Precision Inertial Navigation & Positioning On an Integrated Tesseract (PINPOINT)

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency seeks innovative proposals for research and development of novel inertial measurement units based on revolutionary sensor architectures, with full proposals due October 2, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. This is a Broad Agency Announcement with no set-aside; abstracts were due August 27, 2026.

DARPA is soliciting Phase I proposals only, consisting of 24 months of performance, with Phase II anticipated as a separate 24-month effort. Multiple award instruments are available: Procurement Contracts, Cooperative Agreements, and Other Transaction Agreements for Prototype. Questions may be submitted until September 15, 2026. The procurement carries amended deadlines per Amendment 2, posted September 10, 2026.

The PINPOINT program challenges the research community to overcome the decade-long performance plateau of micro-electro-mechanical systems IMUs by exploring revolutionary sensor architectures operating in highly nonlinear regimes—including electromagnetically levitated proof masses, non-linear resonators, and high-velocity tethered microsystems—tightly co-designed with advanced, real-time adaptive control systems. Research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to existing MEMS is explicitly excluded.

Proposers may select either precision strike munitions or unmanned aerial vehicle applications as their target use case, with specific performance metrics provided for each. Alternative defense-relevant applications in space operations, radiation-hard environments, or hypersonic trajectories are acceptable if performance metrics are at least as challenging as the examples provided. Phase I deliverables include validated physical simulation models, laboratory demonstrations of individual sensing components by month 12, three functional IMU prototypes by month 21, and five final IMU samples plus a comprehensive Design Guide and Prototype Design Kit by month 24.

All Phase I performers must enter an Associate Contractor Agreement mandating data sharing to facilitate cross-pollination while protecting proprietary intellectual property. CMMC Level 1 compliance is required for all proposers and subcontractors. An optional DSO Industry Immersion Program provides up to $160,000 for embedded graduate student or postdoctoral researcher placements of nine to twelve months. Evaluation criteria in descending order of importance are Overall Scientific and Technical Merit, Potential Contribution and Relevance to DARPA Mission, Cost and Schedule Realism, and Proposer's Capabilities or Related Experience. The NAICS code is 541715, and the PSC is AC12.