DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office is seeking innovative proposals in the following Technical Areas:
- TA 1 – development of components enabling dynamic rastering/scanning of the incoming coherent optical signal to target multiple regions of interest.
- TA 2 – development of new data processing architectures beyond the digital domain to handle the high rates and computational burden inherent to scaling the amount of neural data recorded by the optical system.
The ultimate goal of the Firefox program is to use these innovations to develop a 100-channel, non-invasive BCI with 50-micron spatial and 100microsecond temporal resolution.
The prototype components and architectures generated in this program are anticipated to inform the Government-mediated integration and generation of a novel, scalable, and non-invasive brain-computer interface. To this end, performers under both TAs will produce and deliver functional, testable outputs (eg components, software models, hardware as prototype) at specified checkpoints within each program Phase. These deliverables will undergo staged validation, testing, and benchmarking by the government’s designated Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) partner.
Firefox has three phases of twelve months each.
Proposals may be submitted for Technical Area 1, Technical Area 2 or both. Submissions for both Technical Areas must be separate proposals.
Multiple awards are anticipated between USD$4,000,000 and USD$7,000,000 across all Phases 1 – 3 of the program.
Abstract Proposals are due 19 October 2026.
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Program Solicitation – Firefox – DARPA-PS-26-137
