An experimental Nakagami distributed noise model for molecular communication channels with no drift

A molecular communication system operating in a pipe propagation channel with no induced flow is considered. Experimentally, it is shown that discrepancies in channel impulse response can be accurately modelled by an additive noise model. The noise amplitude is Nakagami distributed, and the shape and spread parameters of the distribution increase monotonically with propagation distance. Furthermore, demonstrated how the proposed noise model can be used to calculate the bit-error-rate and the capacity of a binary symmetric channel

Carbon Quantum Dots from Lemon Waste Enable Communication among Biodevices

A bioinspired method of communication among biodevices based on fluorescent nanoparticles is herein presented. This approach does not use electromagnetic waves but rather the exchange of chemical systems—a method known as molecular communication. The example outlined was based on the fluorescence properties of carbon dots and follows a circular economy approach as the method involves preparation from the juice of lemon waste. The synthesis is herein presented, and the fluorescence properties and diffusion coefficient are evaluated. The application of carbon dots to molecular communication was studied from a theoretical point of view by numerically solving the differential equation that governs the phenomenon. The theoretical results were used to develop a prototype molecular communication platform that enables the communication of simple messages via aqueous fluids to a fluorescence-detecting biodevice receiver

A Survey on Modulation Techniques in Molecular Communication via Diffusion

This survey paper focuses on modulation aspects of molecular communication, an emerging field focused on building biologically-inspired systems that embed data within chemical signals. The primary challenges in designing these systems are how to encode and modulate information onto chemical signals, and how to design a receiver that can detect and decode the information from the corrupted chemical signal observed at the destination. In this paper, we focus on modulation design for molecular communication via diffusion systems. In these systems, chemical signals are transported using diffusion, possibly assisted by flow, from the transmitter to the receiver. This tutorial presents recent advancements in modulation and demodulation schemes for molecular communication via diffusion. We compare five different modulation types: concentration-based, type-based, timing-based, spatial, and higher-order modulation techniques. The end-to-end system designs for each modulation scheme are presented. In addition, the key metrics used in the literature to evaluate the performance of these techniques are also presented. Finally, we provide a numerical bit error rate comparison of prominent modulation techniques using analytical models. We close the tutorial with a discussion of key open issues and future research directions for design of molecular communication via diffusion systems.Comment: Preprint of the accepted manuscript for publication in IEEE Surveys and Tutorial

A comprehensive survey of recent advancements in molecular communication

With much advancement in the field of nanotechnology, bioengineering and synthetic biology over the past decade, microscales and nanoscales devices are becoming a reality. Yet the problem of engineering a reliable communication system between tiny devices is still an open problem. At the same time, despite the prevalence of radio communication, there are still areas where traditional electromagnetic waves find it difficult or expensive to reach. Points of interest in industry, cities, and medical applications often lie in embedded and entrenched areas, accessible only by ventricles at scales too small for conventional radio waves and microwaves, or they are located in such a way that directional high frequency systems are ineffective. Inspired by nature, one solution to these problems is molecular communication (MC), where chemical signals are used to transfer information. Although biologists have studied MC for decades, it has only been researched for roughly 10 year from a communication engineering lens. Significant number of papers have been published to date, but owing to the need for interdisciplinary work, much of the results are preliminary. In this paper, the recent advancements in the field of MC engineering are highlighted. First, the biological, chemical, and physical processes used by an MC system are discussed. This includes different components of the MC transmitter and receiver, as well as the propagation and transport mechanisms. Then, a comprehensive survey of some of the recent works on MC through a communication engineering lens is provided. The paper ends with a technology readiness analysis of MC and future research directions

Error correction codes for molecular communication systems.

Molecular communications (MC) is a bio-inspired paradigm that aims to utilise molecules to exchange information among nano-machines. Given the tiny devices used in a MC system and the feasibility of MC in biological environments, MC can be applied to many applications ranging from the healthcare to manufacturing fields. In order to better realize these applications in the future, this Ph.D. research is dedicated to the investigation of a more functional, precise and reliable Diffusion-based Molecular Communications (DBMC) system. To achieve this goal, the contributions of this thesis are as follows. Firstly, the point-to-point (PTP) DBMC system with the absorbing receiver model is established and investigated. A study of the accuracy of the analytical channel model is also introduced. Secondly, dependent on different types of the transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX), three different communication scenarios are proposed. Thirdly, to enhance the reliability of the information at RX, the Error Correction Codes (ECCs), as the most prominent technique is employed within the DBMC system to control or correct any errors introduced during the transmission process. Fourthly, due to the limitation of the power budget of the nano-machines, the energy efficiency of the system is also taken into account. Finally, a two-receiver broadcast DBMC system is established with an absorbing interfering receiver (RI) and an absorbing target receiver (RT). By analysing the performance of the communication link between TX and RT (target communication link), the impact of the positions of RI on RT is studied. This study indicates that the application of ECCs does enhance the performance of PTP DBMC systems. In addition, the encoder and decoder design, and the BER performance are shown to be the two primary factors for selecting the most suitable ECC for the application. Finally, considering a two-receiver broadcast DBMC system with absorbing receivers, the existence of RI does affect the performance of the target communication link which is crucial result for the field moving forward