TAS::80 0125:: RECOVERY ACT FUNDING FOR LOW BOOM COMMUNITY RESPONSE PILOT PROGRAM. THIS AWARD RESULTS FROM…

Public award description

TAS::80 0125:: RECOVERY ACT FUNDING FOR LOW BOOM COMMUNITY RESPONSE PILOT PROGRAM. THIS AWARD RESULTS FROM A COMPETITIVE SELECTION UNDER THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) HEADQUARTERS RELEASED NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT (NRA) FOR FOUNDATIONAL RESEARCH IN SUPPORT OF THE AERONAUTICS RESEARCH MISSION DIRECTORATE (ARMD), ENTITLED "RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES IN AERONAUTICS (ROA) 2009 UNDER NNH09ZEA001N, AMENDMENT 4, A.4 SUPERSONICS PROJECT (SUP1) (RECOVERY ACT FUNDS) SONIC BOOM MODELING. THIS ACTION IS A FIXED-PRICE CONTRACT TO WYLE LABORATORIES, INC. ENTITLED LOW BOOM COMMUNITY RESPONSE . THE SUPERSONICS PROJECT IS ALIGNED WITH THE AERONAUTICS RESEARCH MISSION DIRECTORATE (ARMD) PRINCIPLES OF MAINTAINING INTELLECTUAL STEWARDSHIP OF AERONAUTICAL CORE COMPETENCIES FOR THE NATION IN SUPERSONIC FLIGHT TECHNOLOGIES AND RESEARCH APPROPRIATE TO NASA S UNIQUE CAPABILITIES. THE PROJECT SUPPORTS THE FUNDAMENTAL AERONAUTICS PROGRAM STRATEGY OF DEVELOPING SYSTEMS LEVEL MULTIDISCIPLINARY CAPABILITIES (E.G., AIRFRAME DESIGN, ENGINE DESIGN, AIRSPACE MODELING AND SIMULATION) FOR SUPERSONIC CIVILIAN AND MILITARY APPLICATIONS. THE SUPERSONICS PROJECT IS A BROAD-BASED EFFORT DESIGNED TO DEVELOP KNOWLEDGE, CAPABILITIES AND TECHNOLOGIES THAT SUPPORT VEHICLES THAT FLY SUPERSONIC BY ELIMINATING THE EFFICIENCY, ENVIRONMENTAL AND PERFORMANCE BARRIERS TO PRACTICAL SUPERSONIC CRUISE VEHICLES. THE PROJECT HAS IDENTIFIED A SET OF KEY TECHNICAL CHALLENGES THAT ARE BARRIERS TO SUCCESS FOR THIS VEHICLE TYPE. THE EFFORTS DESCRIBED IN THIS SOW ADDRESS THE SONIC BOOM MODELING TECHNICAL CHALLENGE. SUCCESSFUL SUPERSONIC CIVIL AIRCRAFT MUST BE CAPABLE OF SUPERSONIC FLIGHT OVER LAND. HOWEVER, THE SONIC BOOM THAT OCCURS WHEN AIRCRAFT TRAVEL AT SPEEDS GREATER THAN SOUND IS PERHAPS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL BARRIER TO SUPERSONIC COMMERCIAL FLIGHT. IN THE NEAR TERM, THE SUPERSONICS PROJECT IS EMPHASIZING UNDERSTANDING AND OVERCOMING THIS BARRIER, BOTH THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF APPROACHES TO REDUCING SONIC BOOM NOISE AND IMPROVING UNDERSTANDING OF THE IMPACT OF THESE REDUCED NOISE BOOMS. THE SUPERSONICS PROJECT IS DEVELOPING TECHNOLOGIES THAT POTENTIALLY WILL LOWER A SONIC BOOM TO LEVELS ACCEPTABLE TO THE GENERAL COMMUNITY. THERE IS VERY LITTLE DATA ON THE EFFECTS OF SUCH BOOMS, AND THE PROJECT THEREFORE HAS ADOPTED A THREE-PRONGED APPROACH TO STUDYING THE ATMOSPHERIC EFFECTS, TRANSMISSION INTO STRUCTURES (LIVING AREA OF A TYPICAL RESIDENCE AND A LARGE MULTI-CUBICAL OFFICE ENVIRONMENT), AND HUMAN REACTION TO THESE BOOMS. IN THIS EFFORT, THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DESIGN AND EXECUTE AN EXPERIMENT TO GATHER DATA RELATING THE IMPACT TO COMMUNITY RESIDENTS RESULTING FROM SONIC BOOM EXPOSURE CONSISTING OF MULTIPLE LOW-BOOM EVENTS GENERATED BY EXISTING AIRCRAFT. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL ACQUIRE DATA OF SUFFICIENT QUANTITY AND QUALITY TO ENABLE A THOROUGH EVALUATION OF THE SURVEY METHODS USED, DATA ACQUIRED, AND ANALYSIS METHODS EMPLOYED. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE TEST METHODOLOGY FOR COMMUNITY RESPONSE TESTING SHALL BE DEMONSTRATED. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL IDENTIFY AND ADDRESS ISSUES RELATED TO CONDUCTING FUTURE EXPERIMENTS WITH A NA VE COMMUNITY NOT PREVIOUSLY SUBJECTED TO SONIC BOOMS, INCLUDING THE IDENTIFICATION OF STRATEGIES TO MINIMIZE TRANSIENT/ADAPTATION EFFECTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF A NEW NOISE SOURCE TO A COMMUNITY. COMPONENTS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN THAT SHALL BE ADDRESSED INCLUDE: NOISE EXPOSURE (LEVELS AND NUMBERS OF SONIC BOOMS), NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS AND THEIR SELECTION, SUBJECT QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN, AND DATA ACQUISITION METHODS (BOTH ACOUSTICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL). QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN SHALL ENABLE COMPARISONS TO BE MADE WITH RESULTS FROM PREVIOUS SONIC BOOM AND COMMUNITY NOISE SURVEYS. THE QUESTIONNAIRE SHALL BE PRE-TESTED BEFORE THE FLIGHT TESTS BEGIN, AND SURVEY METHODOLOGIES SHALL BE DEVELOPED IN SUFFICIENT DETAIL TO PROVIDE THE MATERIAL NECESSARY TO SECURE OMB APPROVAL FOR DATA COLLECTION FROM THE GENERAL PUBL