A Trajectory Planning Model for the Manipulation of Particles in Microfluidics

Authors

  • Luca Meacci Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação, Universidade de São Paulo, Campus de São Carlos. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9341-8593
  • Franciane Fracalossi Rocha Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação, Universidade de São Paulo, Campus de São Carlos. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7821-1436
  • Arianne Alves Silva Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação, Universidade de São Paulo, Campus de São Carlos.
  • Petterson Vinicius Pramiu Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação, Universidade de São Paulo, Campus de São Carlos.
  • Gustavo Carlos Buscaglia Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação, Universidade de São Paulo, Campus de São Carlos. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9567-403X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5540/tema.2018.019.03.509

Keywords:

Trajectory planning, manipulation of particles in microfluidics, Bellman's principle

Abstract

Many important microfluid applications require the control and transport of particles immersed in a fluid. We propose a model for automatically planning good trajectories from an arbitrary point to a target in the presence of obstacles. It can be used for the manipulation of particles using actuators of mechanical or electrical type. We present the mathematical formulation of the model and a numerical method based on the optimization of travel time through the Bellman's principle. The implementation is focused on square grids such as those built from pixelated images. Numerical simulations show that the trajectory tree produced by the algorithm successfully avoids obstacles and stagnant regions of the fluid domain.

Author Biography

Luca Meacci, Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação, Universidade de São Paulo, Campus de São Carlos.

Luca Meacci is currently a PhD student at Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação of Universidade de São Paulo, Campus de São Carlos. He is working in problem of applied
mathematics and numerical fluid dynamics concerning medical applications.

He has been involved in research, innovation and new solutions, both in the academic and business.

In 2009 he holds a Master's degree with honors in Mathematics for Applications with Prof. Mario Primicerio at the University of Florence (Italy).

In the Department of Mathematics “U. Dini” of the University of Florence, he collaborated on research experiences on the diffusion and transport of electrons and ions, on the modeling of geothermal fields through free boundary problems and on the application of numerical methods and finite elements. Furthermore, during last years, Luca has been working on complex systems, in particular in the application of cellular automata for fighting criminality and tax evasion, in collaboration with the Polytechnical University of Madrid (Spain). He also took part in European conferences and published in italian and international journals.

In the field of business, during last five years, he gained experience as Assistant CEO at NEXT Holding Company S.P.A. and Project Manager at Lascaux S.R.L. Its activities included analysis of processes, research and implementation of solutions and project management in the fields of finance, industry, services and public administration. He also dealt with knowledge bases, performance measurement and business intelligence for the City of Florence. For more than two years he worked in the redefinition of strategic planning and management control of the City, specifically in analysis of data on city population, in the identification of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and in the creation and implementation of a new system of strategic monitoring. He has applied to all these themes with the tools of management and the logical approach of mathematical modeling.

In 2015 and 2016, Luca deals with Research, Development and Project Management in Nemo s.r.l. / DORA China Channel Management, working for a Trading Company based on Shanghai (China).

In March of 2016, he obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration at the Polytechnical University of Business Studies in Lugano (Switzerland).

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Published

2018-12-17

How to Cite

Meacci, L., Rocha, F. F., Silva, A. A., Pramiu, P. V., & Buscaglia, G. C. (2018). A Trajectory Planning Model for the Manipulation of Particles in Microfluidics. Trends in Computational and Applied Mathematics, 19(3), 509. https://doi.org/10.5540/tema.2018.019.03.509

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Section

Original Article