[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 123 (Wednesday, June 26, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53433-53434]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-13926]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[Docket Number USCG-2024-0383]


Cooperative Research and Development Agreement: Payload 
Incorporated With Computer Vision and Machine Learning

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of intent; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is announcing its intent to enter into a 
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with 
AeroVironment, Inc. to evaluate payload(s) that can accelerate autonomy 
to fielded assets and uncrewed platforms, and automated overhead 
imagery analysis tool software. The Coast Guard is currently 
considering partnering with AeroVironment, Inc. to investigate their 
payload that seamlessly integrates with current AeroVironment UAS in 
use by the Coast Guard and solicits public comment on the possible 
participation of other parties in the proposed CRADA, and the nature of 
that participation. While the Coast Guard is currently considering 
partnering with AeroVironment, Inc., we are soliciting public comment 
on the possible nature of and participation of other parties in the 
proposed CRADA. In addition, the Coast Guard also invites other 
potential Federal participants, who have the interest and capability to 
bring similar contributions to this type of research, to consider 
submitting proposals for consideration in similar CRADAs.

DATES: Your comments and related material must reach the Coast Guard on 
or before July 26, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by docket number USCG-
2024-0383 using the Federal portal at https://www.regulations.gov. See 
the ``Public Participation and Request for Comments'' portion of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for further instructions on 
submitting comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions about this 
notice of intent, call or email Ms. Shelly Wyman, U.S. Coast Guard 
Research and Development Center; telephone 860-271-2600, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Table of Abbreviations

CRADA Cooperative Research and Development Agreement
DHS Department of Homeland Security
MDA Maritime Domain Awareness
U.S.C. United States Code

II. Background and Purpose

    The Coast Guard Research and Development Center (R&D Center) is the 
Coast Guard's sole facility performing research, development, and test 
and evaluation in support of the service's major missions. The R&D 
Center supports the evaluation of feasibility and affordability of 
mission execution solutions. When appropriate, the R&D Center 
collaborates with relevant professionals in the public and private 
sectors on technology evaluation and/or technology advancement.
    Persistent surveillance can be defined as a collection strategy 
that emphasizes the ability of some collection systems to linger on 
demand in an area to detect, locate, characterize, identify, track, 
target, in near or real-time. Persistent surveillance requires an 
operationally focused surveillance approach that uses a full range of 
strategic, operational, and tactical collection methods to dwell on and 
revisit a target.
    In the Coast Guard Strategic Plan, rapidly advancing technologies, 
including those in uncrewed platforms, data analytics, artificial 
intelligence, and machine learning need to be harnessed for possible 
use in mission execution. The ability to detect, locate, characterize, 
identify, and track people or objects in the water in near or real-time 
and to apply that technology to Coast Guard sensors and systems has the 
potential to improve mission support to meet the needs of the Coast 
Guard today and in the foreseeable future.
    In the Coast Guard Strategic Plan, two major goals are to direct 
efforts to encourage developing innovative ways to increase delivery 
and efficiency of mission support functions; and to strengthen or 
expedite acquisition process to adopt new technologies that will 
enhance frontline operations. The ability to enhance our existing 
systems to incorporate innovative track processing capabilities that 
may incorporate computer vision and/or machine learning technology for 
search and rescue missions may greatly increase mission performance on 
select platforms and improve Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA).

III. Public Participation and Request for Comments

    We request public comments on this notice. Although we do not plan 
to respond to comments in the Federal Register, we will respond 
directly to commenters and may modify our proposal in light of 
comments.

[[Page 53434]]

    We encourage you to submit comments in response to this notice of 
inquiry through the Federal Decision Making portal at https://www.regulations.gov. To do so, go to https://www.regulations.gov, type 
USCG-2024-0383 in the search box and click ``Search.'' Next, look for 
this document in the Search Results column, and click on it. Then click 
on the Comment option. In your submission, please include the docket 
number for this notice of intent and provide a reason for each 
suggestion or recommendation. If your material cannot be submitted 
using https://www.regulations.gov, contact the person in the FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document for alternate 
instructions. To view documents mentioned in this notice of intent as 
being available in the docket, find the docket as described in the 
previous paragraph, and then select ``Supporting & Related Material'' 
in the Document Type column. Public comments will also be placed in our 
online docket and can be viewed by following instructions on the 
https://www.regulations.gov Frequently Asked Questions web page. We 
review all comments received, but we may choose not to post off-topic, 
inappropriate, or duplicate comments that we receive.
    We accept anonymous comments. Comments we post to https://www.regulations.gov will include any personal information you have 
provided. For more about privacy and submissions in response to this 
document, see DHS's eRulemaking System of Records notice (85 FR 14226, 
March 11, 2020).

IV. Discussion

    Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) are 
authorized under 15 U.S.C. 3710a.\1\ A CRADA promotes the transfer of 
technology to the private sector for commercial use, as well as 
specified research or development efforts that are consistent with the 
mission of the Federal parties to the CRADA. The Federal party or 
parties agree with one or more non-Federal parties to share research 
resources, but the Federal party does not contribute funding.
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    \1\ The statute confers this authority on the head of each 
Federal agency. The Secretary of DHS's authority is delegated to the 
Coast Guard and other DHS organizational elements by DHS Delegation 
No. 0160.1, para. II.B.34.
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    CRADAs are not procurement contracts. Care is taken to ensure that 
CRADAs are not used to circumvent the contracting process. CRADAs have 
a specific purpose and should not be confused with procurement 
contracts, grants, and other type of agreements.
    Under the proposed CRADA, the R&D Center will collaborate with one 
non-Federal participant. Together, the R&D Center and the non-Federal 
participant will evaluate payloads and software incorporating computer 
vision and machine learning systems designed for autonomous detection 
and tracking to determine their potential for search and rescue 
planning that may greatly increase mission performance on select USCG 
platforms and improve MDA capability.
    We anticipate that the Coast Guard's contributions under the 
proposed CRADA will include the following:
    1. In conjunction with the non-Federal participant(s), develop the 
demonstration a test plan to be executed under the CRADA;
    2. Provide access to and coordinate the use of necessary Coast 
Guard facilities, surface assets, and R&D Center equipment to 
facilitate assessments and ensure that all necessary approvals have 
been obtained before the execution of the test plan;
    3. Collaboratively collect and analyze demonstration test plan 
data; and
    4. Collaboratively develop a summary documenting the findings, 
conclusions, and recommendations of this CRADA work.
    We anticipate that the non-Federal participants' contributions 
under the proposed CRADA will include the following:
    1. Provide and integrate the payload and imagery software equipment 
to conduct the demonstration described in the demonstration test plan;
    2. Provide engineering support, including all required operators 
and technicians to conduct the demonstration
    3. Provide shipment and delivery of all payload and software 
equipment required for the demonstration;
    4. Provide travel and associated personnel and other expenses as 
required; and
    5. Assist with compiling the results of the demonstration(s) with 
the R&D Center that documents the findings, conclusions, and 
recommendations under this CRADA
    The Coast Guard reserves the right to select for CRADA participants 
all, some, or no proposals submitted for this CRADA. The Coast Guard 
will provide no funding for reimbursement of proposal development 
costs. Proposals and any other material submitted in response to this 
notice will not be returned. Proposals submitted are expected to be 
unclassified and have not more than five single-sided pages (excluding 
cover page, DD 1494, JF-12, etc.). The Coast Guard will select 
proposals at its sole discretion on the basis of:
    1. How well they communicate an understanding, of and ability to 
meet, the proposed CRADA's goal; and
    2. How well they address the following criteria:
    a. Technical capability to support the non-Federal party 
contributions described, and
    b. Resources available for supporting the non-Federal party 
contributions described.
    Currently, the Coast Guard is considering AeroVironment, Inc. for 
participation in this CRADA. This consideration is because 
AeroVironment Inc. has a solution in place that is designed for 
seamless integration with existing R&D Center systems with potential 
for increased mission performance. However, we do not wish to exclude 
other viable participants from this or similar CRADAs in the future.
    This is a technology assessment effort. The goal of the Coast Guard 
for this CRADA is to evaluate new payloads on current systems in 
conjunction with software tools using computer vision and machine 
learning models to determine how they can be utilized in the field, 
while providing user feedback and use cases in a maritime environment. 
The software tools can not only utilize AV optical sensors but also 
pull additional input from other optical sensors across multiple 
platforms that have feeds with different inputs and resolutions, as 
well as connect everything to a common operating picture. The ability 
for the equipment to locate, characterize, identify, and track objects 
in the water in different scenarios will be tested. Special 
consideration will be given to small business firms and consortia, and 
preference will be given to business units located in the U.S.
    This notice is issued under the authority of 5 U.S.C. 552(a).

    Dated: June 20, 2024.
M.P. Chien,
Captain, Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development 
Center.
[FR Doc. 2024-13926 Filed 6-25-24; 8:45 am]
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