I wasn't sure if this opportunity had been posted on MARMAM. Deadline is coming up quickly. Thought it might be of interest to MARMAM subscribers. Title Infra-Red Detection of Marine Mammals From Ship-Based Platforms - ONRBAA09-015 URL for more info http://fedbizopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=20090312a5 <http://fedbizopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=20090312a5> Sponsor United States Department of Defense (DOD) Department of the Navy Office of Naval Research (ONR) Sponsor Type Federal, U.S. Amount Note Deadline Mar 23, 2009 Deadline Note Activity Location United States Citizenship or Residency United States Requirements Commercial Ph.D./M.D./Other Professional Small Business Abstracts ***Rapid deadline notice. The application deadline for this opportunity will expire within four weeks of its inclusion in the COS database.*** The ONR is interested in receiving proposals for research into the use of infra-red (IR) band technology as a potential means of detecting marine mammals. The goal is to evaluate the efficacy of IR imagery (still or video) for near-real-time detection of marine mammals from ship-based platforms. Ultimately IR detection might be optimized by use of high-incident angle views of the sea surface via unmanned aerial vehicles or other platforms. However, to minimize initial investment costs while ONR evaluates the potential of this detection technology ONR will not here invest in studies using a costly autonomous flying platform. Rather ONR seeks to invest in research using ship-based, more oblique-angle techniques coupled with visual observation of marine mammals, which offers validation opportunities. At the discretion of the proposer, ship-based measurements might utilize tethered balloons, kites or tall masts to increase incident viewing angles of the imagery system, and might be preceded by land (cliff)-based evaluations that could cost effectively develop and test the proposed technology. The interest is in developing and testing a small, light weight, low power IR imagery (still or video) system that may be adaptable to diverse platforms. Therefore the focus of this BAA is on uncooled (microbolometric) IR systems, and not cooled systems. Proposers should describe and defend the proposed sensors and imagery systems, the nature and stability of the deployment system as it relates to expected image quality, the sampling protocol for marine mammal detection, the time responsiveness and need for human control of the proposed systems, and goals for detection in terms of range and spatial resolution. Work funded under a BAA may include basic research, applied research and some advanced technology development. more.. <http://fundingopps.cos.com/alerts/117939?id=117939&if=alert#abstracts> Eligibility COS Keywords Marine Zoology Tracking or Detection Devices (Defense) Funding Type Research Sponsor Contact Info Angela Bruce-Dunson, Senior Contracting Officer more.. <http://fundingopps.cos.com/alerts/117939?id=117939&if=alert#sponsorcont acts> Address Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research Code 02 875 North Randolph Street Suite 1425 City Arlington Province/State VA Zip 22203-1995 Country United States Phone +1 (703) 696-2577 Fax +1 (703) 696-0066 Email angela.bruce-dunson@navy.mil <mailto:angela.bruce-dunson@navy.mil> Bookmark Url http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/fo2/getRec?id=117939 <http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=117939> Sarah Courbis Ph.D. Candidate Portland State University sarahc@rogue.com