Terrain Measurement System

Procurement Type: Request for Information

Title: Procurement of Terrain Measurement System

Response Date: 31 December 2024 at 10:00 AM Eastern

Primary Point of Contact: Michael Barry, Supervisory General Engineer

Description:

Summary: The U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center, 400 Colleran Road, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005, is requesting for Information for a terrain measurement system as a means of conducting market research to identify parties having an interest and capabilities that can support designing, developing, fabricating and supplying a terrain measurement system that meets the general requirement expressed below. Based on the responses, the Government may issue a request for proposal.

Background:  The U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC), a subordinate command to the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, is the Defense Department’s lead agency for land-combat testing. The Aberdeen Test Center (ATC) requires a system used to determine surface profiles and roughness of the off-road courses used to test the performance and reliability of ground military vehicles and trailers.  Test course profile data are used to inform course maintenance decisions, are provided to modelers for simulation efforts, are used to characterize the test courses for endurance test planning and are retained for historical comparative purposes.  Consistent course roughness is essential to properly analyze and compare reliability and durability data from vehicles operated over the same off-road terrain but obtained years apart.  Proper maintenance is needed to minimize the amount of variation that occurs over time. A system is required to acquire field measurements based on the operational parameters described below and provide specific data that are then processed to generate the test course profiles.

Information Requested: The Government will evaluate market information to ascertain potential market capacity to support sensors, sensor systems, complete Commercial-off-the Shelf (COTS) system and any custom system that can be used to measure the terrain of off-road trails and test courses and provide a raw data set that can be analyzed by integrated software or third-party applications.

ATC has been conducting regular test course scans since 1992 to maintain consistent course conditions over time.  The technologies utilized to perform the measurements have changed over time, but basic operational environment is consistent. Past scanners have used lasers to measure a 4-meter-wide section of the test course surface.  This data is used to generate a full course width point cloud. Many of ATC’s test courses are made from compressible materials, therefore there has historically been interest in characterizing the terrain from the elevation profiles measured directly in the wheel path.  However, there are other features to be derived from the full width scan which ATC wants to characterize.

One significant difference between the requested information and COTS Road Surface measuring systems is that the surfaces ATC measures are mostly off-road. This requires not only the proper sensor suite but also an off-road vehicle with rugged terrain-handling capabilities.  It should be more capable and durable than standard pickup trucks and able to operate on the same challenging terrain as military-grade all-terrain vehicles. The scanning system must mitigate interference from dust and debris kicked up by the vehicle while traversing the test course.

Expected responses: Please reply with information addressing the requirements by providing information about appropriate sensor or sensor suites, integration of the sensor or sensor suites to a data acquisition system, integration of the sensor and sensor suites to a vehicle capable of traversing the terrain. Additional information expected is the sampling rate and resolution of the sensor or sensors system, amount of raw data the system are able to capture, the data viewing or reviewing tools available, the data reduction options provided.   Data analysis methods should be either fully executable in vendor supplied software, or compatible with existing data analysis tools used by engineers who operate the current scanning system.

Response must also address at a minimum the following items:

1.) What type of work has your company performed in the past in support of

the same or similar requirement?

2.) Can or has your company managed a task of this nature? If so, please

provide details.

3.) What specific technical skills does your company possess which ensure

capability to perform the tasks?

4.) Please indicate if you are a small or large business.

5.) Please provide company website address.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only, which, as part of market research, is being issued in accordance with (IAW) Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 10. This is not a solicitation/request for proposal and no contract shall be awarded from this Sources Sought. All comments and questions should be sent to Michael Barry, Supervisory General Engineer, at michael.p.barry20.civ@army.mil . All questions and comments must be in Microsoft Word or Excel and sent to the emails listed above; no telephone calls will be accepted. No meetings shall be requested or held related to this RFI.

All responses should be electronically submitted to Michael Barry, Supervisory General Engineer, at michael.p.barry20.civ@army.mil  and received no later than Tuesday, December 31, 2024, at 10:00 AM EDT. All data received in response to this RFI that is marked or designated as corporate or proprietary will be fully protected from any release outside the Government. The Government will not pay for any information received in response to this request, nor will the Government compensate any respondent for any costs incurred in developing the information provided to the Government.