Fault detection, real-time error recovery, and experimental demonstration for digital microfluidic biochips

Abstract

Advances in digital microfluidics and integrated sensing hold promise for a new generation of droplet-based biochips that can perform multiplexed assays to determine the identity of target molecules. Despite these benefits, defects and erroneous fluidic operations remain a major barrier to the adoption and deployment of these devices. We describe the first integrated demonstration of cyberphysical coupling in digital microfluidics, whereby errors in droplet transportation on the digital microfluidic platform are detected using capacitive sensors, the test outcome is interpreted by control hardware, and software-based error recovery is accomplished using dynamic reconfiguration. The hardware/software interface is realized through seamless interaction between control software, an off-the-shelf microcontroller and a frequency divider implemented on an FPGA. Experimental results are reported for a fabricated silicon device and links to videos are provided for the first-ever experimental demonstration of cyberphysical coupling and dynamic error recovery in digital microfluidic biochips.