The Federal Bureau of Prisons (Bureau), Office of Security Technology has created a Request for Information (RFI) to seek information related to a solution regarding protection from unmanned air vehicles. The goal of this RFI is to obtain detailed to collect information to identify and assess the landscape of technologies and systems that can assist in the Bureau’s mission by countering, mitigating and/or interdicting the impact and possible nefarious intent of unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
The anti-drone system would need to take into consideration:
- Operation in mixed use airspace where in both threat and “friendly” drones may be operating
- Drone performance that consists of: Flying altitudes from ground level to 18,000 ft. at velocities from 0 to 100 m/sec
- Highly variable dimensions, but in general less than 4 ft. in their maximum dimensions and materials ranging from carbon fiber to high density plastic to light metal alloys and others
- Both commercially-available as well as custom-made UAS
- Detection ranges of 1 mile with tracking at .75 miles and kill/interdiction as far out as possible
- Both command operation as well as autonomous functioning
- Use of GPS
- Surveillance target is generally isolated in the middle of an open area with limited ground clutter and other interfering sources such as people and RF. There may, however, be roads where vehicular traffic is moving within the zone of interest.
“Recent advances in unmanned air vehicles have presented a new and evolving threat to the BOP’s mission. From small devices of less than a pound that can provide unauthorized imagery and surveillance to larger systems that can carry 20 or more pounds of contraband, these devices represent a new and unprecedented challenge for BOP personnel” the agency stated.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons consists of 122 institutions throughout the United States and is responsible for the custody and care of approximately 205,000 Federal offenders. Approximately 81% of these inmates are confined in BOP-operated facilities, while the balance is confined in secure privately managed or community-based facilities and local jails, the agency stated.
Source: FedBizOpps