Testing Microfluidic Fully Programmable Valve Arrays (FPVAs)

Fully Programmable Valve Array (FPVA) has emerged as a new architecture for the next-generation flow-based microfluidic biochips. This 2D-array consists of regularly-arranged valves, which can be dynamically configured by users to realize microfluidic devices of different shapes and sizes as well as interconnections. Additionally, the regularity of the underlying structure renders FPVAs easier to integrate on a tiny chip. However, these arrays may suffer from various manufacturing defects such as blockage and leakage in control and flow channels. Unfortunately, no efficient method is yet known for testing such a general-purpose architecture. In this paper, we present a novel formulation using the concept of flow paths and cut-sets, and describe an ILP-based hierarchical strategy for generating compact test sets that can detect multiple faults in FPVAs. Simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method in detecting manufacturing faults with only a small number of test vectors.Comment: Design, Automation and Test in Europe (DATE), March 201

Auction-based Bandwidth Allocation Mechanisms for Wireless Future Internet

An important aspect of the Future Internet is the efficient utilization of (wireless) network resources. In order for the - demanding in terms of QoS - Future Internet services to be provided, the current trend is evolving towards an "integrated" wireless network access model that enables users to enjoy mobility, seamless access and high quality of service in an all-IP network on an "Anytime, Anywhere" basis. The term "integrated" is used to denote that the Future Internet wireless "last mile" is expected to comprise multiple heterogeneous geographically coexisting wireless networks, each having different capacity and coverage radius. The efficient management of the wireless access network resources is crucial due to their scarcity that renders wireless access a potential bottleneck for the provision of high quality services. In this paper we propose an auction mechanism for allocating the bandwidth of such a network so that efficiency is attained, i.e. social welfare is maximized. In particular, we propose an incentive-compatible, efficient auction-based mechanism of low computational complexity. We define a repeated game to address user utilities and incentives issues. Subsequently, we extend this mechanism so that it can also accommodate multicast sessions. We also analyze the computational complexity and message overhead of the proposed mechanism. We then show how user bids can be replaced from weights generated by the network and transform the auction to a cooperative mechanism capable of prioritizing certain classes of services and emulating DiffServ and time-of-day pricing schemes. The theoretical analysis is complemented by simulations that assess the proposed mechanisms properties and performance. We finally provide some concluding remarks and directions for future research