In responding to this notice, please refer to - Mobile WiMax for Airportal Wireless Communications. Send information/literature/qualification statement no later than December 29, 2006 to the e-mail or postal address as provided herein. NASA does not intend to award a contract based on this information. This RFI is for planning purposes only and to allow industry the opportunity to provide technical information relative to the goals set forth below. NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is seeking information about the experimental application of Mobile WiMax capability (that is, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, 802.16-2005 [802.16e] standard) for mobile wireless communications network applications in the airportal environment. For the purposes of this RFI, the term, airportal, refers to both the airport surface and the near-airport airspace within the terminal maneuvering area. More specifically, GRC is seeking information from qualified companies about their commercial WiMax systems (one or more base stations and customer premise equipment) that may be: (a) operated in the unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g. upper U-NII band, 5725 MHz to 5850 MHz); and (b) reconfigured and/or retuned for experimental operation within a specific frequency spectrum allocation currently assigned for aeronautical radionavigation, specifically, 5091 MHz to 5150 MHz. GRC intends to investigate WiMax systems and components to evaluate the connectivity, performance, capacity, and interference among fixed-fixed, fixed-mobile, and mobile-mobile assets in the airportal environment in the proposed frequency bands. Eventually, wireless communications network experiments and service demonstrations are anticipated in the areas of: capacity and latency measurements and limitations; link performance and reliability; aircraft movement, obstruction and multipath effects; network availability; IPv6 protocol based experiments; routing failover; security and robustness; QOS and traffic priority. GRC intends to obtain suitable licenses as needed to experiment in those bands requiring licenses. The information received from this RFI will be used by NASA GRC to plan for advanced wireless communications research, experiments and demonstrations relevant to a cooperative agreement between NASA GRC and Sensis Corporation for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) Test Bed. The geographically dispersed NGATS CNS Test Bed is under development in the greater Cleveland Ohio area, with sites at NASA GRC, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Burke Lakefront Airport and Lorain County Regional Airport, and remote connectivity with Sensis facilities in East Syracuse New York. Qualified providers are considered to be those U.S. commercial entities that manufacture systems and components (e.g. base stations, customer premise equipment, antennas) compliant with the IEEE 802.16e standard and are certified by the WiMAX Forum. Qualified providers are requested to provide information that describes the capabilities of their currently available systems and components as well as near-term enhancements that may be of potential benefit to aeronautical mobile communications in the airport and airspace nearest the airport. Interested companies are invited to submit concepts for experimentation, demonstrations. Specific information is requested on the following: - Date of availability and cost of both Access Point (AP) and Subscriber Station (SS) equipment in the specified bands. - Ability of equipment to employ the full range of the 802.16e OFDMA specifications, including novel features such as MIMO and turbo coding. - Channel bandwidths and duplexing methods available with equipment. - 802.16e system failure mode analysis and performance estimates. - Interoperability assessments - Scalability evaluation - Remote system/network maintenance, management and monitoring capabilities - System Specifications including: Radio, Data Communications, Electrical Characteristics, and Physical and Environmental information. Submittal Instructions 1. Please send relevant literature and information to: E-mail address:
contact@example.gov NASA-Glenn Research Center Attn: David E. Brooks 21000 Brookpark Road, Mail Stop: 7-1 Cleveland, OH 44135-3191
+1 (555) 000-0000 [Phone]
+1 (555) 000-0000 [Fax] 2. Such information shall include as a minimum, a brief description of your relevant company capabilities, products and services, history, and other specific information as requested in this RFI. As part of your information package, please include company Technical Point(s) of Contact including address, telephone number and e-mail address. 3. At its discretion, NASA may request further discussions and/or clarification of the information submitted. If agreeable to both parties, such discussions may take place via teleconferencing or on-site visit to NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio at the responder's expense. If they do occur, discussions will be constrained to a two hour time duration, and will consist of vendor presentations and subsequent discussions of the presented material only. Representatives from NASA and its Contractors and Grantees may be present for such discussions. THIS RFI IS ISSUED SOLELY FOR INFORMATION AND PLANNING PURPOSES AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION. Contractors of NASA and the FAA that are assisting in the development of the NGATS CNS Test Bed and its associated research, experiments and demonstrations will have access to the information submitted for the purpose of conducting the technology pre-screening process. Responses to this RFI will not be returned. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with any response to this RFI. THIS SYNOPSIS SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT, NOR WILL THE GOVERNMENT PAY FOR THE INFORMATION SOLICITATED. RESPONDERS WILL NOT BE NOTIFIED OF ANY REVIEWS RESULTING FROM THIS RFI.
