Future Program: Reengineering Enabling Sleep Transitions in Operationally Restrictive Environments (RESTORE)

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office has issued a Special Notice for the Reengineering Enabling Sleep Transitions in Operationally Restrictive Environments (RESTORE) program. This notice serves to publicly announce upcoming research areas of interest related to a new initiative focused on sleep optimization for military personnel. The program specifically targets developing technologies and methodologies to enhance cognitive performance under extreme sleep restriction conditions. DARPA is seeking innovative approaches to address the challenges of maintaining operational effectiveness when service members are limited to minimal sleep during combat or high-intensity military operations. The special notice is preliminary to a formal solicitation that will be posted on sam.gov at a future date.

The RESTORE program aims to develop non-invasive neuromodulation technologies that can increase sleep efficiency under severely constrained conditions, such as less than 3 hours of sleep during combat or less than 6 hours during regular duty. Potential contractors interested in this opportunity should be prepared to explore precision control of sleep macro- and micro-architectures that differ significantly from civilian sleep optimization approaches. The opportunity is open to researchers and organizations with capabilities in advanced sleep science, neurotechnology, and performance optimization. Interested parties can access preparatory materials through DARPAConnect, a free resource providing guidance on proposal preparation and introduction to DARPA processes. Technical inquiries should be directed to Gregory Witkop, the program manager, via email at RESTORE@darpa.mil. The special notice was posted on February 6, 2025, with a response deadline of April 1, 2025, giving potential contractors approximately two months to prepare their submissions.