Doppler Lidar

Posting Type: Sources Sought Notice Posting Date: May 7, 2015 Response Date: May 11, 2015 Archiving Date: May 22, 2015 Solicitation Number: NRMAG000-15-00852 Title: Doppler Lidar Contract Specialist: Mandy Mercado - Affiliate THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. The Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are seeking sources capable of providing a Doppler Lidar. NOAA is not seeking vendors to design, develop, and then produce this requirement; we are seeking vendors already capable of providing a working solution. The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) requires a Doppler Lidar (DL) to better understand how environmental factors that are characteristic of the southeast United States affect the formation, intensity, and storm path of tornadoes for this region. One of the key issues requiring further study is how phenomena in the low-level environments of thunderstorms, such as waves and small-scale fronts, are related to tornado formation. The DL is an active remote sensor that emits pulses of laser radiation into the atmosphere and measures the Doppler shift of the backscattered return; this yields the radial velocity of the air as a function of range along the lidar's viewing angle. The DL includes a 3D scanner so that radial velocity can be measured at different azimuth and elevation angles in rapid succession; from these observations, profiles of horizontal wind speed and direction can be derived. These profiles will provide new understanding of the near-storm phenomena that are associated with tornado formation in the southeastern United States. 2. Minimum Requirements The DL must have the following performance characteristics: - The ability to provide line-of-sight wind speed and intensity estimates at 1 Hz or faster. - Processing gate size has to be 30 m or shorter. - Laser pulse width of 200 ns or shorter. - Full hemispheric scanning o 0-360 degrees in Azimuth o -10 to 109 degrees in Elevation - Must have continuous scan mode capability (as opposed to only step and stare) - Continuous scans must have the following properties o Azimuthal scans: ? The ability to select and initial and final azimuthal angle. ? The ability to select an azimuthal scan speed ? The ability to select a series of fixed elevation angels at which to perform the azimuthal scans o Elevation scans: ? The ability to select and initial and final elevation angle ? The ability to select an elevation scan speed ? The ability to select a series of fixed azimuth angels at which to perform the elevation scans o Coordinate scans: ? The ability to specify a sequence of azimuth and elevation coordinates, the azimuth and elevation scan rates to while scanning to them, and the time to dwell at each coordinate. - The system must have a scan queue with the following properties: o Controllable via the Internet o Must have the ability to program and control a sequence of continuous scans (as opposed to only a sequence of step and stare scans) o Must have the ability to automatically switch between preselected scan queues depending on the time of day - for at least 8 pre-selected times during the day. (For example daytime mode vs nighttime mode) - The instrument must be eye safe at the beam aperture - The instrument must have a sealed environmental enclosure and has to operate under ambient temperatures ranging from -15 to + 40 C. - The system must have Nyquist velocity of at least 18 m/s - Minimum range for scientific utility: 60 m (i.e., first usable measurement must be made at this range or at a shorter range) - Maximum range: 9 km - The system has to operate autonomously and needs to be remotely controllable via an Internet connection - The system must have a real-time processor that calculates and displays range resolved estimates of line-of-sight velocity and intensity. - Types of data displays required: o AScope: single beam line plot o RTI: Range-time indicator displays o Polar: Displays for scanning data - The instrument will have at least a one-year warranty - Processed Data format: o The lidar system must create and store files of processed data to the disk o These files will contain range resolved estimates of radial velocity and signal to noise ratio o Each profile of estimates will be time tagged o Each file will contain information on site location and processing parameter o If the processed data files are binary, the format of the files will be provided so that NOAA/NSSL can develop computer programs to read these files - Noise data format: o If the system takes automatic noise files, these files will be saved so that they can be used in re-processing o If the noise data files are binary, the format of the files will be provided so that NOAA/NSSL can develop computer programs to read those files - Demonstrated capability: The vendor must have produced and sold a sufficient number of units so that their performance in the field can be evaluated. - The physical size must be no larger than 32 inches by 31 inches (length by width), and weigh less than 200 lbs. 3. Additional Requirements: - Raw data format: o The lidar system must create and store files of raw data to the disk o The raw data can either be autocovariance or spectral data for each gate or digitizer point o The time resolution the raw data can be at the same rate as the processed data (in this case the raw data should represent average of all shots taken during the interval) o If the raw data files are binary, the format of the files will be provided so that NOAA/NSSL can develop computer programs to read these files - Sensitivity: The system must be able to consistently provide radial wind and intensity estimates through the depth of the atmospheric boundary layer at a rate of 1Hz and processing gate width of 30m. The maximum range to which useful velocity measurement can be obtained for varying atmospheric conditions will be used as an evaluation criteria (higher sensitivity/further range is preferred) - Precision of velocity and intensity measurements (higher precision is preferred) - Range resolution of measurement (higher resolution is preferred) - Time resolution of measurement (higher resolution is preferred) - Minimum range of measurement (smaller minimum range is preferred) - Hemispheric scanner capability: o Range of azimuth and elevation angles (larger range is preferred) o Pointing precision (higher precision is preferred) o Scanning speeds (larger range of scanning speed preferred) - Range of measureable line of sight wind speeds (larger range is preferred) - Optical focus control (automatic/remote control is preferred) - Ability of system to synchronize to UTC time is preferred - Ability to make depolarization measurement is preferred - Real-time wind profile calculations and display are preferred - Scan Queue: The lidar shall have the ability to synchronize scans relative to the absolute time of day. Ideally the scan queue could be reset at specific intervals of time after every hour. For example - starting a sequence of scans every 20 minutes after the hour: 1:00, 1:20, 1:40, 2:00, 2:20... etc. The goal of this requirement is the ability to synchronize the scans that the lidar performs the same scans at the same time every hour (or fraction of the hour as specified by the time increment). The ideal time increments would be 0, 15, 20, 30 minutes after the hour. The NAICS code for this requirement is 334519 (Other measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing) and the small-business size standard is 500 employees. The Government anticipates awarding a fixed-price supply contract for the DL. This request for information does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that a procurement action will be issued. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of the submission of contractor's information. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for proprietary information not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Government regulations. Please submit information to include: 1) Your firm's DUNS number & CAGE code; 2) Your firm's SBA certified small business concern status. Specifically identify if your firm is HUBZone-certified, Service Disabled Veteran Owned, or SBA 8(a) program certified; 3) A brief description of your firm's ability to provide a compact scanning DL required for this procurement. Include any recent past performance experience. 4) Identify any major work components that your firm would likely subcontract out. Information must be received by the Contract Specialist, Ms. Mandy Mercado, at Amanda.j.mercado@noaa.gov by close-of-business on May 11, 2015. Do not call regarding this sources sought notice. Any questions or responses regarding this notice must be submitted in writing via e-mail to address listed above.