Although visionary applications of molecular communication (MC), such as
long-term continuous health monitoring by cooperative in-body nanomachines,
have been proposed, MC is still in its infancy when it comes to practical
implementation. In particular, long-term experiments and applications face
issues such as depletion of signaling molecules (SMs) at the transmitter (TX)
and inter-symbol interference (ISI) at the receiver (RX). To overcome these
practical challenges, a new class of SMs with switchable states seems to be
promising for future MC applications. In this work, we provide an overview of
existing switchable SMs, and classify them according to their properties.
Furthermore, we highlight how switchable SMs can be utilized as information
carriers for media modulation. In addition, we present theoretical and
experimental results for an end-to-end MC system employing the green
fluorescent protein variant "Dreiklang" (GFPD) as switchable SM. Our
experimental results show, for the first time, successful information
transmission in a closed-loop pipe system using media modulation. Finally, we
discuss media modulation specific challenges and opportunities.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. This work has been accepted for publication in
IEEE Communications Magazin