USAFA CCD Camera System

This notice is not a solicitation. This announcement serves as a sources sought notice for a large-format CCD camera system for the 1-meter Observatory Teleschope for the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). This Sources Sought Notice is issued for the purpose of market research in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10 for the upcoming acquisition for the USAFA research service. All businesses capable of providing a large-format CCD camera system (including camera body, shutter, and filter wheel) are invited to respond. Any information provided by the industry to the Government as a result of this sources sought synopsis is voluntary. The Government will not pay for any information submitted in response to this sources sought synopsis. 10 CONS/ PKC is seeking potential sources with the ability to provide the camera system. The applicable NAICS Code is 333314. The size standard is 500 employees. The proposed contract is anticipated to be a firm fixed price contract. U.S. Air Force Academy Large-Format CCD Camera System Requirements: CAMERA: - ASCOM compliant - Back-illuminated CCD chip: o Overall chip size 95mm x 95mm or larger (single chip, not array) o 9 micron minimum pixel size o Broadband AR coating - Cooling to -100'C; low profile, right-angle coolant ports (if liquid cooling is used) - 16 or more read ports with multiple readout speeds (e.g., 400KHz and 750KHz) o Average read noise and gain over all ports: - 400KHz: < 5 e- noise, ~1.3 e-/ADU gain - 750KHz: < 10 e- noise, ~3 e-/ADU gain - Full well average over all ports greater than 75,000 e- - Dark current less than 0.01 e-/pixel/second - Linearity: less than one percent deviation over the range 300 e- to 70,000 e- - Include logic signal to control opening and closing of a shutter MECHANICAL SHUTTER: - - Curtain type shutter mechanism (as opposed to iris-type) - Enables full illumination of 95mm x 95mm CCD chip - Shutter material: carbon fiber - Shutter coating: low-reflectivity black paint - Minimum exposure: 10 milliseconds - Exposure time error: less than 300 microseconds - Exposure non-uniformity: less than 1 millisecond over the full field of view - Includes control cables, firmware, and power supply - ASCOM compliant FILTER WHEEL: - ASCOM compliant - Must incorporate a mounting flange to back of telescope OTA; must supply bolt pattern to our telescope manufacturer - Holds up to 14 square filters; filter dimensions must be equal to or larger than CCD dimensions. Camera system must include the following filters: o Kron/Cousins UBVRI o Sloan Gen 2 filters: g'2, r'2, i'2, and z'2. o RGB and luminance photographic filters o Richardson diffraction grating (the number of lines/mm in this grating must allow the entire first order to be contained on a 95mm x 95mm CCD when the star is in the center of the field; wavelength of maximum efficiency should be about 550 nm) - Integrates off-axis guider (OAG) system with two static mirrors inside filter wheel housing (mirror placement must not block camera CCD chip), associated guide cameras outside housing, and transfer optics to connect mirrors to cameras; OAG must be placed ahead of filters in optical path - Must integrate ASCOM-compliant shutter (as described above) OVERALL SYSTEM: - ASCOM drivers must be available for the camera, shutter, filter wheel and OAG. If possible, these drivers must be compatible with our existing camera control program, MaximDL. Otherwise, we require the camera manufacturer to design a basic software package to control all camera system components that we can customize/modify in the future (using C++, Python, or LabView SDK). Required control software features include: o 64-bit o Operable in Windows 10 o ASCOM compliant o Ethernet interface between control computer and camera - Distance from telescope optical tube assembly mounting flange to CCD focal plane must not exceed 187mm - Delivery of camera system to USAFA not later than 30 August 2019 Quantity: 1 Place of Performance: USAF Academy, CO 80840. Comments and/or suggestions on the specifications are encouraged and can be included in your capabilities package. Interested businesses shall provide the following information: 1. Company name, mailing address, cage code, DUNS number, point of contact, telephone number and email address. 2. Business size status in relationship to the small business threshold of 750 employees and socio-economic status, e.g., 8(a), Woman Owned or Service Disabled Veteran-Owned, small business, large business, etc. 3. Answers to the following questions: (include questions below as applicable, otherwise delete. Add any questions specific to the acquisition not included below). a. Are you a manufacturer or supplier of the research service? b. What is your lead-time for service? c. What are your payment/discount terms? d. What are the terms of your warranty? This notice is designed to locate responsible sources that have an interest, and have the ability to supply the items described herein. Responsible vendors who are interested may contact, Ms. Leila Bussey at 719-333-8203 or email leila.bussey@us.af.mil or Ms. Kelly Reyes, Contracting Officer at 719-333-4986 or email kelly.reyes.4@us.af.mil by 1 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time, 26 November 2018.