26-58170 Mobile Command Centre (MCC) for the Centre for Autonomous Flight Systems (CAFS)

26-58170 Mobile Command Centre (MCC) for the Centre for Autonomous Flight Systems (CAFS), Drone and Flight Autonomy Laboratory The National Research Council of Canada’s (NRC) Drone and Flight Autonomy Laboratory (DFAL) requires one (1) purpose-built Mobile Command Centre (MCC) for its Centre for Autonomous Flight Systems (CAFS), located at the Ottawa Airport adjacent to the NRC Flight Research Laboratory. The MCC is a self-contained vehicle that serves as the ground control, telemetry, safety-monitoring and data-recording facility for flight trials. It must support two lines of work: the flight autonomy and human factors research conducted at CAFS, and the Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) operations of DFAL, at field sites across Canada. BACKGROUND: The Centre for Autonomous Flight Systems (CAFS) expands upon the existing capabilities of the NRC Flight Research Laboratory (FRL). It provides an advanced research infrastructure specifically engineered for the development, integration and evaluation of autonomous and optionally piloted aircraft systems. The facility aligns with Canada’s broader defence and aerospace modernization goals, working alongside the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces to transition concepts into field-ready deployments. Flight trials of autonomous and remotely piloted aircraft require a ground facility for aircraft control, telemetry and video monitoring and recording, and surveillance of the surrounding airspace. The facility must also support coordination with the research team, air traffic services where available, and other aircraft as required. During flight autonomy and human factors trials, the operators themselves are also subjects of study. Every operator position must therefore be instrumented, and telemetry and video from multiple aircraft, together with operator actions and research logs, must be recorded using a common time base distributed throughout the vehicle network. This work currently relies on the NRC Flight Research Laboratory’s ground-control trailer, which was built for earlier programs. The trailer lacks sufficient seating for the crew required for multi-aircraft trials and has no provision for the masts, mast-head radios, radar and power demands of the current fleet. It also cannot provide the instrumented operator positions and synchronized data recording essential to these trials. The Mobile Command Centre (MCC) will become the primary ground facility, while the existing trailer will continue in a supporting role, towed by the MCC when required for a deployment. Some trials require the crew to be physically separated, with part of the team operating from the trailer and part from the MCC. The two facilities must therefore support a shared network, video feeds and intercom communications when deployed together. The DFAL fleet includes a wide range of aircraft and sensors with diverse ground-control and communications requirements. Ground-control systems range from handheld controllers operating in the standard 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands to laptop-based and self-contained ground stations connected to IP radios in the 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, S-band and C-band ranges. Several systems use directional or phased-array ground antennas that must be elevated on masts, and several aircraft also carry onboard satellite links for over-the-horizon operation. Airspace situational awareness is provided by a ground-based detect-and-avoid radar, which must be mounted at height and present an air picture visible to the entire crew. Multi-aircraft trials require several ground stations to operate simultaneously from the same facility. Operations take place in all seasons, including at remote sites without reliable cellular coverage. The MCC must therefore provide its own power supply, satellite connectivity, heating and cooling. It must also be capable of reaching unpaved sites, including when towing the existing ground-control trailer. The MCC is intended to remain in service for many years, during which the fleet and research program may evolve. To support ongoing maintenance and future modifications, every installed system must be accessible, clearly labelled, documented and replaceable by NRC personnel. The MCC must incorporate specific components that match NRC’s existing equipment to ensure direct interoperability with the NRC Flight Research Laboratory’s ground-control trailer and NRC’s RPAS payloads. This component commonality is required so that the ground segment of the payload data links, the time reference, the recordings and the intercom are shared between the MCC and the trailer when the two facilities are deployed together. Given the custom nature of the build and the integration of NRC’s own equipment, the Offeror must have demonstrated experience in delivering vehicles of this type and in supporting them in service.