Design and Performance Analysis of Dual and Multi-hop Diffusive Molecular Communication Systems

This work presents a comprehensive performance analysis of diffusion based direct, dual-hop, and multi-hop molecular communication systems with Brownian motion and drift in the presence of various distortions such as inter-symbol interference (ISI), multi-source interference (MSI), and counting errors. Optimal decision rules are derived employing the likelihood ratio tests (LRTs) for symbol detection at each of the cooperative as well as the destination nanomachines. Further, closed-form expressions are also derived for the probabilities of detection, false alarm at the individual cooperative, destination nanomachines, as well as the overall end-to-end probability of error for source-destination communication. The results also characterize the impact of detection performance of the intermediate cooperative nanomachine(s) on the end-to-end performance of dual/multi hop diffusive molecular communication systems. In addition, capacity expressions are also derived for direct, dual-hop, and multi-hop molecular communication scenarios. Simulation results are presented to corroborate the theoretical results derived and also, to yield insights into system performance.Comment: in preparatio

Social Behavior in Bacterial Nanonetworks: Challenges and Opportunities

Molecular communication promises to enable communication between nanomachines with a view to increasing their functionalities and open up new possible applications. Due to some of the biological properties, bacteria have been proposed as a possible information carrier for molecular communication, and the corresponding communication networks are known as \textit{bacterial nanonetworks}. The biological properties include the ability for bacteria to mobilize between locations and carry the information encoded in Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) molecules. However, similar to most organisms, bacteria have complex social properties that govern their colony. These social characteristics enable the bacteria to evolve through various fluctuating environmental conditions by utilizing cooperative and non-cooperative behaviors. This article provides an overview of the different types of cooperative and non-cooperative social behavior of bacteria. The challenges (due to non-cooperation) and the opportunities (due to cooperation) these behaviors can bring to the reliability of communication in bacterial nanonetworks are also discussed. Finally, simulation results on the impact of bacterial cooperative social behavior on the end-to-end reliability of a single-link bacterial nanonetwork are presented. The article concludes with highlighting the potential future research opportunities in this emerging field.Comment: Accepted for publication in IEEE Network Magazine as an open call articl

Diffusion Based Cooperative Molecular Communication in Nano-Networks

This work presents a novel diffusion based dual-phase molecular communication system where the source leverages multiple cooperating nanomachines to improve the end-to-end reliability of communication. The Neyman-Pearson Likelihood Ratio Tests are derived for each of the cooperative as well as the destination nanomachines in the presence of multi-user interference. Further, to characterize the performance of the aforementioned system, closed form expressions are derived for the probabilities of detection, false alarm at the individual cooperative, destination nanomachines, as well as the overall end-to-end probability of error. Simulation results demonstrate a significant improvement in the end-to-end performance of the proposed cooperative framework in comparison to multiple-input single-output and single-input single-output molecular communication scenarios in the existing literature.Comment: Revised IEEE WCL Draft (in review process

Robust Modulation Technique for Diffusion-based Molecular Communication in Nanonetworks

Diffusion-based molecular communication over nanonetworks is an emerging communication paradigm that enables nanomachines to communicate by using molecules as the information carrier. For such a communication paradigm, Concentration Shift Keying (CSK) has been considered as one of the most promising techniques for modulating information symbols, owing to its inherent simplicity and practicality. CSK modulated subsequent information symbols, however, may interfere with each other due to the random amount of time that molecules of each modulated symbols take to reach the receiver nanomachine. To alleviate Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) problem associated with CSK, we propose a new modulation technique called Zebra-CSK. The proposed Zebra-CSK adds inhibitor molecules in CSK-modulated molecular signal to selectively suppress ISI causing molecules. Numerical results from our newly developed probabilistic analytical model show that Zebra-CSK not only enhances capacity of the molecular channel but also reduces symbol error probability observed at the receiver nanomachine.Comment: 4 pages, 5 fugure

Diffusive Molecular Communication with Nanomachine Mobility

This work presents a performance analysis for diffusive molecular communication with mobile transmit and receive nanomachines. To begin with, the optimal test is obtained for symbol detection at the receiver nanomachine. Subsequently, closed-form expressions are derived for the probabilities of detection and false alarm, probability of error, and capacity considering also aberrations such as multi-source interference, inter-symbol interference, and counting errors. Simulation results are presented to corroborate the theoretical results derived and also, to yield various insights into the performance of the system. Interestingly, it is shown that the performance of the mobile diffusive molecular communication can be significantly enhanced by allocating large fraction of total available molecules for transmission as the slot interval increases.Comment: To be submitted in 52th Annual Conference on Information Sciences and Systems (CISS

A molecular communications model for drug delivery

This paper considers the scenario of a targeted drug delivery system, which consists of deploying a number of biological nanomachines close to a biological target (e.g. a tumor), able to deliver drug molecules in the diseased area. Suitably located transmitters are designed to release a continuous flow of drug molecules in the surrounding environment, where they diffuse and reach the target. These molecules are received when they chemically react with compliant receptors deployed on the receiver surface. In these conditions, if the release rate is relatively high and the drug absorption time is significant, congestion may happen, essentially at the receiver site. This phenomenon limits the drug absorption rate and makes the signal transmission ineffective, with an undesired diffusion of drug molecules elsewhere in the body. The original contribution of this paper consists of a theoretical analysis of the causes of congestion in diffusion-based molecular communications. For this purpose, it is proposed a reception model consisting of a set of pure loss queuing systems. The proposed model exhibits an excellent agreement with the results of a simulation campaign made by using the Biological and Nano-Scale communication simulator version 2 (BiNS2), a well-known simulator for molecular communications, whose reliability has been assessed through in-vitro experiments. The obtained results can be used in rate control algorithms to optimally determine the optimal release rate of molecules in drug delivery applications

Nanoscale Communication: State-of-Art and Recent Advances

The engineering community is witnessing a new frontier in the communication industry. Among others, the tools provided by nanotechnologies enable the development of novel nanosensors and nanomachines. On the one hand, nanosensors are capable of detecting events with unprecedented accuracy. On the other hand, nanomachines are envisioned to accomplish tasks ranging from computing and data storing to sensing and actuation. Recently, in vivo wireless nanosensor networks (iWNSNs) have been presented to provide fast and accurate disease diagnosis and treatment. These networks are capable of operating inside the human body in real time and will be of great benefit for medical monitoring and medical implant communication. Despite the fact that nanodevice technology has been witnessing great advancements, enabling the communication among nanomachines is still a major challenge.Comment: 15 page

Modeling of Viral Aerosol Transmission and Detection

In this paper, we propose studying the disease spread mechanism in the atmosphere as an engineering problem. Aerosol transmission is the most significant mode among the viral transmission mechanisms that do not include physical contact, where airflows carry virus-laden droplets over long distances. Throughout this work, we study the transport of these droplets as a molecular communication problem, where one has no control over the transmission source, but a robust receiver can be designed using bio-sensors. To this end, we present a complete system model and derive an end-to-end mathematical model for the transmission channel under certain constraints and boundary conditions. We derive the system response for both continuous sources such as breathing and jet or impulsive sources such as coughing and sneezing. In addition to transmitter and channel, we assumed a receiver architecture composed of air sampler and Silicon Nanowire field-effect transistor. Then, we formulate a detection problem to maximize the likelihood decision rule and minimize the corresponding missed detection probability. Finally, we present several numerical results to observe the impact of parameters that affect the performance and justify the feasibility of the proposed setup in related applications

On the Physical Design of Molecular Communication Receiver Based on Nanoscale Biosensors

Molecular communications (MC), where molecules are used to encode, transmit, and receive information, is a promising means of enabling the coordination of nanoscale devices. The paradigm has been extensively studied from various aspects, including channel modeling and noise analysis. Comparatively little attention has been given to the physical design of molecular receiver and transmitter, envisioning biological synthetic cells with intrinsic molecular reception and transmission capabilities as the future nanomachines. However, this assumption leads to a discrepancy between the envisaged applications requiring complex communication interfaces and protocols, and the very limited computational capacities of the envisioned biological nanomachines. In this paper, we examine the feasibility of designing a molecular receiver, in a physical domain other than synthetic biology, meeting the basic requirements of nanonetwork applications. We first review the state-of-the-art biosensing approaches to determine whether they can inspire a receiver design. We reveal that nanoscale field effect transistor based electrical biosensor technology (bioFET) is a particularly useful starting point for designing a molecular receiver. Focusing on bioFET-based molecular receivers with a conceptual approach, we provide a guideline elaborating on their operation principles, performance metrics and design parameters. We then provide a simple model for signal flow in silicon nanowire (SiNW) FET-based molecular receiver. Lastly, we discuss the practical challenges of implementing the receiver and present the future research avenues from a communication theoretical perspective

Internet of NanoThings: Concepts and Applications

This chapter focuses on Internet of Things from the nanoscale point of view. The chapter starts with section 1 which provides an introduction of nanothings and nanotechnologies. The nanoscale communication paradigms and the different approaches are discussed for nanodevices development. Nanodevice characteristics are discussed and the architecture of wireless nanodevices are outlined. Section 2 describes Internet of NanoThing(IoNT), its network architecture, and the challenges of nanoscale communication which is essential for enabling IoNT. Section 3 gives some practical applications of IoNT. The internet of Bio-NanoThing (IoBNT) and relevant biomedical applications are discussed. Other Applications such as military, industrial, and environmental applications are also outlined