Deep11 - Deep Edge Lab Framework

Mobile sensors are ubiquitous in today's world. While motion and temperature sensors or optical systems with downstream object recognition are state of the art, a transfer from basic research to industrialization is only gradually taking place in medical technology. While there are countless press reports on examples of lab-on-a-chip (LOC) in microtechnology, very few configurations actually make it to market. As a result, the potential benefits of the technological possibilities have hardly been exploited. On the one hand, this is due to the increased complexity of using microfluidics to bring a drop of blood, for example, through mixers, filters and centrifuges to the sensor in a controlled manner in order to detect selected components there. On the other hand, it is due to the difficulty of being able to measure the smallest currents in the range of nanoamperes outside of a medical technology laboratory with little interference.

The FHV has years of expertise in the design and fabrication of finger-like micro-electrodes (InterDigital Transducers, IDT), which are currently used to detect minute amounts of substances via highly sensitive impedance measurements. Important and new competencies are to be added in DEEP11. In the set-up phase, competencies in sample handling and autonomous data analysis (edge computing) will be established to achieve a fully comprehensive LOC framework. As sample handling, design and fabrication of SAW (Surface Acoustic Waves) will be developed, as they are geometrically similar to IDT and can be fabricated in the clean room of the FHV. Through an integrated data evaluation, a self-sufficient microtechnology incl. evaluation unit (LOC framework) with increased measurement accuracy and simultaneous energy efficiency of the overall system will be achieved. In the implementation phase, a further build-up of competence towards the reproducible production of industry-oriented LOC demonstrators will take place, which use impedance measurement for detection and advanced microfluidics paired with modern signal processing and algorithms for data evaluation - a modern LOC framework. These miniaturized novel systems represent a milestone in mobile medical analytics while also being efficiently deployable in areas of environmental sensing.

The lab-on-a-chip framework achieved by DEEP11 systematizes existing and new tools of autonomous microtechnology designs and opens a broad access for future R&D collaborations. Thus, we deliver an urgently needed cross-industry competitive advantage especially in terms of time-to-market for Austrian companies. In addition, the joint development of human resources and R&D infrastructure will enable the applicant's cross-industry competencies, the microtechnology research centre and the FHV's Smart Engineering Lab, to be further expanded and research-led teaching to be strengthened.