United States - INVESTIGATION OF SATELLITE CONFIGURATION AND MANAGEMENT STANDARDS

Description

Added: Apr 22, 2019 1:00 pm

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)
INVESTIGATION OF SATELLITE CONFIGURATION AND MANAGEMENT STANDARDS
THIS IS A RFI AND NOT A SOLICITATION.
This RFI is for planning purposes only and shall not be considered as an invitation for bid, request for quotation, request for proposal, or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. Your response to this RFI will be treated as information only. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses to this announcement or the Government use of such information. This request does not constitute a solicitation for proposals or the authority to enter into negotiations to award a contract. No funds have been authorized, appropriated, or received for this effort. The information provided may be used by the Army in developing its acquisition strategy, performance work statements, or performance specifications. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for the information submitted in response to this RFI.
INTRODUCTION
The United States (U.S.) Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center, Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate (S&TCD) is interested in receiving information from companies that have experience developing and/or operating scalable satellite communications networks built using European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) standards based Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) modems, terminals and hubs with automated Management and Configuration (M&C) of remote terminals and modems.
The U.S. Army is interested in understanding the potential capability and tradeoffs to build a military satellite network taking full advantage of COTS ETSI Second Generation Framing Structure, Channel Coding and Modulation Systems for Broadcasting, Interactive Services, News Gathering and Other Broadband Satellite Applications (DVB-S2X) and Second Generation Interactive DVB Satellite System (DVB-RCS2) modem and terminal products. The potential network would take advantage of the lower cost commercial modems and terminals. The potential network includes remote management using ETSI DVB-S2X and DVB-RCS2 M&C capabilities to enable the Network Operations Center (NOC) to rapidly scale and support a large number of remote users with reduced manpower and operations cost.
BACKGROUND
Military satellite communications networks operated by the U.S. Army use modems and terminals built to unique military specifications. Many of these modems and terminals are based on COTS products, but have been modified to meet unique performance, security, and operational requirements. Military modem and terminal M&C interfaces remain vender specific, requiring specific training for each vender's products and requiring M&C to be performed manually at remote terminals and gateways. Without automation, M&C becomes a limiting factor in how fast new modems and terminals can be added to the network and how fast network can be reconfigured in response to mission requirements.
Many commercial satellite network operators have built their networks and services using COTS modems and terminals that implement ETSI DVB-S2X and DVB-RCS2 standards. While originally developed to support the DVB services, these standards have continued to evolve with the introduction of new technologies and capabilities to support a broad range of services. M&C functions built into the DVB standards enable commercial satellite network operators to manage their network from the NOC greatly eliminating the need for operators or technicians at remote terminal and gateway sites. Utilizing DVB standard M&C functions allows operators to efficiently scale their networks to support larger numbers of users while minimizing the cost of operations.
Military satellite networks incorporate ETSI DVB-S2X and DVB-RCS2 waveform physical layers into military modems and terminals, but have not yet taken advantage of the embedded M&C capabilities built into these waveform standards. The U.S. Army is interested in understanding the benefits and trades to build a military satellite network relying more heavily on ETSI standard COTS modems and terminals for waveform performance and M&C functions providing centralized remote management of terminals and gateways from the NOC.
Notionally for the ideal end state network, a remote user will only need to know satellite location, operating band, frequency, and TRANSEC key for the network control channel. The remaining network resources and terminal configuration are provided at the time the remote user logs into the network.
SCOPE
The U.S. Army is interested in the potential to build a military satellite network maximizing the use of unmodified COTS modems and terminals. The potential network must address the following capabilities and requirements:
1) Multi Frequency Time Domain Multiple Access (MF-TDMA) mesh, hub assisted mesh, and hub-spoke networks;
2) Persistent Single Carrier Per Channel (SCPC) links (Implemented with DVB-S2X carriers vs Frequency Domain Multiple Access MIL-STD 188-165B); and,
3) The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 140-2, (FIPS PUB 140-2) TRANSEC and key management.
Remote M&C Functions to include:
1) Remote user network logon and authentication;
2) On demand assignment of MF-TDMA or SCPC network resources including data rate, modulation, coding, frequency bandwidth and power;
3) Changes to network resources imitated by the NOC or the remote terminal to support Adaptive Coded Modulation, Adaptive Power Control, data rate and operating frequency;
4) Potentially direct the remote terminal to a different satellite or band; and,
5) Collecting performance metrics for situation awareness and to detect and characterize link problems promptly so that they can be addressed by the operator.
Potential to support capabilities normally unique to military networks to include:
1) Resilience against intentional or unintentional interference disrupting individual links or network M&C.
The U.S. Army seeks to understand the degree to which the network requirements are addressed by:
1) ETSI standards;
2) COTS products; and,
3) Any remaining requirements that would require system changes or customization.
DATA SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
CERDEC S&TCD request industry provides the following, but not limited to:
General
• Statement of interest;
• Description of qualifications: demonstrated products, projects, and applicable experience;
• State whether your current experience is in design, development, system integration, or network operations; and,
• Description of existing or planned work in this area. Provide information on partnerships and agreements that are planned or existing.
Notices are due by 4:00PM Eastern Daylight Time on 21 June 2019. Respondents should identify their company's name, address, telephone number, point of contact, and whether they are a large or small business.
Proprietary information should be clearly marked. All submissions shall be sent via e-mail. The electronic format may be in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format or compatible with Microsoft Office suite of software. The white paper response shall not exceed 25 pages. Responses shall be delivered in electronic format to the following address:

Randy Nash
443-395-9574
randy.d.nash.civ@mail.mil
For any clarifications or questions regarding this RFI, please contact Mr. Randy Nash

Opportunity closing date

21 June 2019

Value of contract

to be confirmed