Notice

Competition Document: Advanced Vision for 2020 and Beyond

Updated 10 October 2019

1. Introduction

This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) call aims to develop and demonstrate a number of novel technologies or applications in the area of Electro-Optic and Infrared (EOIR) sensors to address the future needs of defence and security for highly capable and affordable sensors for surveillance, target acquisition and threat detection.

We are looking for innovative solutions that address the following challenge areas;

1. Novel optics and materials
2. Novel sensors
3. Embedded/edge processing applied to EOIR sensing

At least £1.25 million is available to fund multiple proposals in this phase.

It is anticipated that there will be a further £1.25 million available to fund Phase 2.

This Phase 1 competition closes on 13 December 2019 at midday (GMT).

2. Competition Scope

2.1 Background

EOIR sensors are a key military capability used to support surveillance, reconnaissance, target acquisition, threat warning, target detection and more. In addition, these sensors can also be of use in the security and civilian environment. A particularly important attribute of EOIR sensors is their ability to discriminate and identify objects of interest. Additionally, EOIR sensors offer a complementary approach compared to radio frequency sensors, being able to detect objects in environments where radar is challenged (for example, urban clutter), or to operate against targets that have a naturally lower radar signature (small and slow moving). Passive EOIR sensors also have the advantage of being able to sense in the military environment with high resolution, without generating radiation that could be detected by adversaries or threats.

The ever evolving nature of warfare means that we want to invest in novel and resilient technologies that can function in contested/congested environments. We are looking for sensors which will extend the range, lower the size, reduce weight, optimise power, and minimise cost compared to current sensors. We are also interested in expanding the variety of objects of interest that can be addressed by EOIR sensors. Additionally we wish to increase the rate at which information can be gathered from the relevant environment, but also reduce the amount of data the sensors need to store or transmit. We need the next-generation of EOIR sensors to generate information as an output (rather than just raw data/imagery) to reduce the burden on users and data networks.

As more sophisticated and advanced sensors have been developed, the rising cost of this technology, and the need for systems with lower size/weight/power on military platforms drives the need for flexible sensors that can either be adapted to different tasks as the military need changes, or even better, can perform more than one function, preferably in a software defined manner.

The increasing complexity of conflict and other military operations, the need to reduce cognitive burden on operators, and communications bandwidth limitations, means that future sensors must be more intelligent and not just image collectors. They must, at a high level of assurance and reliability, extract the maximum amount of information from the scene in a relatively autonomous fashion and be ready to present this information to the user to facilitate further decisions. Intelligent sensors should be able to extract information, rather than generating raw data/imagery, i.e. they should alert the user to objects and activities of interest, or anomalous activities that are present in a scene, but be able to ignore noise, natural background image fluctuations and non-threats. Sensors must also be able to adapt to the changing scene in order to optimise their own performance (for example, respond to changing contrast/light level/obscuration) and be adaptable to natural environments (for example, changes due to wind).

The increasing complexity and hostility of the electromagnetic environment (turbulence, clutter, sun glint, artificial light, smoke, dust, fog/cloud, camouflage, and deliberate interference) requires sensors to be resilient to imaging challenges – especially to deliberate interference from adversaries. Sensing in all environments, land, maritime, air and space are in scope for this competition.

In order to provide the maximum advantage to our forces, sensors must be more effective than those of an adversary, indeed they should provide sustained overmatch in performance. For long range applications, this implies being able to operate at longer range than the adversary to allow greater stand-off from threats, or radically changing the concept of deployment of the sensor in order to achieve superior perception. However, in the urban environment this improvement in effectiveness may instead be being able to understand the situation more quickly (for example, by semantic information extraction) in order to gain temporal advantage. In other applications, improved effectiveness may mean being able to do something completely novel that the adversary cannot, or to overcome adversaries’ counter surveillance and obscurance.

2.2 Scope

We are seeking innovations in the field of electro-optic (EO) and infrared (IR) sensing technology for defence and security applications. Primarily this means sensors operating in the electromagnetic spectrum from the ultraviolet to the far infrared (200nm – 20µm in wavelength). Imaging sensors are in scope, as are those that provide detection of objects of interest with some additional information like bearing or range. Also in scope are non-imaging sensors that may interrogate an object of interest and provide additional information about an object (Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar), spectral sensing, vibrometry, size/dimension etc.).

We are not looking for incremental improvements in current technology, but we are looking for more revolutionary concepts that have the potential to significantly increase the capability of next generation EOIR sensors.

We expect to fund two distinct types of work:

• Short term proof of concept proposals with contracts lasting 9 months maximum (though they can be shorter in duration), ending no later than 31 December 2020. We would expect to fund up to 10 of these short term projects in Phase 1
• Longer term ‘deep-dive’ investigations into novel materials or disruptive concepts with a maximum contract duration of 2 years (contracts must complete by 31 March 2022). We would expect to fund up to 3 of this type of proposal in Phase 1. Note, we will only fund work of this long term nature into proposals that can demonstrate a fundamentally new capability or significant step-change (order of magnitude improvement) in either performance and/or cost/size/power. For these longer term activities, there will be a review point approximately halfway through the contract; a decision whether or not to continue into the second year will be made by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) EOIR team after that review

For Phase 1, for either type of proposal, we are looking for early stage research and innovation (Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 1-4) that shows feasibility for application to defence relevant application areas (some of which are suggested in the challenge section of this document).

For both Phase 1 and any potential Phase 2 competition, Dstl will endeavour to make available some access to experimentation facilities at Dstl Porton Down (availability is subject to operational requirements). The Dstl facilities allow users to operate low TRL equipment, including laser systems, in a warm dry laboratory environment while being able to observe objects in real world conditions at extended ranges. Lasers can safely be used at the Dstl test range over specific paths such that targets can be situated at a number of distances ranging from 150m to 4.4km. Successful bidders will be offered 2 days of testing each at the Porton Down facility (if required to demonstrate the technology), during a two week period yet to be defined in autumn 2020. Bidders should not plan to bring more than 5 staff members to this activity.

We are looking for sensor concepts that could be integrated into a SAPIENT sensor network. Our preference is that the SAPIENT concept is adopted for this as it is both an openly published interface and embodies the modular and autonomous approach that we seek. The SAPIENT Interface Control Document (ICD) extensible mark-up language (XML) Schema, Interface test harness and a research middleware can be made available as government furnished assets (GFA) for this call if requested. For Phase 1 we are merely asking that bidders keep SAPIENT in mind when developing their concept, so that in Phase 2 the concept can be embodied as an Autonomous Sensor Module. Previous experience of working with SAPIENT compliant systems is not required.

In any potential Phase 2 competition we will be looking to quantify how performance of the sensor improves the operation in one or more of the named application areas (TRL 3+). Successful projects in Phase 1 may be encouraged to work with other suppliers in future phases in order to integrate solutions into a more integrated testable system.

To be aware for Phase 2 concepts that deliver information to the user (i.e. more than just an image), bidders will be likely to be asked to make the output compatible with the SAPIENT Concept.

Any Phase 2 funding will not be confined to those who are successful in Phase 1.

3. Competition Challenges

You must address one of the three challenges below. Proposals should make clear which challenge(s) their solution addresses. Proposals that fulfil more than one challenge are acceptable, but rather than trying to make two related ideas which address different challenges fit into one bid you are encouraged to consider submitting separate proposals to each challenge area to allow separate assessment of each idea (the number of bids submitted per supplier is not limited). Any related bids should acknowledge any duplication or overlap of work (noting cost reductions should both proposals be funded) but all bids must be stand-alone proposals and not be dependent on another proposal being successfully funded. You may wish to consider scheduling the investigation of the higher TRL aspects or dual use applications until the next phase of work.

3.1 Challenge 1 – Novel optics and materials

This challenge seeks to develop novel optics materials for sensor and optical components which improve performance. We are also interested in dynamic (for example, electro-optic) materials and devices that may unlock improved sensor performance. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• metamaterials or nano-photonics that allow lightweight or switchable or tuneable properties like refractive index or absorption/polarisation
• low-cost multiband optics and their associated coatings
• new concepts for lightweight systems for rapid pointing of lasers and sensors
• novel optical components including lasers, lenses, detectors, modulators, polarisers, filters etc., which are switchable/tuneable/multiband
• new concepts for lightweight lenses to provide wide contextual situational awareness and narrow targeted surveillance simultaneously

3.2 Challenge 2 – Novel Sensors

Under this challenge, we are seeking new sensor concepts and architectures that offer improved performance over standard sensors. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• novel detector materials addressing multiple wavebands, or photon counting in the Infrared (IR) frequency range
• new concepts for high resolution (tending to small pixel pitches, i.e. ≤5µm) low latency extreme low light (high sensitivity, low noise) and high fidelity colour (‘usable’ at low light) sensors for Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) applications
• temporal sensing/event based read-out
• neuromorphic sensors
• novel Lidar, synthetic aperture Lidar, passive aperture synthesis, covert Lidar
• low cost distributed sensing (for example, ‘disposable’ or short-lifetime) for wide area coverage or 3D scene generation
• multifunction concepts for sensors; sensors that can provide more than one function or operate in multiple modes, for example, imaging an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) payload that provides wide area ISR imagery, but can also operate as an optical communications receiver or a threat warner
• software defined sensors
• very low cost/novel integration of Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) Solutions

3.3 Challenge 3 – Embedded/Edge Processing applied to EOIR sensing

This challenge addresses the exploitation of sensor outputs as well as the sensors themselves. In a modern military operational environment sensors should output required information, as opposed to raw images, thus making in-situ real-time, low-latency image processing a critical technology for military sensing. This may include, but is not limited to:

• adaptive/autonomous processing concepts that can adapt to changing imagery and extract information appropriately
• very low power embedded image processing (for remotely deployed and/or ‘on-the-man’ systems)
• machine learning for sensor and image improvement or image interpretation
• rapid extraction of 3D imagery from low photon Lidar data
• semantic extraction of information in real-time
• novel approaches to structured light or modulated illumination imaging
• real time application of fusion/registration/spectral techniques
• novel real-time super-resolution
• processing pipelines for neuromorphic sensors
• real-time semantic labelling of objects
• real-time/low latency contextual scene understanding (for example, a man is climbing the fence, a riot is in progress, person(s) with weapon(s) in the scene, etc.

3.4 Potential applications

Previous experience of working with the military is not a requirement for this call. Innovations are sought for any application where a clear military benefit can be identified.

Some examples of potential application areas are given below. These are intended to provide guidance and to prompt ideas from suppliers who may not be familiar with potential military applications.

• imaging in difficult environments: through cloud or smoke, atmospheric turbulence, extreme low/no light, through foliage or camouflage
• detecting and identifying difficult targets passively and/or actively: small slow air targets like UAVs, snipers, high velocity targets of small extent in a wide field of view, man-portable guided weapons, concealed surveillance sensors, specific material targets
• identification and tracking, with a high degree of confidence: individuals (faces and other key features), hand-carried weapons (type of weapon and other key features), vehicles (registration number plates and other key features). This needs to be in all lighting conditions (day/night) and different wavebands (Ultra Violet (UV) – Long Wave Infrared (LWIR)) at long ranges (>2km) over land. Tracking may also be required through highly complex urban environments, potentially using networks of sensors
• identifying/discriminating objects with a high degree of confidence at extreme long range (»20km): identification in this context means gathering sufficient information about an object to be able to classify it in a way that supports further decision making (for example, the object is a specific kind of vehicle belonging to an adversary versus a friendly vehicle), or predicting the initial direction of travel of small objects such as UAVs
• real time assistance for situational awareness: when dealing with a large number of objects in a scene (urban environment, crowded sea lanes, in the littoral environment, congested battlefield) there is a critical need to rapidly extract which objects are most of interest/represent the greatest threats to allow users to prioritise their attention
• identification of friend of foe: technologies that will enable a sensor to clearly identify friendly forces

3.5 Clarification of what we want

Your proposal should include evidence of:

• an innovative or creative approach
• feasibility of revolutionary concepts
• clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies to defence and/or security applications of EOIR sensors
• clear indication of the expected performance improvement compared to current approaches, and how that improvement will be measured/demonstrated

3.6 Clarification of what we don’t want

For this competition we are not interested in proposals that:

• constitute literature reviews which just summarise the existing literature without any development
• will likely remain at TRL 1 by the end of Phase 1
• operate outside of the electro-optic band (0.2 – 20 micron wavelengths), e.g. radar or THz sensors
• are solely based on in-fibre optics based innovations, for example, telecommunications
• are an identical resubmission of a previous bid to DASA without modification
• do not offer significant potential benefit to defence or security capability
• offer demonstrations of off-the-shelf products requiring no experimental development (unless applied in a novel way to the challenge)
• offer no real long-term prospect of integration into defence capabilities
• offer no real prospect of out-performing existing technological solutions
• are stand-alone optical communications concepts
• consist of technologies specifically intended for chemical, biological and radiological defence related applications
• consist of technologies specifically for deployment in space

4. Exploitation

It is important that over the lifetime of DASA competitions, ideas are matured and accelerated towards appropriate end-users to enhance capability. How long this takes will be dependent on the nature and starting point of the innovation. Early identification and appropriate engagement with potential end-users during the competition and any subsequent phases are essential in order to develop and implement an exportation plan.

All proposals to DASA should articulate the expected development in TRL of the potential solution over the lifetime of the contract and how this relates to improved operational capability against the current known (or presumed) baseline. Your deliverables should be designed to evidence these aspects with the aim of making it as easy as possible for possible collaborators and stakeholders to identify the innovative elements of your proposal in order to consider routes for exploitation. DASA Innovation Partners are available to support you with defence and security context. For further information on TRLs, please see here.

While this phase is focussed on TRL 1-4, subsequent phases will focus on TRL 3+ in order to move concepts closer to exploitation. Phase 1 should be used to generate evidence to support potential bids for Phase 2. You may wish to include some of the following information, where known, to help the assessors understand your exploitation plans:

• the intended defence or security users of your final product and whether you have previously engaged with them, their procurement arm or their research and development arm
• awareness of, and alignment to, any existing end-user procurement programmes
• the anticipated benefits (for example, in cost, time, improved capability) that your solution will provide to the user
• whether it is likely to be a standalone product or integrated with other technologies or platforms
• expected additional work required beyond the end of the contract to develop an operationally deployable commercial product (for example, ‘scaling up’ for manufacture, cyber security, integration with existing technologies, environmental operating conditions)
• additional future applications and wider markets for exploitation
• wider collaborations and networks you have already developed or any additional relationships you see as a requirement to support exploitation
• how your product could be tested in a representative environment in later phases
• any specific legal, ethical, commercial or regulatory considerations for exploitation

Longer term studies may not be able to articulate exploitation in great detail, but it should always be clear that there is some credible advantage to be gained from the technology development.

5. How to apply

Proposals for funding to meet these challenges must be submitted by 13 December 2019 at midday (GMT) via the DASA submission service for which you will be required to register.

Proposals in Phase 1 will be capped at £150k (ex VAT) for the short term demonstrations of concept, and £200k (ex VAT) per year for the longer term deep-dive investigations. Proposals will be rejected if the financial cost exceeds these capped levels .

Contracts are expected to be awarded in March 2020. A timely response to commercial clarification/assurance process is imperative; the offer of contract may be withdrawn unless the supplier can prove that they can still complete the work by the stated deadlines.

5.1 What your proposal must include

The proposal should focus on the Phase 1 requirements but must also include a brief (uncosted) outline of the next stages of work required for exploitation.

When submitting a proposal, you must complete all sections of the online form, including an appropriate level of technical information to allow assessment of the bid and a completed finances section. It is also helpful to include a list of other current or recent government funding you may have received in this area if appropriate, making it clear how this proposal differs from this work.

A project plan with clear milestones and deliverables must also be provided. Deliverables must be well defined and designed to provide evidence of progress against the project plan and the end-point for this phase. You should plan for attendance at a kick-off meeting and regular review meetings with the appointed Technical Partner which will all be within the UK. In addition you will be required to attend an end of contract showcase event (or a mid-contract event if you are doing a longer term investigation) to be held in December 2020 at which all successful bidders will present an outline of their work and results (venue TBC). If bidders wish to take advantage of the offer of use of the Dstl Porton Down facility in the autumn of 2020, you must include costs in the proposal allowing for 2 days attendance at Dstl, Porton Down. The final deliverable must be a final report. Final report deliverables should include a brief un-costed proposal for potential follow on work in any potential Phase 2 competition.

Your proposal must demonstrate how you will complete all research and development activities/services and provide all deliverables within the competition timescales (for this competition, the timescales are 9 months maximum duration for the short term activities, and 2 years for the long term ‘deep-dive’ work). This includes the delivery of the final report, but excludes the final symposium event. Proposals with any deliverables (except the symposium event) outside the competition timeline will be rejected as non-compliant. Proposals must indicate whether they are applying for a short term demonstrations (9 month) or longer term investigations (2 year) activity.

A resourcing plan must also be provided that identifies, where possible, the nationalities of those proposed Research Workers that you intend working on this phase. In the event of proposals being recommended for funding, DASA reserves the right to undertake due diligence checks including the clearance of proposed Research Workers. Please note that this process will take as long as necessary and could take up to 6 weeks in some cases for non-UK nationals.

You must identify any ethical / legal / regulatory factors within your proposal and how the associated risks will be managed, including break points in the project if approvals are not received. Ministry of Defence Research and Ethics Committee (MODREC) approvals can take up to 5 months therefore you should plan your work programme accordingly. Further details are available in the DASA guidance. If you are unsure if your proposal will need to apply for MODREC approval, then please contact DASA for further guidance.

In addition, requirements for access to GFA beyond access to the Dstl, Porton Down, facility, should be included in your proposal. It should not be assumed that test data sets from government will be provided as part of this competition so proposals must be able to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technology through your own resources or costed as part of the proposal.

Failure to provide any of the above listed will automatically render your proposal non-compliant.

5.2 Public facing information

When submitting your full proposal, you will be required to include a proposal title and a short abstract. If your proposal is funded, the title and abstract you provide will be used by DASA, and other government departments as appropriate, to describe the project and its intended outcomes and benefits. It will be used for inclusion at DASA events and be included in documentation such as brochures for the event. This proposal title will also be published in the DASA transparency data on gov.uk, along with your company name, organisation type e.g SME and the amount of funding received.

5.3 How your proposal will be assessed

At Stage 1, all proposals will be checked for compliance with the competition document and may be rejected before full assessment if they do not comply. Only those full proposals which demonstrate their compliance against the competition scope and DASA criteria will be taken forward to full assessment. Failure to achieve full compliance against Stage 1 will render your proposal non-compliant and will not be considered any further:

Mandatory Criteria

The proposal outlines how it meets the scope of the competition	Within scope (Pass) / Out of scope (Fail)
The proposal fully explains in all sections of the DASA submission service how it meets the DASA criteria	Pass / Fail
The proposal clearly details a financial plan, a project plan and a resourcing plan to complete the work proposed in Phase 1	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies the need (or not) for MODREC approval	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies any GFA required for Phase 1	Pass / Fail
Maximum value of proposals is;£150k (ex VAT) for short term investigations
£200k (ex VAT) per year for proposals of 2 years	Pass / Fail
The proposal demonstrates how all Research and Development activities/services (including delivery of the final report) will be completed by: 31/12/2020 for short term investigations or 31/3/2022 for longer term investigations from award of contract	Pass / Fail
The bidder provides unqualified acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Contract.	Pass/Fail

Following Stage 1, proposals will be assessed against the standard DASA assessment criteria (Desirability, Feasibility and Viability) by subject matter experts from Dstl. You will not have the opportunity to comment on assessors comments.

DASA reserves the right to disclose on a confidential basis any information it receives from bidders during the procurement process (including information identified by the bidder as Commercially Sensitive Information in accordance with the provisions of this competition) to any third party engaged by DASA for the specific purpose of evaluating or assisting DASA in the evaluation of the bidder’s proposal. In providing such information the bidder consents to such disclosure. Appropriate confidentiality agreements will be put in place.

Further guidance on how your proposal is assessed is available on the DASA website.

After assessment, proposals will be discussed internally at a Decision Conference where, based on the assessments, budget and wider strategic considerations, a decision will be made on the proposals that are recommended for funding.

Proposals that are unsuccessful will receive brief feedback after the Decision Conference.

5.4 Things you should know about DASA contracts

Please read the DASA terms and conditions which contain important information for suppliers. For this competition we will be using the Standard Contracting (SC) Innovation Contract – Terms and Schedules . For the avoidance of doubt, this is not the Short Form Contract (SFC). Funded projects will be allocated a Project Manager (to run the project) and Technical Partner (as a technical point of contact). In addition, the DASA team will work with you to support delivery and exploitation.

We will use deliverables from DASA contracts in accordance with our rights detailed in the contract terms and conditions.

For this phase of the competition, at least £1.25 million is available to fund proposals. There may be occasions where additional funding from other funding lines may subsequently become available to allow us to revisit those proposals deemed suitable for funding but where limitations on funding at the time prevented DASA from awarding a subsequent Contract. In such situations, DASA reserves the right to keep such proposals in reserve. In the event that additional funding subsequently becomes available, DASA may ask whether you would still be prepared to undertake the work outlined in your proposal under the same terms. Your official DASA feedback will indicate if your proposal was fundable or not.

6. Dates

Launch Event	4 September 2019
Competition closes	13 December 2019
Contracting	March 2020
Outdoor experimentation	Autumn 2020
End/mid contract Event	Dec 2020

6.1 Supporting events

4 September 2019 – A launch event split into two parts with an opportunity to hear about the competition and the programme behind it in the morning, followed by opportunities to book 1-2-1s with the competition team. If you would like to participate, please register on the Eventbrite page.

December 2020 – An end/mid contract Event which will be attended by key government stakeholders and Phase 1 suppliers where you will showcase your project outcomes.

7. Help

Competition queries, including on process, application, technical, commercial and intellectual property aspects should be sent to accelerator@dstl.gov.uk, quoting the competition title.

While all reasonable efforts will be made to answer queries, DASA reserves the right to impose management controls if volumes of queries restrict fair access of information to all potential suppliers.