Special Notice (SN) DARPA-SN-23-35

NanoWatt Platforms for Sensing, Analysis, and Computation (NaPSAC)
Proposers Day

January 30, 2023

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is sponsoring a Proposers Day webcast to provide information to potential proposers on the objectives of an anticipated Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for the NanoWatt Platforms for Sensing, Analysis, and Computation (NaPSAC) program. The Proposers Day will be held via webcast on January 30, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Advance registration is required for viewing the webcast. Note, all times listed in this announcement and on the registration website are Eastern Time.

The goals of the NaPSAC Proposers Day are to (1) introduce the research community (Proposers, Academia, and Government) to the NaPSAC program vision and goals, (2) explain the mechanics of a DARPA program and the milestones of this particular effort, and (3) encourage and promote teaming arrangements among potential organizations that have the relevant expertise, facilities, and capabilities for executing a research and development program responsive to the NaPSAC program goals.

DARPA anticipates releasing the NaPSAC BAA in February 2023. If released, the BAA will be available on https://sam.gov and on https://www.grants.gov. Following the event, DARPA may post the presented materials as well as a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list to the DARPA/DSO Opportunities website.

To maximize the pool of innovative proposal concepts, DARPA strongly encourages participation by non‐traditional proposers (including small businesses, academic and research institutions, and first‐time government contractors) in events such as this and any subsequent solicitation.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVE AND DESCRIPTION

The NaPSAC program seeks to demonstrate a new modality of scalable, power-efficient, and massively parallel in-memory computing architecture for scientific computing applications. Of particular interest to this program are architectures based on programmable nanophotonic and nanomechanical resonator arrays. The goals of the NaPSAC program are to develop, validate, and benchmark in-memory computing engines that exhibit transformative advances in scalability, programming precision, accuracy, and parallelism to enable accurate modeling and simulation of multi-scale and multi-physics phenomena including highly nonlinear hydrodynamic flows, advanced materials modeling, plasma dynamics, and climate science. To this end, NaPSAC will explore computational modalities that exhibit the following:

  1. novel computational device concepts, materials, and techniques that enable beyond state-of-the-art noise performance, scalability, and power efficiency;
  2. novel techniques to harness intrinsic or driven spectral features of nanoresonator arrays for multi- or hyperspectral encoding, decoding, and massively parallel computation of multiply-accumulate (MAC) operations;
  3. novel algorithms to enable direct computation of higher-order matrix and tensor operations for massively parallel and power-efficient modeling or simulation of multiscale and complex physical systems.

Lastly, the NaPSAC program aims to benchmark these in-memory computing engines against the extant state-of-the-art in terms of power efficiency and speed for the computation of stiff multiscale and nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs); multi-physics modeling; high throughput signal or image analysis; optimization of materials design and fabrication process flows, and related modeling and simulation tasks involving complex physical phenomena.

LIGHTNING TALKS

Attendees may be afforded the opportunity to give a brief, 3-minute oral presentation during the webcast outlining their interests and capabilities. The purpose of these presentations is to facilitate teaming discussions among the attendees. Upon registering, attendees may indicate if they would like to give an oral presentation. Due to limited availability, DARPA will accept submissions on a first-come, first-served basis and does not guarantee that these requests to brief will be fulfilled. Submitted briefing materials should use the template provided via the registration website and are limited to a single, PDF-format slide, which should be appropriate for public release, as they will be shared with the session via webcast. The slide must be submitted to NaPSAC@darpa.mil by 4 p.m. on January 27, 2023. DARPA will contact submitters upon receipt of their slides with additional guidance for the webcast.

To access the lightning talk template, click here.

COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS/TEAMING

DARPA highly encourages teaming before proposal submission and, as such, will facilitate the formation of teams with the necessary expertise. Interested parties should submit a one-page profile including the following information:

  • Contact information includes name, organization, email, telephone number, mailing address, and organization website (if applicable).
  • A brief description of the proposer’s technical competencies.
  • Desired expertise from other teams, if applicable.

All profiles must be emailed to NaPSAC@darpa.mil no later than 4 p.m. January 27, 2023. Following the deadline, the consolidated teaming profiles will be sent via email to the proposers who submitted a valid profile. Specific content, communications, networking, and team formation are the sole responsibility of the participants. Neither DARPA nor the Department of Defense (DoD) endorses the information and organizations contained in the consolidated teaming profile document, nor does DARPA or DoD exercise any responsibility for improper dissemination of the teaming profiles. Teams need not be finalized at the time of abstract submission.

SIDEBARS

There will be an opportunity to meet individually with the Program Manager, Dr. Mukund Vengalattore. Eight-minute individual virtual sidebar meetings will be held during Proposers Day between 2:50 p.m. – 5 p.m.. Please request an individual/team (limited to four [4] people per team) session via the registration website. Requests must be received no later than the registration cutoff date. Individual meetings will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served, and space-available basis and limited to two [2] per institution.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

The NaPSAC Proposers Day will be webcast on January 30, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Note, all times listed in this announcement and on the registration website are Eastern Time. There is no registration fee for the Proposers Day webcast.

Registration opens: As of the publication of this announcement.

Registration website: https://events.sa-meetings.com/NaPSACProposersDay

Registration closes: January 25, 2023, at 4 p.m. or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first.

Advance registration via the above website is required in order to receive access to the webcast and is mandatory for every individual intending to view the webcast either alone or as part of a group.

Registrants over the maximum capacity limitations (350 individuals) may be added to a waitlist. Individuals who are unable to register because the deadline has occurred may request to be added to the waitlist. If slots become available due to cancellations, the slots may be filled on a first-come, first-served basis from the waitlist.

ELIGIBILITY

DARPA hosts Proposers Days to (1) promote teaming arrangements between researchers, (2) provide potential proposers with information on whether and how they might respond to the government’s research and development solicitations, and (3) increase efficiency in proposal preparation and evaluation. Therefore, Proposers Days are only open to registered potential proposers, i.e., the events are closed to the general public and media. For this particular program, Proposers Day registration is open to potential proposers who are U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, and foreign nationals.

All registrants who are not U.S. Citizens must complete and submit either a DARPA Form 60 (U.S. Permanent Resident and Foreign National Visit Request – e.g., industry or academia) or an Official Visit Request (foreign government personnel, only) through the Embassy based in Washington, DC, no later than 4 p.m. on January 25, 2023. Form 60 submission instructions are provided on the registration website and in the registration confirmation email. Contact your Embassy staff for assistance in submitting the Official Visit Request.

Q & A

Administrative, technical, and contractual questions about the NaPSAC program should be emailed to NaPSAC@darpa.mil. All questions must be in English and must include the name and email address of a point of contact. Following the Proposers Day, DARPA will post an FAQ list on the DARPA/DSO Opportunities website.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Please refer to the NaPSAC Proposers Day in all correspondence.

DISCLAIMERS AND IMPORTANT NOTES

Viewing the NaPSAC Proposers Day webcast is voluntary and is not required to propose to the anticipated NaPSAC BAA. Interested parties to this notice are cautioned that nothing herein obligates the Government to issue a solicitation. The Proposers Day does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or abstracts. This announcement is issued solely for information and program planning purposes and is not a Request for Information (RFI). Since this is not an RFI, no submissions against this notice will be accepted by the Government, with the exception of the one-page profile referenced in the Teaming section above and briefing materials associated with Lightning Talks. No classified, ITAR-controlled, or proprietary information shall be presented by the Government at the Proposers Day. Inclusion of proprietary information during sidebars is at the presenter’s discretion. DARPA will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred to participate in this Proposers Day. Recording the Proposers Day webcast is not permitted.