Contracting Office Address

Other Defense Agencies, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Contracts Management Office, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA, 22203-1714

Description

CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS (ChemComm) SOL BAA07-11, WHITE PAPERS DUE: 03/13/07; FULL PROPOSALS DUE: 05/01/07
TECHNICAL POC: Dr. Mitchell R. Zakin, DARPA/DSO, Ph: (703) 248-1509, Email: baa07-11@darpa.mil; URL: www.darpa.mil/dso. Website Submission: http://www.sainc.com/dso0711


DESCRIPTION

Effective communications are central to all military operations. In specific circumstances, the ability to encode and transmit information in a rapid and covert manner is of extreme importance. Such operations include tagging, tracking, and locating (TTL), identification of friendly forces embedded or trapped in combatant zones, and surveillance and reconnaissance missions. In these cases, it is often advantageous to transmit information over long distances, e.g., to an airplane or UAV, and/or to leave multiple messages behind in strategic locations. Furthermore, the means of communications should be active and self-powered, with passive readout, to ensure broad field-of-view coverage. Day/night operation, long duration, and the ability to broadcast at strategic wavelengths are additional critical features. Temporally modulated optical communications, in which the coded information is transmitted using a pulsed optical light source, in conjunction with an appropriate phase-sensitive detector, can meet these needs. However, transport and dissemination of existing optical transmitters for the stated operations is not logistically practical. There is an immediate need for new, simpler means for achieving effective optical communications in battlespace environments.

In response to this challenge, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking innovative proposals to develop self-powered chemical systems that can encode an input string of alphanumeric characters (i.e., a message), convert the message to a modulated optical signal, and transmit it repetitively to a receiver. It is desired that the optical signal be in the NIR to SWIR bandpass. The ultimate goal of the Chemical Communications program is to develop a small replicator device, with the form factor of a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or cell-phone, that:

1. Permits the user to input an arbitrary 60-character alphanumeric message;
2. Translates the message into an appropriate set of modulated chemistries;
3. Embeds these chemistries into a disposable substrate (the transmitter); and
4. Ejects the substrate for deployment.

The replicator device will enable warfighters to generate disposable optical transmitters in real-time, each with a user-specified message. The replicator can be powered by batteries, solar cells, or similar means. It is envisioned that the disposable transmitter could have the weight and form factor ranging from a sheet of paper to a piece of string, possibly with an adhesive backing for deployment on all surfaces. The transmitter will transparently and repetitively broadcast its embedded message, using only on-board chemical power, with a transmission rate for each individual character of at least 10 Hz for a sustained period. A fieldable version is also being envisioned where the transmitter will continuously broadcast for durations exceeding 100 hours. The transmitter can use any chemically-based means to generate the desired message. Chemical Communications will provide the warfighter with revolutionary means for covert strategic communications in complex environments such as the urban battlespace.

PROPOSAL EVALUATION
Evaluation of proposals will be accomplished through a technical review of each proposal using the following criteria, in descending order of importance:

ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE: Proposers choosing to respond to this BAA must read the associated PIP available at www.fedbizopps.gov and www.grants.gov, which provides specific information about this BAA, including instructions on how to respond.


Point of Contact

Anthony Cicala, Contracting Officer, Phone (571)218-4639, Fax (703) 248-1927, Email anthony.cicala@darpa.mil