Adaptive Tube Model Predictive Control of Micro- and Nanoparticles in Fluid Suspensions using Global External Fields

An adaptive tube model predictive control (MPC) scheme is presented to manipulate multiple micro- and nanoparticles in fluid suspensions. The control strategy addresses coupled input actuation from the global electric field and estimates the unknown parameters of system dynamics. With the proposed control law, the manipulability of the electrophoresis-based microfluidic manipulation system is quantified and analyzed. The manipulability is affected by the dimensions of the actuating electrodes, the number of particles to be simultaneously and independently controlled, and the configurations of those particles. The scalability of the lattice-shaped distributed array is discussed. Experimental results validate the performance of the control scheme and the manipulability analysis.