DARPA Triage Challenge

The goal of the DARPA Triage Challenge is to galvanize discovery of novel traumatic injury signatures to enhance triage decision-making in mass-casualty settings. DARPA is soliciting innovative proposals in the domain of signature identification for primary and secondary triage.

Under the authority of 10 U.S.C. §4025 to stimulate innovations using prize competition, the DARPA Triage Challenge will use a series of challenge events to drive breakthrough innovations in the identification of physiological features (“signatures”) of injury. These new signatures will help medical responders perform scalable, timely, and accurate triage. Of particular interest are mass casualty incidents (MCIs), in both civilian and military settings, when medical resources are limited relative to the need.

The DARPA Triage Challenge’s long-term vision is 1) an initial, or primary stage of MCI triage supported by sensors on stand-off platforms, such as uncrewed aircraft vehicles (UAVs) or uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs), and algorithms that analyze sensor data in real-time to identify casualties for urgent hands-on evaluation by medical personnel; followed by 2) a secondary stage, after the most urgent casualties have been treated, supported by non-invasive sensors placed on casualties and algorithms that analyze sensor data in real-time to predict the need for life-saving interventions (LSIs) by medical personnel. Injury information provided by these sensors could be integrated with other information about the scene to accumulate evidence about the injury mechanism and characteristics in order to enhance overall situational awareness, and to focus further physiological interventions.

To advance progress towards this vision, the DARPA Triage Challenge aims to bring together multi-disciplinary teams and industries that will identify physiological signatures and develop sensor and algorithm strategies for complex MCI settings. Teams participating in the DARPA Triage Challenge will be tasked with developing and demonstrating strategies for capturing highvalue signatures for either primary or secondary triage, or for both. While aspects of the DARPA Triage Challenge involve sensors and sensor-delivery platforms, the priority is the development of physiological signatures and models to detect them, not the development of new sensor or platform technology. Signatures are defined as patterns in the sensor data that reflect or predict injuries of high importance for triage assessments.

The DARPA Triage Challenge Primary triage domain includes real-world and virtual competitions, while the Secondary triage domain is virtual only. Additionally, a Challenge Infrastructure component includes Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) teams and DARPA’s Research Infrastructure for Trauma with Medical Observations (RITMO) program, which provides data for use in the Secondary triage competition.

The DARPA Triage Challenge is a three-year effort with three sequential 12-month phases for Primary triage and Secondary triage in parallel, each culminating in a challenge event (Figure 1). Full proposals submitted in response to HR001123S0011 must address all phases.

Multiple events will be held each year, with a mix of in-person, virtual, and hybrid formats (Table 3). The format is subject to change depending on public safety conditions (e.g., COVID-19 rates).

This BAA seeks proposals for DARPA-funded Primary Triage Real-World (Track A) and DARPA-funded Secondary Triage competitions (Track D) ONLY.

Deadlines:

o Proposal Abstract Due Date and Time: December 20, 2022, 4:00 PM ET

o Full Proposal Due Date and Time: February 13, 2023, 4:00 PM ET