Department of the navy (don) 17. 1 Small Business Innovation Research (sbir) Proposal Submission Instructions introduction

PHASE I: Develop a concept and demonstrate feasibility of InISAR algorithms using realistic simulated data in a lab environment representative of a candidate Navy radar system. Identify promising InISAR features for maritime vessels to support classification.

PHASE II: Based upon the Phase I effort, fully develop and implement the algorithms in a real-time processing environment and demonstrate with a candidate radar in a field test. Demonstrate how the InISAR application can be integrated with candidate Navy radar systems.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Transition the developed technology to candidate platforms/sensors. Potential transition platforms include the MQ-8C Fire Scout, MQ-4C Triton and the P-8A Poseidon. Private Sector Commercial Potential: Private sector applications include port surveillance and potentially some types of moving target imaging.

REFERENCES:

1. Xu, X. and Narayanan, “Three-dimensional Interferometric ISAR Imaging for Target Scattering Diagnosis and Modeling,” IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, 10 (7), pp. 1094-2003, 2001.

2. Martorella, M., “Novel Approach for ISAR Image Cross-range Scaling,” IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, 44 (1), pp. 281-294, 2008.

3. Wu, B., Yeuing, M., Hara, Y., and Kong, J., “InSAR Height Inversion by Using 3-D Phase Projection with Multiple Baselines,” Progress in Electromagnetics Research, 91, pp. 173-193, 2009.-

KEYWORDS: Interferometric; Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar; Maritime Surveillance; Maritime Imaging; Radar; Maritime Vessel Classification

Questions may also be submitted through DoD SBIR/STTR SITIS website.

N171-095

TITLE: Shipboard Flywheel Energy Storage Parasitic Reduction

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Ground/Sea Vehicles

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: FY15 Multifunction Energy Storage FNC

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 5.4.c.(8) of the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.

OBJECTIVE: Develop low parasitic components, materials, or methodologies to improve shipboard megawatt (MW) scale flywheel design and operation in a shipboard environment.

DESCRIPTION: The introduction of advanced weapons systems such as rail guns, lasers, and other future pulse loads to future warships create power and energy demands that exceed what a traditional ship electric plant interface can provide. This creates the problem of satisfying growing demand for stored energy, while working within the limited space available aboard ship platforms. Flywheel energy storage systems are potentially attractive due to high cycle life capability, tolerance for military environmental conditions, and capability for buffering multiple stochastic loads. This is provided by the capability to support rapid discharge and charge cycles on a continuous basis.

A flywheel system will typically include some number of parasitic items, which include cooling pumps, vacuum pumps, bearing power supplies, actively controlled mounts, etc. These items all contribute to continuous electrical load when in a standby state, and reduce operational time and output energy during use, when discharged energy must be utilized to support these utilities. A challenge that has not seen as much innovation is addressing a significant reduction in parasitics.

Other energy storage devices, such as lithium ion batteries, have minimal self-discharge, and can notionally sit in a ready state with no input energy for extended periods (months or more). Flywheels can lose energy continuously at a rate of single-digit percentages, e.g. 1-9% typical. For a 10kWh flywheel with 5% losses, this equates to a continuous parasitic loading of 500W, which equates to an unpowered standby time of only 10hr before a full 50% of energy has been lost. Additionally, if there are situations where active power must be provided for the purpose of bearing support (e.g. magnetic bearings), the power supply sizing and load will vary greatly, and can possibly consume even more energy in some scenarios.

The U.S. Navy is therefore interested in innovative technologies to reduce total flywheel system parasitic loads to minimize the impact of their idle and active-state operation on the parent power system, as well as ensure long periods of standby operation, including under high shock, vibration and sea-state operations. The total flywheel system includes flywheel, containment, and balance of plant, such as power supplies/converters, thermal management, bearing controls and power, vacuum systems, controls, etc. The practical manifestation of the improvements in losses is the metric of full speed standby time at the MW scale.

The topic will push a metric of 24hr threshold, 240hr objective standby time when fully self-powered, for individual flywheels with a power rating in the 3-300kW and 3-30kWh ratings with discharge capability on the order of seconds to hours. Continuously online charge-discharge of up to 50% duty cycle (e.g. up to 50% charging, 50% discharging) is necessary from a thermal and mechanical operations basis. As mentioned, the 3-300kW rating used will serve to validate approaches. Final application will be towards MW scale.

Additional, shipboard flywheel criteria applicable to all future designs to consider are as follows

• 26” shipboard hatchable design for easy removal or installation of components

PHASE I: Determine feasibility and develop a conceptual system design for a low parasitic flywheel energy storage system using developed components, materials, or methodologies, and provide comparison against a baseline state of the art complete design. The comparative design should highlight advantages that the improved low parasitic approach provides with respect to size, weight and performance in a shipboard environment. Perform an initial development effort that demonstrates scientific merit and capabilities of the proposed low parasitic approach for application in a high speed rotating storage application. The proposed approach should be demonstrated and characterized at a laboratory scale for the purpose of validating (unencrypted) models of the flywheel operation, which will be delivered to the Navy.

PHASE II: Fabricate the prototype flywheel system incorporating low parasitic components, materials, or methodologies associated with the design developed in Phase I to the highest allowable scale given constraints of budget and schedule. Fully characterize and demonstrate capabilities and limitations of the low parasitic components, materials, or methodologies. Update the kinetic energy storage design developed in Phase I based on results. Demonstration will occur at the performer location or equivalent facility, with a system that can be delivered to the Navy as a turnkey system. An updated model, unencrypted and validated, in Matlab Simulink, will also be delivered to the Navy.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Based on Phase I and II effort, fabricate full megawatt-scale kinetic energy storage system incorporating component, materials, or methodologies to reduce parasitics in shipboard flywheel through the existing ONR Multifunction Energy Storage FNC. Private Sector Commercial Potential: Successful development of high strength, next-generation flywheel materials for compact, modular energy storage will have application anywhere that such a requirement is necessary. Examples of locations where reduced mass and size are critical include mobility applications where volume is a major premium, and renewable energy systems, where size-efficient co-location of storage with the main converters have the potential to reduce cost and simplify transient operation. Integration of rotational energy storage is desirable any place a rotational transfer of power is utilized, as the storage system may be clutched and/or geared in to provide additional power transfer to or from the system as needed.

REFERENCES:

1. Panther, Chad C., “Parasitic Drag Analysis of a High Inertia Flywheel Rotating in an Enclosure”, West Virginia University, 2008, 1501605.

2. Hearn, Clay; Lewis, Michael; Hebner, Robert; “Sizing Advanced Flywheel Energy Storage,” Center for Electromechanics, The University of Texas at Austin, August 2012.

3. Hockney, Richard; Polimeno, Matthew; Robinson, George; “Flywheel Energy Storage in Support of Naval Integrated Power Systems” Contract N00024-09-C-2407.

4. P. T. McMullen, L. A. Hawkins, C. S. Huynh, and D. R. Dang, “Design and Development of a 100 kW Energy Storage Flywheel for UPS and Power Conditioning Applications,”, 24th International PCIM Conference, Nuremberg, Germany, May, 2003.

5. Huynh, C, Co ; Zheng, L ; McMullen, P, “Thermal Performance Evaluation of a High-Speed Flywheel Energy Storage System”, 33rd Annual Conference of the IEEE, November 2007.-

KEYWORDS: Flywheel; parasitic loss; rotor; bearings; pulse power; energy storage; mechanical battery

Questions may also be submitted through DoD SBIR/STTR SITIS website.

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Battlespace, Electronics, Sensors

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (PMA-263), EMW-FY14-01, Spectral and Reconnaissance Imagery for Tactical Exploitation (SPRITE)

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 5.4.c.(8) of the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.

OBJECTIVE: Develop a capability to generate a current high-precision 3D terrain model of an urban environment from Wide Area Airborne Surveillance (WAAS) imagery using very low Size, Weight, and Power (SWAP) airborne processor. The models must be sufficiently timely and accurate to support planning of ground and air ingress, weapons delivery, and egress during an ongoing operation.

DESCRIPTION: The USMC anticipates deployment of small tactical Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) fitted with wide area Electro Optical (EO), Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) and Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI) sensors. A system that generates high-fidelity 3D models of an evolving urban landscape is desired to support mission planning, enhance situational awareness, and assess battle damage. Recent research has demonstrated the feasibility of generating 3D terrain model from WAAS imagery and identified key challenges. WAAS data required for model generation is too large for transmission over tactical data links. Furthermore, the need for timeliness requires that models be generated while the UAV is airborne. 3D model calculation must be computed via a small low-power onboard processor without compromising other mission-critical payload activities. Novel methods or combinations of methods are sought that produce high fidelity models in this highly constrained size, weight, and power (SWAP) environment. Though multiple sensors may be available, this effort should focus on building high-fidelity 3D terrain maps from Electro-Optical imagery. Though multiple modalities may be used to supplement the solution, availability should not be expected, and use of multiple sensor modalities is not expected under this topic. However, techniques and algorithms developed should be compatible with Infrared sensor imagery. Future small payloads may include LIDAR; hence techniques and algorithms that are compatible to this sensor modality as well are looked upon favorably.

It is assumed models may be generated from altitudes as high as 12,000ft and cover areas of up to a 4Km diameter area. It is expected the user will be able define the area of interest as well as its size for each mission. New models may need to be generated without return to ground. Any proposed use of data links is constrained by tactical data link throughput rates (4Mbps-10Mbps range) and the available processing power is expected to be well under 10W. For this topic, EO and SWIR imagers can be capable of 0.20m ground sample distance (GSD) or better with update rates of 2Hz or better. It is not assumed all imagers will be available on one platform, but could be in some applications. Ultimately terrain maps would be desirable from whichever sensor has best visibility. Both circular and straight line flight paths are expected, though typical flight path is not known at this time; proposals should identify if the proposed approach will require a specific flight paths during data capture. Template map applications are not excluded if they can achieve the desired fidelity and meet user constraints. Imagery data can be provided if needed for development purpose.

PHASE I: Identify concepts and methods to enable data collection and mathematical computation of 3D terrain models for this application and develop initial concept design and model key elements. Determine if new models or new modeling techniques are required to meet this challenge. Define the algorithms and process necessary to generate high fidelity models under size, power, and bandwidth constraints. Perform an analysis to determine the ability to generate a model under said constraints and to demonstrate feasibility using proposed techniques. A simulation or demonstration is useful in reducing risk.

Complete a feasibility plan that demonstrates an energy efficient method to create high-fidelity terrain models from a small unmanned airborne platform. The methodology should include models/compressed models, algorithms, and new methodologies to maximize efficiency. Offeror should provide a comparison of data fidelity using proposed mathematical computations. A feasibility demonstration should show the potential of the proposed techniques and address metrics including but not limited to processing and storage resources required, expected power dissipation during 3D model generation, and estimated time required to generate terrain maps for a given area of interest. Small, low power embedded processors or FPGA processors may be used as representative of airborne processors. The feasibility plan should clearly identify the critical technology elements that must be overcome to achieve success and the approach to overcome these. Technical work for all phases should focus on the risk reduction of critical technology elements. Prepare a development plan for Phase II.

At the conclusion of this phase, the performer should provide a focused report on the methodology and algorithms proposed and expected performance (metrics). The report should clearly identify any external data required for the developed algorithms, any constraints perceived, and methodologies to execute. As mentioned above, a small demonstration of the proposed technology is useful in assessing risk.

PHASE II: Build a prototype hardware model to demonstrate the proposed methodology and algorithms. Develop the detail algorithms and supporting software to implement the methodology proposed in Phase I. Demonstrate and validate the prototype algorithms in a realistic environment and present performance metrics. This does not have to be demonstrated in an airborne demonstration. The prototype should demonstrate the viability and potential benefits of the technology. The prototype should be relevant to both DoD and commercial use cases. Deliver a technology transition/commercialization plan.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: It is anticipated that a successful 3D model computation capability would be of interest to multiple tactical Unmanned Air System programs having varying degrees of space and power constraints and different sensors payloads. Produce a system capable of deployment and operational evaluation. Demonstrate the system in a relevant setting - as a component of larger payload (for a program of record). The work should focus on tailoring the developed capability in order to achieve a transition to a program of record in one or more of the military Services. The system should provide metrics for performance assessment. Private Sector Commercial Potential: Private sector commercial development could support ongoing airborne Amazon deliveries and other similar applications.

REFERENCES:

1. Song, W., Cho, S., Cho, K., Um, K., Won, C. S., & Sim, S. (2014). Real-time intuitive terrain modeling by mapping video images onto a texture database doi:10.1007/978-3-642-40861-8_2.

2. An Efficient Algorithm for Real-Time 3D Terrain Walkthrough; Michael Hesse and Marina L. Gavrilova; international conference on computational science and its applications; ijcc.org/on-line2(pdf)/pdf/ijcc3-12.pdf

3. Song, W., Cho, S., Cho, K., Um, K., Won, C. S., & Sim, S. (2014). Traversable ground surface segmentation and modeling for real-time mobile mapping. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 2014 doi:10.1155/2014/795851.

4. Nex, F., & Remondino, F. (2014). UAV for 3D mapping applications: A review. Applied Geomatics, 6(1), 1-15. doi:10.1007/s12518-013-0120-x.-

KEYWORDS: Efficient real time terrain rendering; terrain modeling for airborne low Size, Weight, and Power (SWAP); efficient generation of high fidelity 3D terrain models; Efficient Digital Elevation Model (DEM) generation techniques

Questions may also be submitted through DoD SBIR/STTR SITIS website.

N171-097

TITLE: Sustainable Autonomous Target Recognition of Maritime Targets from Passive ISAR Imagery