The Kraken

The U.S. Navy Medicine Disorientation Research Device (DRD) also known as The "Kraken, is a bespoke and complex motion platform designed to support advanced aerospace medical research objectives unique to the Department of War and other agency partners, built by Environmental Tectonics Corporation (ETC). Due to its unprecedented performance requirements and one-of-a-kind nature, the system underwent an extended design, development, integration, and validation period. DRD was developed under Contract N00189-09-C-Z025, with contract award in January 2009 and operational activation in December 2016. Due to the extended development lifecycle, core subsystems--specifically the distributed I/O architecture based on Interbus--are now obsolete and no longer supported by industry. Modernization is required to ensure continued operational availability, safety, and maintainability of this research asset. This is being procure on a sole source basis to ENVIRONMENTAL TECTONICS CORP due to propietary nature.