QUINT NETWORKING TECHNOLOGY (QNT) INDUSTRY DAY - The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Information Exploitation Office (IXO), and Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) Information and Munition Directorates will be Co-hosting an Industry Day, on 18-19 Jan 05 at Eglin AFB, FL. The purpose of the Industry Day is to familiarize industry with the Quint Networking Technology (QNT) initiative and the associated technology needs to fully integrate small UAV's, weapon control and related dismounted ground control into the future network centric warfare environment. A Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) solicitation is anticipated to be released shortly after Industry Day. A draft of the BAA solicitation is anticipated to be published by no later than 12 Jan 05. The formal BAA announcement is anticipated to be released by no later than 26 Jan 05. Information contained in the final BAA synopsis takes precedence over any information that is presented at Industry Day or within the draft BAA synopsis. The objective of the QNT program is to design, develop, evaluate and demonstrate robust, affordable data link technologies suitable for use by expendable platforms such as small unmanned air vehicles (UAV's) and weapons. These data links will enable precision strike against time critical and mobile targets, support combat identification of targets, and provide bomb impact assessment (BIA). It is also envisioned that the data links will allow secure weapon handoff from the launch platform to any of several control platforms in the combat area, both air and surface. The capability explicitly includes the handling of large numbers of weapons simultaneously. The desired QNT weapon data link (WDL) functional capability includes the ability to transmit target coordinates to a weapon in flight, to alter missions of unmanned airborne platforms and weapons, to allow autonomous bomb damage assessment or bomb hit indications and to enable off board sensor and control supporting cooperative engagement. The total package supports combat applications in the USN's FORCEnet Concept and the USAF's Global Strike Concepts. The overall QNT goal is to provide the operational strike warfighter with a truly smart weapons capability. QNT communication technology will be suitable for current and emerging weapons and tactical UAVs. QNT equipped platforms will be able to communicate with other air vehicles and with ground stations with the strong desire for no new radios in those other air vehicles and ground stations. Some of the operational factors being considered for the QNT program are that weapons can be launched at altitudes from 1K to 50K feet and speeds typically from Mach 0.6 to Mach 0.95 but possibly as high as Mach 1.6. The number of weapons in flight simultaneously may vary from 1 to 100. Within the local network's line of sight there can be 200 position reports/target updates sent per second, and up to 100 bomb damage assessment files (with some possibly including images) being sent per second. A weapon can fly from 3 to 300+ nm from its launch platform. A weapon link "lifetime" is 30 seconds to 3 hours. Once released, a weapon data link is to be fully established and operational (passing traffic) in less than 5 sec. A subset of weapons may have control transferred to another aircraft or to a ground controller. The weapon controller can use the weapon data link to change aim points, change weapon configuration, modify weapon trajectory, or initiate a change of control. The weapon provides health and status information periodically to the controller. The weapon, if it has an imaging seeker, transmits the last complete seeker image of the target available prior to warhead functioning. QNT will extend the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) capabilities to weapons and also provide the software infrastructure to enable weapons to participate in net centric targeting and control networks. A higher level of integration than ever achieved before is desired to enable a reduction in size and cost by an order of magnitude. The simultaneous application of standards, software defined radio concepts, integration, and size reduction enables QNT transition, avoids adding additional stovepipes and provides essential future flexibility. It is desired that QNT will develop and demonstrate a prototype common family of generic expendable data link equipment suitable for insertion into DoD's existing and emerging weapons and small UAV's. The QNT units will provide two modes: a low rate bi-directional mode and a burst imagery mode. Dynamic net resource management technology that exploits evolving Global Grid technology will scale up to support hundreds of vehicles in flight. Cost goals and integration goals ensure that QNT technology can be included in the largest number of expendable platform types. Advanced INFOSEC techniques will be employed to provide secure weapon data links and controller handovers in an operationally efficient manner. QNT Industry day will be held at Eglin AFB, FL on 18-19 Jan 05 in the Eglin Conference Center. Sign-in will begin at 0800 hours and the government briefing will begin at 0900 hours and conclude at 1200. The briefing will be UNCLASSIFIED. Attendees should mail or fax a signed DD2345, Military Critical Technical Data Agreement, to Michelle White, AFRL/MNGN, 101 West Eglin Blvd, Suite 144, Eglin AFB FL, 32547, fax
+1 (555) 000-0000. For visitors that do not have on base access, a visit request will be required. Visit Request for on base access should be mailed or faxed to AFRL/MNOB, 101 West Eglin Blvd, Suite 201, Eglin AFB FL, 32547, Phone
+1 (555) 000-0000 ext 2303, fax
+1 (555) 000-0000 attn: Steve Ball. Intent to attend and number of attendees should be e-mailed to Michelle White,
contact@example.gov., providing Name, Company/Organization affiliation, Address, Telephone number, security clearances, and E-mail address. Attendees must provide registration information (DD2345, Visit Requests) by COB 12 Jan 05 to ensure access to Eglin AFB and Industry day. One-on-one sessions will be available from 1300 to 1700 on 18 Jan 05, and 0800 to1200 on 19 Jan 05; these sessions will be twenty minutes and will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. Signup for a one-on-one session can be accomplished via email to Michelle White (email address listed above). Points of contact for contractual type questions may be addressed to Dawn Ross via email at
contact@example.gov. This Industry Day is for informational purposes only for any and all DOD contractors and colleges and universities. Participation is totally voluntary, and the Government will not reimburse the attendees for any cost associated with participation and is under no obligation to award any related contract associated with this event.
