ONHS Report: DARPA-PS-26-137

Firefox

Solicitation ID: DARPA-PS-26-137

Agency: DARPA

Type: Solicitation

Deadline: 2026-11-09T15:00:00 ET

Eligibility: Maybe (OTA/Consortium)

Funding: A clause applies if total government payments exceed $5,000,000; the specific total amount is redacted.

Doc Type: PS

Clearance: CUI

Program Manager: N/A

Last Updated: 2026-09-17 16:03

Analyzed File: DARPA_PS_26_137_Firefox_Attach_C_Model_OT_for_Prototype.docx

Eligibility Reasoning

This Agreement is an Other Transaction pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 4022... Performer (Prime Contractor) represents that it is eligible for the award of this Agreement under 10 U.S.C. § 4022(d)(1)(A) because at least one nontraditional defense contractor or nonprofit research institution is participating to a significant extent in this Agreement (Partner).

Note: This is an AI-generated summary...

Summary

The DARPA Firefox program aims to advance a non-invasive coherent optical system for recording human neural signals into a revolutionary Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). This Federal Contract, structured as an Other Transaction (OT) for a prototype, solicits approaches to overcome two primary technical challenges: 1) the development of components for dynamic scanning of the optical signal to target multiple brain regions, and 2) the creation of new data processing architectures beyond the digital domain to handle high data rates. The program's ultimate objective is to develop a 100-channel, non-invasive BCI achieving 50-micron spatial and 100-microsecond temporal resolution.

Overall Technical Areas

Non-invasive NeuroimagingCoherent Optical SystemsNeural Signal RecordingBrain-Computer Interfaces (BCI)Dynamic Optical ScanningOptical Rastering ComponentsHigh-Rate Data ProcessingNovel Data Processing ArchitecturesAnalog Domain ProcessingHigh-Resolution Imaging SystemsNeural Data Analysis

Probable LBNL Areas

BSACSAESAETAPSA

Focus Areas

Example Priorities:

development of components enabling dynamic rastering/scanning of the incoming coherent optical signal to target multiple regions of interest

Specific Technical Skills:

Coherent OpticsOptical Signal ProcessingDynamic RasteringBeam SteeringPhotonic ComponentsMicro-opto-mechanical systems (MEMS)Optical System DesignNeural InterfacingBrain-Computer Interfaces (BCI)

Potential PIs for this Area:

Name	Score	Organization
Mengjie Yu	0.75	ESA \| MSD \| Material Physics · Photonic Components
Dan Wang	0.74	PSA \| ATAP \| BACI · Beam Steering
Antoine Islegen-Wojdyla	0.74	ESA \| ALS \| Photon Science Development · Optical System Design
Marina Radulaski	0.72	ESA \| MF \| MF Nanofabrication Facility · Photonic Components
Walan Grizolli	0.72	ESA \| ALS \| Photon Science Development · Optical System Design
Bernhard Luttgenau	0.71	ESA \| ALS \| Photon Science Development · Dynamic Rastering
Costas P. Grigoropoulos	0.71	ETA \| ESDR \| Energy Storage & Dist Dpt · Micro-opto-mechanical systems (MEMS)
Eleanor Zizka	0.70	BSA \| Biological Systems & Engineering \| Department of BioEngineering and BioMedical Sciences · Dynamic Rastering
Karthik Shekhar	0.70	BSA \| Biological Systems & Engineering \| Biodesign Dept · Neural Interfacing
Junze Zhou	0.70	BSA \| Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging \| Cellular & Tissue Image · Neural Interfacing

Example Priorities:

development of new data processing architectures beyond the digital domain to handle the high data rates and computational burden inherent to scaling the amount of neural data recorded by the optical system

Specific Technical Skills:

Analog ComputingNeuromorphic ComputingSignal Processing ArchitecturesHigh-Bandwidth Data ProcessingComputational NeuroscienceReal-Time Data ProcessingData CompressionOptical ComputingLow-Latency Systems

Potential PIs for this Area:

Name	Score	Organization
Dilip Vasudevan	0.75	CSA \| AMCR \| Computer Science · Neuromorphic Computing
Angelos Ioannou	0.74	CSA \| AMCR \| Computer Science · Analog Computing
Luisa Gonzalez	0.74	CSA \| AMCR \| Computer Science · Signal Processing Architectures
Christoph Kirst	0.73	CSA \| SciData \| Data & Computational Science · Computational Neuroscience
Suren Byna	0.73	CSA \| SciData \| Data Science Research · High-Bandwidth Data Processing
John Wu	0.73	CSA \| ESNET \| Tech Adv and Engagement · High-Bandwidth Data Processing
Venkatesh Akella	0.73	CSA \| SciData \| Data Science Applications · Real-Time Data Processing
Karthik Shekhar	0.72	BSA \| Biological Systems & Engineering \| Biodesign Dept · Computational Neuroscience
Jean Luca Bez	0.72	CSA \| SciData \| Data Science Applications · Data Compression
Mengjie Yu	0.71	ESA \| MSD \| Material Physics · Optical Computing

Potential LBNL PIs (Overall)

Note on PI Matching: These suggestions are generated through an AI-driven semantic analysis of LBNL staff profiles.

Name	Score	Organization
Venkatesh Akella	0.77	CSA \| SciData \| Data Science Applications · Novel Data Processing Architectures
Weilun Chao	0.76	ESA \| MSD \| Center for X-Ray Optics · High-Resolution Imaging Systems
Jason Lowe-Power	0.75	CSA \| SciData \| Data Science Applications · Novel Data Processing Architectures
Senajith Rekawa	0.75	PSA \| Engineering \| Mechanical Engineering · Optical Rastering Components
Antoine Islegen-Wojdyla	0.75	ESA \| ALS \| Photon Science Development · Coherent Optical Systems
Karthik Shekhar	0.75	BSA \| Biological Systems & Engineering \| Biodesign Dept · Neural Data Analysis
Panagiotis Zarkos	0.74	PSA \| Engineering \| Electronic Engineering · Analog Domain Processing
Houjun Tang	0.74	CSA \| SciData \| Data Science Applications · High-Rate Data Processing
Kenneth Goldberg	0.73	ESA \| ALS \| Photon Science Development · Dynamic Optical Scanning
Kevin Fan	0.73	LD \| LD \| Strategic Partnerships · Non-invasive Neuroimaging

Fundamental Research Exemption (FRE)

At this time, DARPA expects the work performed under this Agreement to be fundamental research, and it is, therefore, not subject to publication restrictions. Papers resulting from unclassified contracted fundamental research are exempt from prepublication controls and requirements, pursuant to DoD Instruction 5230.27 dated November 18, 2016.