SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- URBAN REASONING AND GEOSPATIAL EXPLOITATION TECHNOLOGY (URGENT)
- Notice Date
- 2/2/2007
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541710
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
- Contracting Office
- Other Defense Agencies, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Contracts Management Office, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA, 22203-1714, UNITED STATES
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- BAA07-13
- Response Due
- 3/19/2007
- Archive Date
- 2/3/2008
- Description
- DESCRIPTION Urban Reasoning and Geospatial Exploitation Technology, SOL BAA 07-13, Abstracts Not Requested, Proposals Due: 19 March 2007; Technical POC: Dr. Todd C. Hughes, Program Manager, DARPA/IXO; Phone (581) 218-4984. BACKGROUND: The recognition of targets in urban environments poses unique operational challenges for the warfighter. Historically, target recognition has focused on conventional military objects, with particular emphasis on military vehicles such as tanks and armored personnel carriers. In many cases, these threats exhibit unique signatures and are relatively geographically isolated from densely populated areas. The same cannot be said of today's asymmetric threats, which are embedded in urban areas, thereby forcing U.S. Forces to engage enemy combatants in cities with large civilian populations. Under these conditions, even the most common urban objects can have tactical significance: trash cans can contain improvised explosive devices, doors can conceal snipers, jersey barriers can block troop ingress, roof tops can become landing zones, and so on. Today's urban missions, from event security to insurgent extraction,involve analyzing a multitude of urban objects in the area of regard. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES/DESCRIPTION: The objective of the Urban Reasoning and Geospatial Exploitation Technology (URGENT) program is to develop a 3D urban object recognition and exploitation system that enables advanced mission planning and situation analysis capabilities for the warfighter operating in urban environments. DARPA/IXO is soliciting proposals for URGENT Phase 1, which focuses on the development of novel and innovative approaches to urban object recognition from electro-optical (EO) and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor data. Phase 1 of the URGENT program will develop techniques for the rapid exploitation of EO and LIDAR sensor data at the city scale (100s KM2) to recognize urban objects down to the soldier scale (<1M3). URGENT will apply image processing technology to this geospatially registered 2D/3D data collected from airborne and terrestrial sources, yielding precise annotations for the objects in an urban area. Traditional pattern recognition systems, biologically inspired computer vision technology, and machine learning algorithms are among the approaches of interest to the URGENT program. It is envisioned that the URGENT system will identify specific urban objects of interest in a city containing thousands of objects, with variability in 3D viewpoint, inter- and intra-class appearance, articulation, scale, and occlusion. Of special interest are innovative approaches that support far greater variability than the existing detailed model methods typically used for object recognition. DARPA is also interested in innovative approaches to object recognition that require neither the creation of highly detailed object models nor the extensive maintenance of model libraries. The URGENT Phase 1 goal is to achieve a 100x increase in image analyst productivity with equal or better accuracy compared to the unassisted human image analyst. Meeting this challenge requires that the URGENT system to be not only highly accurate but also computationally efficient. TECHNICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INQUIRIES: DARPA intends to use electronic mail for correspondence regarding BAA 07-13. Technical, contractual, or administrative questions must be sent to baa07-13@darpa.mil. Answers to all questions generally relevant to the technical, contractual, and administrative aspects of the solicitation will be posted at http://dtsn.darpa.mil/ixo/solicitations.asp#0713 under Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for public access. DARPA will employ an electronic upload process for proposal submissions for BAA 07-13. Performers may find complete guidance for proposal submission in the Proposer Information Package (PIP) at: http://dtsn.darpa.mil/ixo/solicitations.asp#0713. Organizations wishing to propose under BAA 07-13 are required to register by 8 March 2007. Proposal registration may be found at https://www.tfims.darpa.mil/baa/propacctreq.asp. To be considered for the URGENT Program Phase I funding awards, proposals should be submitted by 19 March 2007, 1200 EST. However, BAA 07-13 will remain open from 2 February 2007 through 2 February 2008. OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION: The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received in response to this announcement and to award without discussions. This BAA affords Proposers the choice of submitting proposals for the award of a Procurement Contract, Technology Investment Agreement, Other Transaction for Prototype Agreement, or other such appropriate award instrument. Grant and Cooprerative Agreements proposals are not requested in response to this BAA. The Government reserves the right to negotiate the type of award instrument determined appropriate under the circumstances. All responsible sources may submit a proposal that shall be considered by DARPA. Small Disadvantaged Businesses and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Institutions (MIs) are encouraged to submit proposals and team with others in submitting proposals. However, no portion of this BAA will be set aside for HBCUs and MIs participation, due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or severable areas of technology for exclusive competition among these entities. Government contractors are required to register at the Government's Central Contractor Registration site in order to negotiate contracts with most government agencies. This URL is provided as a reference: http://www.ccr.gov. Since this FedBizOpps Announcement, along with the PIP, constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement as contemplated in the FAR 6.102 (d)(2)(i), all prospective Proposers MUST also refer to the PIP before submitting a proposal. DARPA anticipates that initial contractor selections will be made during the third quarter of fiscal year 2007. Proposals MUST NOT be submitted by fax or e-mail; any so sent will be disregarded. Original Point of Contact: Michael Blackstone, Contracting Officer, Phone (517) 218-4804, Fax (703) 807-4940, Email michael.blackstone@darpa.mil.
- Record
- SN01225183-W 20070204/070202222002 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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