8 research outputs found
Duality between Coronavirus Transmission and Air-based Macroscopic Molecular Communication
This contribution exploits the duality between a viral infection process and
macroscopic air-based molecular communication. Airborne aerosol and droplet
transmission through human respiratory processes is modeled as an instance of a
multiuser molecular communication scenario employing respiratory-event-driven
molecular variable-concentration shift keying. Modeling is aided by experiments
that are motivated by a macroscopic air-based molecular communication testbed.
In artificially induced coughs, a saturated aqueous solution containing a
fluorescent dye mixed with saliva is released by an adult test person. The
emitted particles are made visible by means of optical detection exploiting the
fluorescent dye. The number of particles recorded is significantly higher in
test series without mouth and nose protection than in those with a wellfitting
medical mask. A simulation tool for macroscopic molecular communication
processes is extended and used for estimating the transmission of infectious
aerosols in different environments. Towards this goal, parameters obtained
through self experiments are taken. The work is inspired by the recent outbreak
of the coronavirus pandemic.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Molecular,
Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications for the special issue "Section II:
Molecular Communications for Diagnostics and Therapeutic Development of
Infectious Diseases
Joint Communication, Sensing and Localization for Airborne Applications
With the upcoming trends in autonomous driving and urban air mobility, the
number of self-navigating vehicles will increase, since they are foreseen for
deliveries as well as autonomous taxis among other applications. To this end, a
multitude of on-board systems for wireless communication, environment sensing,
and localization will become mandatory. This is particularly true for unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs), since participation in the airspace requires
compatibility to and safe interaction with established users. A certain number
of systems are already in-use and occupy defined spectra as well as
installation space, which limits the freedom in the design of new systems. The
miniaturization of aerial vehicles like drones for delivery services further
reduces the degrees of freedom, especially in terms of size and weight of any
additional equipment. Hence, in this paper a joint approach of the design of
joint communication, sensing and localization for UAVs is discussed. Towards
this goal, multi-mode multi-port antennas and joint waveform design are
proposed as a part of the solution, when elevating autonomous driving to the
third dimension
Infectious Disease Transmission via Aerosol Propagation from a Molecular Communication Perspective : Shannon Meets Coronavirus
Molecular communication is not only able to mimic biological and chemical
communication mechanisms, but also provides a theoretical framework for viral
infection processes. In this tutorial, aerosol and droplet transmission is
modeled as a multiuser scenario with mobile nodes, related to broadcasting and
relaying. In contrast to data communication systems, in the application of
pathogen-laden aerosol transmission, mutual information between nodes should be
minimized. Towards this goal, several countermeasures are reasoned. The
findings are supported by experimental results and by an advanced particle
simulation tool. This work is inspired by the recent outbreak of the
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but also applicable to other airborne
infectious diseases like influenza.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, submitted to IEEE Communications
Magazine for the Feature Topic on "Nano-Networking for Nano-, Micro-, and
Macro-Scale Applications