Synopsis:
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) will host a Proposers' Day Conference for the Finder Program on May 11, 2011, in anticipation of the release of a new solicitation in support of the program. The Conference will be held from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The purpose of the conference will be to provide information on the Finder Program to address questions from potential proposers and to provide a forum for potential proposers to present their capabilities for teaming opportunities.

This announcement serves as a pre-solicitation notice and is issued solely for information and planning purposes. The Proposers' Day Conference does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or proposal abstracts. Conference attendance is voluntary and is not required to propose to future solicitations (if any) associated with this program.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION AND GOALS
It is common today for even consumer-grade cameras to tag the images and videos that they capture with the location of the camera on the earth's surface ("geolocation"). But, some imagery does not have a geolocation tag and it is important to know the location of the camera or image, and hence objects in the scene. For this imagery, analysts work hard to deduce as much as they can using reference data from many sources, including overhead and ground-based images, digital elevation data, existing well-understood image collections, surface geology, geographic and cultural information. However, such image/video geolocation is an extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive activity that often meets with limited success.

A growing set of research and consumer-oriented systems have developed useful and relevant capabilities using techniques that include large-scale ground-level image acquisition, crowd-sourcing, and sophisticated image matching. These largely automated systems tend to work best in geographic areas with significant population densities or that are well traveled by tourists, and where the query image or video contains notable features such as mountains or buildings.

The Finder Program aims to build on existing research systems to develop technology that augments the analyst's expertise to address the geolocation task. Required technical innovations include 1) efficient and effective use of analyst time and knowledge, 2) effective use of a wide variety of data sources, 3) fusion of diverse publicly available imperfect reference data, and 4) expansion of automated geolocation technologies to work efficiently and accurately over all terrain and large search areas. If successful, Finder will deliver rigorously tested technology capable of addressing the geolocation task for images and video anywhere on the land surface of the earth.
Collaborative efforts and teaming among potential performers will be strongly encouraged. It is anticipated that teams will be multidisciplinary, including: computer vision, geography, geology, statistical inference, photogrammetry, and computer science.

IARPA anticipates that universities and companies from around the world will participate in this program. Researchers will be able to and are encouraged to publish their findings in publicly available, academic journals.

 
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Attendees must register no later than 5:00pm Eastern May 4, 2011 at https://conference.brtrc.com/Finder_pd/Overview.aspx.  Directions to the conference facility and other materials will be available on that website. No walk-in registrations will be allowed.

Due to space limitations, attendance will be limited to the first 140 registrants and to no more than 2 representatives per organization. All attendees will be required to present a government-issued photo identification to enter the conference. Non-US citizens will be required to submit a visit request form for Foreign Nationals at least 5 business days prior to the conference. The form and submission instructions can be found on the registration website.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Attendees who wish to present organization capabilities for potential teaming opportunities may request to do so by sending an e-mail along with their presentation to [email protected]. Presentations will be limited to 5 minutes with a maximum of 5 slides (MS PowerPoint or PDF format). Opportunities to present will be limited by time and will therefore be on a first-to-ask basis. Deadline for requests is close of business (5:00pm Eastern) May 4, 2011. It is the presenter's responsibility to ensure that all materials briefed are appropriately marked and approved for presentation by their organization. The IARPA Program Manager will review and approve all presentations.

This Proposers' Day is intended for participants who are eligible to compete on the anticipated BAA. Other Government Agencies, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), and University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs) will not be eligible to submit proposals to the anticipated BAA nor participate as team members under proposals submitted by eligible entities. While such entities are not prohibited from attending the Proposers' Day, due to space limitations, preference will be given first to those organizations that are eligible to compete.

IARPA will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred to participate in this conference.

Questions concerning conference & registration can be sent to [email protected].

Questions regarding the program can be sent to [email protected].

Add The Following To Description:
Attendees must register no later than 5:00pm Eastern May 4, 2011 at https://conference.brtrc.com/Finder_pd/Overview.aspx.