Synthesis of Microfluidic Chip Designs using SMT Solvers

微流控芯片是一种具有通道传输液体而不是导线传输电子的片上实验室设备，由于其在测试分析和大规模化学反应自动化中的应用，近年来引起了生物医学行业的广泛关注。这些芯片有望大幅降低大规模反应和生化传感器的成本。微流体市场预计将在此资助期间增长到超过100亿美元。******与计算机芯片设计一样，迫切需要能够协助设计、测试和验证微流控芯片的自动化工具。目前的实践状态是微流控芯片是用一种猜测和检查的方法手工设计的。通常，设计人员将根据经验选择设计参数，然后在Matlab， COMSOL或类似工具中编写仿真代码。如果模拟成功，那么原型芯片可能会用于物理测试。******微流控芯片设计必须考虑各种各样的物理特性，可能包括流体、压力、空间、电、热和光学，这一现实加剧了这种状况。如果设计师在这些维度中的任何一个上犯了错误或遗漏，那么设计可能无法按预期工作。******我们提出了一种基于SMT求解器的微流控芯片设计方法，其目标是产生正确的结构设计。（至少在用于描述设计的数学模型方面是正确的；正如在其他工程领域一样，这些模型有时是物理现实的不完美表示。）芯片设计人员将指定已知值，例如井的位置或某些激活电压，然后系统将求解其他设计参数（例如回拉电压）。******最近，CMU开发了dReal：一个用于实数上的非线性多元不等式的SMT求解器。我们已经用dReal构建了概念验证原型，以证明它可以用于微流控芯片设计。******我们打算开发用于微流控电路的高级硬件描述语言，以及基于CEGAR（反例引导抽象细化）的计算框架，以降阶模型为起点。******本课题由7名研究生组成：2名博士+ 5名MASc***1名博士与Abukhdeir（计算流体动力学）***1名MASc与Ren & Backhouse（微流体学）***1名MASc与Kennings（电子设计自动化）*********微流控芯片设计非常复杂。对设计自动化工具的需求很大。SMT求解器的最新进展使它们适用于这些问题。我们建议使用（并增强）这些求解器来创建微流体设计工具，帮助芯片设计人员产生正确的结构设计。**

Microfluidic chips, lab-on-a-chip devices that have channels transporting liquids instead of wires carrying electrons, have attracted considerable attention recently from the bio-medical industry because of their application in testing assay and large-scale chemical reaction automation. These chips promise dramatic reduction in the cost of large-scale reactions and bio-chemical sensors. The market for microfluidics is estimated to grow to over $10B in the duration of this grant.******As in computer chip design, there is an acute need for automation tools that can assist with design, testing and verification of microfluidic chips. The current state of practice is that microfluidics chips are designed manually using a guess-and-check approach. Typically a designer will select design parameters based on experience, and then code a simulation in Matlab, COMSOL, or a similar tool. If the simulation succeeds, then a prototype chip might be built for physical testing.******This state of affairs is exacerbated by the reality that a microfluidic chip design must consider a wide variety of physical properties, potentially including fluid, pressure, spatial, electrical, thermal, and optical. If the designer makes an error or omission on any one of these dimensions then the design might not work as intended.******We propose a design methodology for microfluidic chips based on SMT solvers, with the goal of producing designs that are correct by construction. (At least correct with respect to the mathematical models that are used to describe the design; as in other areas of engineering, these models are sometimes imperfect representations of physical reality.) The chip designer will specify known values, such as the location of wells or certain activation voltages, and then the system will solve for the other design parameters (such as the pull-back voltages).******Recently, CMU has developed dReal: an SMT solver for nonlinear multi-variate inequalities over the reals. We have constructed proof-of-concept prototypes with dReal to demonstrate that it can be used for microfluidic chip design. ******We intend to develop high-level hardware description languages for microfluidic circuits, and a computational framework based on CEGAR (Counter-Example Guided Abstraction Refinement), using Reduced Order Models as the starting point.******This proposal comprises 7 graduate students: 2 PhD + 5 MASc***1 PhD co-supervised with Abukhdeir (computational fluid dynamics)***1 MASc co-supervised with Ren & Backhouse (microfluidics)***1 MASc co-supervised with Kennings (electronic design automation)*********Microfluidic chip design is exceedingly complex. There is a great need for design automation tools. Recent advances in SMT solvers make them applicable to these problems. We propose to use (and enhance) these solvers to create microfluidic design tools that help chip designers produce designs that are correct by construction. **