The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Microsystems Technology Office has issued a presolicitation funding opportunity, DARPA-BAA-11-37, for development of “reliable central-nervous-system interfaces (RCI).
According to the announcement, “DARPA seeks to develop reliable in-vivo CNS [Central Nervous System] motor-signal recording and sensory-signal stimulating interfaces. Such efforts will involve design, fabrication, testing, and analysis of new materials and technologies to demonstrate substantial improvements in reliability and quantity of CNS motor-signal information. Ultimately, DARPA desires to develop clinically viable technologies, enabling wounded service members to control state-of-the-art prosthetic limbs.”
The full announcement stresses that “reliability must be the foundation of any proposed work. “Rather than being a technology ‘push’ or scientific study, proposed efforts should be a reliability ‘pull.’ Proposals lacking significant effort to improve at least one critical element that limits the overall reliability of existing technology or new approaches will not be considered selectable. What separates RCI from prior NIH and DARPA activities is the singular focus on engineering reliable neural-interface systems, not continued scientific studies or basic feasibility demonstrations.
“Although acutely recording neural activity from the CNS is well established, there are a number of fundamental and practical challenges that must be addressed and overcome in order to reliably capture many-DOF motor-control intent for the life of the patient,” the announcement continues. “Invasive interfaces must contend with problems related to the foreign-body tissue response, long-term motor-control-intent decoding under a wide range of motor tasks and activity levels, and the rate, scale, and precision of captured and decoded motor-control 5 information in order to adequately restore lost functionality. Furthermore, all proposed system-level approaches need to be designed to function continuously without the frequent intervention of a third party (e.g., turning system on and off, facilitating frequent calibration and algorithm re-training, etc.).
“There are multiple CNS-based signals that could be recorded and used to interpret the motor intent of amputees. Proposals based on one or more of these signals will be given full consideration without prejudice or preference. Each signal source has its own unique set of challenges with regard to achieving long-term reliability goals (i.e., life of the patient) and high performance goals (i.e., controlling a 22-DOF prosthetic limb).
Successful proposals will identify and address these challenges in a clear and convincing manner. All proposals must clearly define the performance and reliability of existing state-of-the-art (SOA) CNS-interface technology in order to adequately quantify the advantages of the proposed technology. Likewise, all proposals must identify the challenges and limitations of the proposed methods in order to adequately understand the risks involved.”
The opportunity will provide up to $18 million in funds and multiple awards are anticipated in the form of procurement contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or “other transactions.”
The proposal due date is May 16, 2011, 11:59 a.m. EDT.
To read DARPA’s full announcement, click here.
