Back to BAA 09-01

Last updated April 22, 2009

 

Q: What type of LIDAR data will be provided? What if we require building fidelity beyond what is provided by the LIDAR data?

A: The LIDAR data provides terrain elevation information on a 1m x 1m grid. In your proposal, you should state whether your solution needs or would benefit from additional building fidelity and specify the level of fidelity that will be required. You should also comment on the CONOPS implications of any additional fidelity requirements.

Q: Are there any restrictions on performers collecting additional data for MER?

A: DARPA expects that the GFI data is sufficient to develop additional algorithmic capabilities to existing radar architectures and considers data collections to be outside the scope of this solicitation. If a proposer considers an additional radar collection to be critical to support their specific algorithm approach, the proposer must provide a compelling case for additional data. To the extent that additional data collections are posed as risk reduction, they should be proposed as a separately costed option.

Q: Will the performers' ability to meet the metrics be based solely on the data provided from DARPA? What role are simulations expected to play?

A: Ability to meet the metrics will be determined through a mixture of processing results on the GFI data sets and simulations. It should be noted that DARPA understands the some of the metrics specified in the BAA cannot be evaluated by solely relying on the GFI data, and so validated simulations are expected to be used to quantify the performance of algorithms developed for MER.

Q: Should proposers consider one or multiple platforms to meet the metrics listed in the BAA?

A: The metrics should be met using a single airborne platform.

Q: For multiple platforms, does DARPA envision processing data from multiple platforms at the RF-level?

A: Program metrics are stated for a single platform, but the BAA does not explicitly exclude data fusion. If there are benefits from fusion of data from multiple platforms, the proposer should also consider the impact on CONOPs. Also, note that the metrics stated in the BAA need to be met using a single platform.

Q: How much detail about hardware requirements and design is being sought for task 3?

A: The goal is to determine that the algorithms developed in tasks 1 and 2 can operate with the data that is available on existing airborne radar systems, and to quantify the computational requirements for implementation of these algorithms.

Q: Does task 3 require the ability to manufacture a radar system?

A: No. The MER program does not require hardware development or additional data collections. The requirement for task 3 is to show how the algorithms that are developed for MER fit in with existing radar system architectures.

Q: What is DARPA's vision for MER beyond what has been announced in this current BAA? Does DARPA envision future phases of the MER program?

A: DARPA is currently only considering the current MER announcement.

Q: Will proposals with solutions that claim to exceed the program metrics be given extra consideration when compared against other proposals?

A: Proposals are not directly compared against each other but are independently graded against the evaluation criterion. Proposed solutions that clearly substantiate the ability to exceed the metrics set forth in the BAA would likely be rated favorably with respect to evaluation criterion 5.1.1 (ability to meet program go/no-go metrics). Please refer to evaluation criterion 5.1.1

Q: Are the metrics equally important?

A: Yes, the metrics stated in table 1 of the BAA are equally important.

Q: Please clarify what is meant by the "fingerprint" of a track?

A: As a vehicle moves through an urban environment, the geometry between the radar sensor and buildings produces an evolving, and potentially unique, distribution of energy between LOS, occluded, and multipath.

Q: Will compensation/mitigation of effects that are unique to the GFI data be a discriminator in the evaluation of proposals?

A: Proposed algorithms will be evaluated based on their contribution to the overall approach's ability to meet the program metrics listed in Table 1 of the BAA.

Q: Does DARPA expect proposers to include results from processing the data from the sample DVD in their proposals? How much processing is expected?

A: There is no requirement for proposers to process the data that we have made available.

Q: Were the LIDAR data collected at the same time as the RADAR data?

A: No, the LIDAR data were collected in early 2006.

Q: Are there additional meta-data available for the terrain?

A: No, just LIDAR.

Q: Where does the 10 dBsm for the target strength come from?

A: That is a notional value used for our link budget calculation. It was not measured on any target.

Q: Are weather data from the data collection available?

A: The temperature during the collections was in the low 40s (F) for the first collection and mid 60s (F) for the second collection, and there were light winds for both collections.

Q: What is the construction of the buildings in the test areas?

A: Mostly concrete

Q: Has motion compensation been applied to the radar data that will be provided? What type of radar data will be provided?

A: Motion compensation has not been applied. The radar data has already been de-chirped but has not had range compression applied yet.

Q: Why are the elevation angles for the data collection different than the elevation angles specified in the examples of the BAA?

A: The optimal elevation angle is dependent on building spacings and heights. We chose the elevation angle for the data collections to maximize the amount of multipath that would be observed. The example in the BAA used a different set of average building spacings and heights.

Q: Is the amount of specular (vs diffuse) scattering known?

A: Not quantitatively, but we do observe a large number detections in the radar data that are consistent with specular scattering returns.

Q: Are the data in the industry day brief showing signal strength vs. reflection from measurements or simulations?

A: Simulations

Q: What is the orientation of the corner reflectors in the back of vehicle 3?

A: The four trihedrals are oriented so that the directions of maximum reflections are pointing to the back, sides, and front of the truck.

Q: What was the maximum speed of the target vehicles?

A: Maximum speed was about 11 m/s (25 mph)

Q: Are ground-level photos of the test area available?

A: Yes.

Q: Are any of the potential approaches for solutions presented in the industry day briefing meant to provide guidance on desired solutions?

A: No, example approaches in the industry day brief are not to be taken as specific guidance as a preferred solution.

Q: The industry day briefing showed the Predator and A160 as possible airborne platforms. Is there value in looking at smaller platforms?

A: The airborne platforms shown on the viewgraphs presented at the MER industry day were meant to be an example, but not an endorsement of any particular platform.

Q: Who will the agent be for MER?

A: AFRL is the agent for MER

Q: Is a performance start date by October 2009 expected?

A: The start date for MER depends on many factors, so cannot be predicted.

Q: Is there a real-time requirement for the algorithms developed for MER?

A: We expect that latency will be limited by the tracking algorithms' dependence on exploiting time-dependent signatures, and not on processing.

Q: The metrics stated in the BAA specify a probability of detection of 0.5. What is the required probability of false alarm?

A: The probability of false alarm (Pfa) was not specified in the BAA. However, the increased range over LOS coverage must be demonstrated at a fixed Pd/Pfa point.

Q: Will the briefings given at the MER Proposers Day be made available? Will the list of attendees to the MER Proposers Day be made available?

A: The presentations that were given at the MER Proposers Day will be available for download at the DARPA-BAA-09-01 solicitation website: http://www.darpa.mil/sto/solicitations/BAA09-01/index.html. Contact information for people who attended the Proposers Day will be emailed to all attendees.