Fault Localization in Programmable Microfluidic Devices

摘要

Programmable Microfluidic Devices (PMDs) have revolutionized the traditional biochemical experiment flow. Test algorithms for PMDs have recently been proposed. Test patterns can be generated algorithmically. But an algorithm for fault localization once some faults have been identified is not yet available. When testing a PMD, once a test pattern fails it is unknown where the stuck valve is located. The stuck valve can be any one valve out of many valves forming the test pattern. In this paper, we propose an effective algorithm for the localization of stuck-at-0 faults and stuck-at-1 faults in a PMD. The stuck valve is localized either exactly or within a very small set of candidate valves. Once the locations of faulty valves are known, it becomes possible to continue to use the PMD by resynthesizing the application.