Notice of Intent - Sole Source

Subject: Remcom, Inc., Wireless InSite Standard Edition (SE) electromagnetics simulation tool software license. Reference Number: NB673000-15-02408 Notice Type: Notice of Intent - Sole Source The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Acquisition Management Division, on behalf of the NIST Communications Technology Laboratory, Wireless Networks Division, intends to purchase, on a sole source basis under the authority of FAR Subpart 13.106-1 (b), soliciting from a Single Source, Remcom, as described below. The Wireless Networks Division of the Communications Technologies Laboratory is expanding its capabilities in channel propagation modeling. The goal of channel modeling is to characterize the radio-frequency properties of the environment surrounding a pair of transmitter and receiver radios. This can be achieved through two approaches, either through physical measurement or through electromagnetic simulation. As the discipline of channel modeling matures, the two approaches are used more and more in a complementary fashion through calibration and validation. It is for this reason that we intend to purchase a simulation tool. To date, we have collected vast amounts of data through measurements in a number of environments. The measurements will be used to calibrate the simulation tool. The purpose of the calibration step is to account for the material properties of the environment. This is challenging to do otherwise due to the level of detail required in defining the types of materials in the environments and their properties. Once calibrated, the simulation tool can then used to validate the measurements. More importantly, the simulation tool can then be used to predict channel properties in environments which have never been measured, generalizing the approach and making it scalable. The electromagnetics simulation tool is a software application. The application has a number of capabilities. The first is to accept as input a three-dimension CAD (Computer-Aided Design) model of the environment, including the electromagnetic properties of the materials in the environment. It must also accept as input the locations and the physical configuration (height, antenna pattern, center frequency, etc.) of the transmitter and receiver pairs in the environment. Given this input, the tool predicts the propagation characteristics of the channel between all pairs. The characteristics are best expressed through a channel impulse response. The predictions can be obtained through two methods. The first method is raytracing. Through this method, the channel impulse response can be expressed as a train of signals, or impulses, arriving at the receiver through different propagation paths from the transmitter. Each path is described by a signal amplitude, phase, delay, direction-of-arrival, direction-of-departure and other secondary properties such as the kinds and number of incidents on the path, i.e. reflections, diffractions, transmissions, as well as the incident angles of each incident. The raytracing method is only an approximate solution used for its computational speed. Its drawback is that it is only valid for higher frequencies. When accuracy is paramount at the expense of computational speed, the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method is preferred. Hence for our application, the simulation tool must be capable of both methods of prediction. Once the channel impulse responses between all transmitter and receiver locations throughout an environment have been predicted, these predictions are used for network system analysis. Noteworthy applications of such analysis are outdoor cellular or indoor WiFi planning. In order to conduct this sort of analysis, the simulation tool has to be able to compute the signal strength at the receiver from all transmitters in the environment and in turn their mutual interference. Once computed, the signal strength and the interference can be used to predict other metrics such as sustainable modulation and coding schemes and minimum/maximum/average data rates through the environments as well as many other metrics important for communication design engineers. Market research supporting the justification for other than full and open competition indicated that while there are resellers of similar possible solutions, none were found to meet all of the requirements that included not only a simulation tool for channel propagation modeling, but a much higher requirement for accuracy FDTD method as an alternative to raytracing as well as providing path information such as the angle-of-arrival and angle-of-departure, and the trajectory of the paths to the receiver described through reflections, diffractions, and transmissions, and incident angles throughout the environment. Interested parties that believe they could satisfy the requirements listed above for NIST to provide the electromagnetics simulation software application, as specifically required, may clearly and unambiguously identify their capability to do so in writing on or before June 20, 2015 3:00 pm Eastern Time. This notice of intent is not a solicitation. Information submitted in response to this notice will be used solely to determine whether competitive procedures could be used for this acquisition. Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted in writing via email to Tset Wong at tset.wong@nist.gov.