately reduce the field support costs for training and fielding through reduction of field support engineers. PHASE I: The Phase One deliverable will be: A comprehensive white paper describing: Key C5ISR systems and the key operational parameters Critical scenarios and variables of the scenarios encountered by signal soldiers How learning objectives will be measured The software requirements and software architecture that will meet the requirements The hardware to be used and how it addresses size, weight, and power (SWAP) constraints A limited prototype demonstration PHASE II: Develop and demonstrate a prototype solution that can be executed by users at Soldier Touch Points for feedback back into the system. Phase Two deliverables will include: Prototypes that have: Key C5ISR systems with configurable parameters that can be tested for accuracy Configurable scenarios representing common challenges for signal soldiers Both training mode and testing mode Achieve a Technology Readiness Assessment of TRL 5 Product documentation detailing the design of the prototype and Monthly Progress reports. The reports will include all technical challenges, technical risks, and progress against the schedule. Test reports detailing solution effectiveness Proposed Phase III Schedule PHASE III: Develop and demonstrate a multiplayer C5ISR solution, demonstrate a solution that simulates scalable training and testing. Phase Three deliverables will include: Prototype that includes: Key C5ISR systems with configurable parameters that can be tested for accuracy Has configurable scenarios representing common challenges for signal soldiers Has both training mode and testing mode Has the ability to measure trainee progress as well as recommend practice scenarios Uses a MOSA architecture Demonstration of the prototype of the C5ISR systems Test report detailing solution performance Product documentation detailing the functions and operations of the prototype Productization readiness report which presents any remaining design or implementation issues with respect to suitability to deploy Monthly Progress reports. The reports will include all technical challenges, technical risks, and progress against the schedule KEYWORDS: Training; Planning; C5ISR; Network; Signal; Cyber; Netops; Radios BACKGROUND: Current NetOps training and testing activities are cumbersome, costly, long cycles and not adaptive to the hardware (HW) and software (SW) releases on the Army Command, Control, Communication, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) network systems or the fast pace of the technology improvement. Signal Soldiers do not have the capability to master their cyberspace operations skills by practicing operational planning, IOM, and Battle Drills on a tactical network. Nor do they have the ability to train on the network with realistic operational scenarios. In addition, the operational test feedback on Human Machine Interfaces of the network systems (both HW/SW) are not only limited but behind the technology advancement and release cycles. The solution, if successful, could potentially revolutionize the current training and testing process by providing an operational interface to simultaneously develop the user as a key component of the system of system. REFERENCES: Coyle, Daniel. (2009, April 28). The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How. Random House Publishing Group, 2009. Federico F. Bilotta, Samantha M. Werner, Sergio D. Bergese, and Giovanni Rosa. (2013, November 7). Impact and Implementation of Simulation-Based Training for Safety. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/652956/ Kotler, Steven. (2014, March 4). The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance. HMH Books. TEDx. TEDx Talks. (2018, May 7). The Power of Gamification in Education [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOssYTimQwM