The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), through its Biological Technologies Office (BTO), has issued Special Notice DARPA-SN-26-48 to alert the research community to a forthcoming program titled Organoid Cytomorphic Intelligence Resulting from Convergent Understanding and Information Transfer (O-CIRCUIT). This notice gives early visibility into a program that aims to explore an unconventional but potentially transformative approach to edge computing: developing biological processing units (BPUs) that can perform learning, inference, and sensing tasks with extremely low power requirements. In practical terms, DARPA is signaling interest in computing architectures that may one day help extend operational endurance, reduce power burdens, and improve autonomous performance in energy-constrained environments.
At a high level, O-CIRCUIT is motivated by a core operational challenge: modern artificial intelligence (AI) training and inference consume significant energy, which limits performance at the tactical edge. DARPA’s concept is to draw inspiration from biological neural systems, which routinely achieve sophisticated information processing with very low energy draw. The notice explains that the program will investigate organoid and synthetic biological intelligence platforms that combine cell types such as neural, glial, and immune cells to create trainable BPUs. These systems are intended to provide calibrated synthetic intelligence through architecture, connectivity, and plasticity, ultimately supporting complex training and inference tasks.
DARPA has structured O-CIRCUIT as a 42-month effort consisting of an 18-month Phase 1, a 12-month optional Phase 2, and a 12-month optional Phase 3.
The program is divided into two task areas.
- Task Area 1 (TA1), Architecture, focuses on building a BPU with enhanced learning capabilities in a dynamic simulated game environment. DARPA states that this task area will examine architecture complexity, circuitry, health, and cell composition, with goals that include near-human-level proficiency in a video game such as Ms. Pac-Man, retention of that proficiency over day timescales, and energy consumption comparable to natural neural systems.
- Task Area 2 (TA2), Action, focuses on integrating a biological olfactory sensor system into a BPU and then into a drone navigation system for biocompute-based chemotaxis. Under TA2, DARPA is looking for systems that can detect tens of odorants and navigate an unmanned drone toward an odorant within a limited time window. Offerors may propose to one task area or both. At the end of each phase, performers will be required to participate in capability demonstrations, culminating in a final demonstration of fully integrated BPUs navigating complex chemical environments on a drone platform.
Important Dates and Milestones:
This special notice does not announce a Proposers’ Day, proposal deadline, abstract deadline, or question deadline. Instead, DARPA states that this is not a formal solicitation and that it will not accept submissions in response to this notice. The agency notes that the formal solicitation will be released later on SAM.gov, and interested parties may email [email protected] to be added to the blast list for future updates, including any Proposers’ Day announcement and solicitation publication.
With respect to funding, the special notice does not provide the number of expected awards, anticipated award sizes, or total funding levels. Those details will likely appear in the future solicitation rather than in this planning notice. The only programmatic duration disclosed at this stage is the 42-month structure, including the 18-month base phase and two 12-month optional phases. Because DARPA has not yet published award or budget information, prospective proposers should avoid making assumptions and instead monitor the eventual solicitation closely for definitive contracting and funding guidance.
O-CIRCUIT is notable not only because it pushes beyond conventional silicon-based computing, but also because it points toward new classes of bio-enabled systems that could sense, compute, and act with remarkable energy efficiency. While the program is framed around defense edge applications, the underlying scientific advances in biological intelligence, sensory integration, and low-power inference may also expand what is possible in broader human health and bioengineering contexts, particularly where responsive biological systems and efficient information processing intersect.
If your company has considered applying for federal funding, your federal funding journey starts here. EverGlade is a national firm that helps organizations win and manage federal awards. We offer services ranging from Pursuit, Proposal and Post-Award support to comply with federal regulations at agencies including BARDA, ARPA-H, NIH, DTRA, JPEO, DOD, DIU, DOE, and DARPA.
