Call for proposals
Preparatory Action for Defence Research 2017
“Technological demonstrator for enhanced situational awareness in a naval environment” - PADR-US-01-2017.
Objectives and description
The
European Defence Agency has published a call for proposals under the
Preparatory Action for Defence Research 2017, under the topic
“Technological demonstrator for enhanced situational awareness in a
naval environment” - PADR-US-01-2017.
In
a defence context, naval forces are engaged permanently, including in
various types of conflicts, asymmetric or symmetric. They must control
their environment in order to scan, detect and analyse as soon as
possible the intentions of other forces and potential threats, in order
to retain capacity of initiative, freedom of movement and to achieve the
desired endeffect. In this respect, maritime Intelligence,
Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR),
complemented with neutralisation capacities, is a key capability from a
strategic or tactical perspective. The ISTAR chain is a critical enabler
to the common Recognized Maritime Picture (RMP), for detection,
identification, tracking and target acquisition, as well as for
strengthening interoperability.
The project aims to
show the added value of unmanned systems in enhancing situational
awareness while operating alongside and communicating with other manned
and unmanned systems. In particular this topic calls for proposals that
convincingly remove technological obstacles, and combine innovation and
integration, in order to demonstrate that situational awareness in a
naval environment can be significantly improved.
More specifically, proposals should balance R&T efforts in the following two areas:
1. Integration
in naval systems of close-to-market new or improved existing platforms
demonstrator with improved sensors capacity, persistence and autonomy:
To
achieve the desirable (and affordable) compromise between needs and
solutions, and in terms of payload vs. platform, efforts are needed to
remove technological obstacles concerning platform technologies,
technologies related to the integration into military ship environment,
payload and sensors architecture-related technologies, control systems
and handling quality, autonomous operation, as well as security aspects.
The project should not aim at developing a new platform but focus on
developing key technologies while using existing platforms, as a basis
for developing this work strand of the project as well as for the
demonstration testing. Proposals should underline the impact of new or
improved existing platforms and of their technological content on, e.g.,
endurance, range, autonomy, payload capacity and trade-off between
size/weight and performances, enhanced sensors performance, resilience
and redundancy of Command and Control links and data links.
2. Demonstration of integration of data from multiple sources in a single predefined tactical picture:
Proposals
should underline (i) the improved interaction/coordination between
(semi-) autonomous platforms and man-machine interaction and interface
issues, (ii) improved quality of situational awareness compared to that
provided by traditional assets (higher quality at lower risk and cost),
(iii) impact in reduction of human involvement in operation. Proposals
should also demonstrate that naval combat management systems will
maximise the exploitation of the potential of unmanned systems through
the development of a shared situational awareness. NATO-EU
interoperability will be important in that regard as well as
interoperability with civil systems if appropriate.
Eligible activities
1. Integration
in naval systems of close-to-market new or improved existing platforms
demonstrator with improved sensors capacity, persistence and autonomy:
Proposals would address aspects such as:
· Platform protection in contested environments;
· Anti-jamming and electronic counter-measures;
· Capability
to be launched and recovered from manned platforms also in severe
meteorological conditions (objective: up to Sea State 5);
· Autonomy
motivated by the need to reduce manning, risk and cost of platform
operation. Examples include: Autonomous piloting, anti-collision,
automated replanning and execution, adaptive behaviour, automated fault
management systems, local automated sensor processing, local situation
awareness without man-in-the-loop, automatic launch and recovery;
· Navigation need for accurate positioning and for establishing redundancy to GNSS;
· High speed secure and real time or near real time communication including cyber protection;
· Operation of the platform under severe climatological conditions;
· Operation of the platform from navy ships under severe sea state conditions;
· Improved sensors and payload capacity;
· Capability of the platform to transport cargo/utility and to drop payloads;
· If
relevant, optionally piloted capability to allow maximum flexibility
for larger types and demonstrate interaction and operational flexibility
between manned, unmanned, optionally manned vehicles.
· The
compatibility with STANAG 4586 (NATO UAV Control System), 4545 (NATO
Secondary imagery format), 4609 (NATO Digital Motion Imagery Standard)
should be ensured.
2. Demonstration of integration of data from multiple sources in a single predefined tactical picture:
Proposals should address aspects such as:
· Determination of data exchange systems C4ISR;
· Multi sensor information fusion;
· Data request for area / time of interest;
· Data analysis, exploitation and visualisation;
· Operation planning and control;
· Integration and interoperability with the vessel command and control (CMS) or a MOC;
· Integration of sensor information provided by Member States (CISE, MARSUR);
· Analysis of data requests (satellite, unmanned and manned aerial and naval systems);
· High level of data processing integration, on board vehicle and possibly off board;
· Close
to real-time transmission (datalink allowing e.g. full motion video)
and data fusion with long term history assessment and detection of
anomalies;
· Encryption and cyber security for exchange of classified information;
· Simulation aspects for operators.
Eligible participants
Legal entities established in the Member States shall be eligible to participate in this call for proposals. The participants can be public authorities, industrial organisations, SMEs, higher education institutions and research organisations.
All eligible applicants, they shall be able to produce a security clearance at the appropriate level obtained from their National Security Authority.
The following exceptions apply:
· at least five legal entities shall participate in an action;
· these five legal entities shall each be established in a different Member State or associated country;
· the legal entities referred to in point (b) shall be independent of each other within the meaning described in General Annex C.
Funding conditions and duration
The Commission considers that proposal requesting a contribution from the EU between EUR 32 and 36 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately.
Given
the constraints on the yearly budget of the Preparatory Action, full
proposals should include upon a single submission the description of:
· a core part which would need a EU contribution between EUR 14 and 16 million from the 2017 budget;
· up to 4 additional research modules with a EU contribution of up to EUR 5 million each that would extend the core project to cover the topic more substantially.
The EU grant covers 100% of total eligible costs.
Deadline of proposals' submission
The deadline for the submission of proposals is 5 October 2017 – 17.00 (Brussels time).
Applicants are requested to submit their proposals online in the participant’s portal.
Further information
Please find attached the documents of the call.The guide for applicants will be available soon.
For further assistance related to the call, topics and the content of proposals, please contact preparatoryaction@eda.europa.eu
More information: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/pppa/topics/padr-us-01-2017.html
Kind regards,
Flora
Flora Stavropoulou
Intern
European Office of Cyprus
Rue du Luxembourg 3, 2nd floor
B-1000, Brussels
Tel/Fax: +32 (0) 2 280 22 85
E-mail: eoc.brussels2@ucy.ac.cy
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GREEK TRANSLATION IS PROVIDED AT REQUEST OF ANY INTERESTED MEMBER (based on the decision of 22.12.2016 of the EOC Administrative Council).
