The Department of Homeland (DHS) technology development branch is continuing its outreach to the nation’s high-tech sector with a new solicitation for innovative small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) technologies and capabilities to meet border security needs.

The solicitation is in the form of an Other Transaction Solicitation (OTS), which the DHS Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate is using to expedite contractual relationships with innovative start-ups and other venture firms that are seen as on the cutting edge of technology development but often steer clear of government contracting and its cumbersome regulations.

The popular quadcopter UAV developed by China's DJI. Photo: DJI
The popular quadcopter UAV developed by China’s DJI. Photo: DJI

The OTS was released through S&T’s Silicon Valley Office (SVO) and follows a call issued last December under the same program for technologies to better secure the emerging Internet of Things (IoT). So far, the SVO has made five IoT awards using the OTS contracting method ranging in value from $75,000 to $200,000 each.

For the sUAS call, “DHS is interested in technology and solutions that support USBP (U.S. Border Patrol) agent activities, including enhanced overall situational awareness or support during distinct events, such as detection, tracking, interdiction, and apprehension, and search and rescue operations,” the OTS says.

The OTS points out that Border Patrol agents conduct day and night operations in diverse and extreme environments, “often with significantly limited mobility, visibility and communications.” It adds that “agents are often required to traverse rough terrain on foot while carrying large amounts of equipment and, with limited intelligence and support, resolve encounters with unknown and potentially hostile actors.”

There are three specific technology areas that DHS is interested in for sUAS in the new OTS. These are the user interface to ensure effective communication between the UAS and the users to maintain situational awareness and response, sensors for “increased situational awareness and autonomous detection, identification, and tracking of multiple targets of interest in a variety of environments and weather conditions,” and platform security so that a UAS can’t be immobilized or taken over by unauthorized actors.

As to the high-tech expectations of the SVO program, the sUAS OTS offers a number of hypothetical visions, including a user interface that would be integrated into the forearm sleeve of Border Patrol agents’ uniforms.

“The panel has a visual display that allows the agent to see the raw feed from the sUAS sensors, as well as geospatial information with any targets and areas of interest identified by the sUAS highlighted,” the hypothetical description says. Another hypothetical solution for a user interface includes a voice command system to communicate and control a sUAS platform.

As with the IoT awards, the planned sUAS funding allotments are relatively small and the performance periods are short. The sUAS program is broken into four phases, with funding between $50,000 and $200,000 for each awardee in each phase with the first three phases lasting three to six months apiece. Projects that make it to the final phase would enter a test deployment or acquisition by a DHS operating component.

The SVO will host and Industry Day on July 29 to review the new sUAS effort.

DHS Customs and Border Protection currently operates a number of large, wide area surveillance UAS supplied by General Atomics. Agency officials told the House Homeland Security Border Security Subcommittee in May that they have an operational requirements document for tactical UAS that can be used by Border Patrol agents. The agency is also working with the Federal Aviation Administration on airspace deconfliction issues around tactical UAS.

The FAA defines sUAS as weighing less than 55 pounds and operating within visual line of sight and not higher than 400 feet above ground level.