Army shopping industry for rugged, lightweight handheld GPS receivers with 2.6-inch screens
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md., 12 March 2015. U.S. Army navigation and guidance experts are surveying industry companies able to provide rugged, lightweight Global Positing System (GPS) receivers with 2.6-inch screens for warfighters in the field.
Officials of the Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., issued a sources-sought notice this week (MARKET-SURVEY-5798-1) for companies able to provide as many as 592 handheld GPS receivers.
The receivers must have screens as large as 2.6 inches diagonal; weight no more than 6.75 ounces without batteries; be rugged and waterproof per IPX7 standards; and have 16-bit color touchscreen displays.
The receivers also must have 7.8-meter accuracy with 95 percent confidence; switchable English and Arabic displays; topographic maps covering Iraq and its borders with adjacent countries; and the ability to overlay high-resolution satellite imagery.
Receivers also must be able to store at least 999 waypoints sortable by name, number, type; store at least 15 routes created via the touch-screen display; provide notification to user of waypoint arrival and direction and distance to next waypoint; compass with graphical display; optional removable Micro SD card; run on AA size lithium batteries; and have a USB port for RS-232 interface and external power.
Related: Ever-shrinking GPS electronics could bring satellite navigation to everyone
Army CECOM experts will uses responses to this market survey to determine if they will conduct a formal industry competition.
Companies able to meet these requirements and who are interested in a possible future competition should email responses no later than 25 March 2015 to CECOM's Steven Cooper at [email protected].
For technical questions contact Steven Cooper by phone at 443-395-6992, or by email at [email protected].
More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/notices/7bd77153ea7a983305fb693536b35b17.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
