We have developed a novel microarray technology for performing very large numbers otentially up to one million) of biochemical, chemical and cell-based nanoliter volume synthesis, storage and screening operations in a massively parallel manner. The Living ChipTM is an array of precisely machined through-holes retaining nanoliters of fluid by capillary action. Sample loading, washing and recovery are operations that can be performed manually or with simple automation. Mixing between co-registered through-holes is achieved by stacking two or more precision aligned arrays and optical assay read-outs are in parallel with a CCD imaging system. An automated picker system transfers hits into lower density microtiter plates for further analysis. We will present results demonstrating massively parallel implementation of both homogeneous and inhomogeneous fluidic and cell-based assay systems and applications of the chip for drug compound library storage and management.

A scalar magnetometer payload has been developed and integrated into a two‐man portable autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for geophysical and archeological surveys. The compact system collects data from a Geometrics microfabricated atomic magnetometer, a total‐field atomic magnetometer. Data from the sensor is both stored for post‐processing and made available to an onboard autonomy engine for real‐time sense and react behaviors. This system has been characterized both in controlled laboratory conditions and at sea to determine its performance limits. Methodologies for processing the magnetometer data to correct for interference and error introduced by the AUV platform were developed to improve sensing performance. When conducting seabed surveys, detection and characterization of targets of interest are performed in real‐time aboard the AUV. This system is used to drive both single‐ and multiple‐vehicle autonomous target reacquisition behaviors. The combination of on‐board target detection and autonomous reacquire capability is found to increase the effective survey coverage rate of the AUV‐based magnetic sensing system.

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