The mission of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is to identify and create the next generation of scientific discovery by pursuing high-risk, high-payoff research initiatives across a broad spectrum of science and engineering disciplines and transforming

credit: PAUL SAKUMA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

these initiatives into disruptive technologies for U. S. national security.

In support of this mission, the DSO Office-wide BAA invites proposers to submit innovative basic or applied research concepts or studies and analysis proposals that address one or more of the following technical thrust areas:
(1) Frontiers in Math, Computation and Design, (2) Limits of Sensing and Sensors, (3) Complex Social Systems, and (4) Anticipating Surprise.

Each of these thrust areas is described below and includes a list of example research topics that highlight several (but not all) potential areas of interest.

Proposals must investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances.

DSO is explicitly not interested in approaches or technologies that primarily result in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice.