Andrew W. Eckford

Molecular Communication in Fluid Media: The Additive Inverse Gaussian Noise Channel

In this paper, we consider molecular communication, with information conveyed in the time of release of molecules. These molecules propagate to the transmitter through a fluid medium, propelled by a positive drift velocity and Brownian motion. The main contribution of this paper is the development of a theoretical foundation for such a communication system; specifically, the additive inverse Gaussian noise (AIGN) channel model. In such a channel, the information is corrupted by noise that follows an IG distribution. We show that such a channel model is appropriate for molecular communication in fluid media. Taking advantage of the available literature on the IG distribution, upper and lower bounds on channel capacity are developed, and a maximum likelihood receiver is derived. Results are presented which suggest that this channel does not have a single quality measure analogous to signal-to-noise ratio in the additive white Gaussian noise channel. It is also shown that the use of multiple molecules leads to reduced error rate in a manner akin to diversity order in wireless communications. Finally, some open problems are discussed that arise from the IG channel model.

Molecular Communication by Tadashi Nakano

This paper describes research challenges in Molecular Communication, a new and interdisciplinary research area that spans the nanotechnology, biotechnology, and communication technology. Molecular communication allows nanomachines to communicate using molecules as a communication carrier. Key research challenges include controlled propagation of carrier molecules, encoding/ decoding of information onto information molecules, and transmission/reception systems for carrier/information molecules. The authors of this paper are currently investigating the feasibility of molecular communication.

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 survey, 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 survey ends with a technology readiness analysis of MC and future research directions.

Nanoscale Communication with Brownian Motion

In this paper, the problem of communicating using chemical messages propagating using Brownian motion, rather than electromagnetic messages propagating as waves in free space or along a wire, is considered. This problem is motivated by nanotechnological and biotechnological applications, where the energy cost of electromagnetic communication might be prohibitive. Models are given for communication using particles that propagate with Brownian motion, and achievable capacity results are given. Under conservative assumptions, it is shown that rates exceeding one bit per particle are achievable.

Molecular Communication Using Brownian Motion With Drift

Inspired by biological communication systems, molecular communication has been proposed as a viable scheme to communicate between nano-sized devices separated by a very short distance. Here, molecules are released by the transmitter into the medium, which are then sensed by the receiver. This paper develops a preliminary version of such a communication system focusing on the release of either one or two molecules into a fluid medium with drift. We analyze the mutual information between transmitter and the receiver when information is encoded in the time of release of the molecule. Simplifying assumptions are required in order to calculate the mutual information, and theoretical results are provided to show that these calculations are upper bounds on the true mutual information. Furthermore, optimized degree distributions are provided, which suggest transmission strategies for a variety of drift velocities.

Tabletop Molecular Communication: Text Messages through Chemical Signals

In this work, we describe the first modular, and programmable platform capable of transmitting a text message using chemical signalling – a method also known as molecular communication. This form of communication is attractive for applications where conventional wireless systems perform poorly, from nanotechnology to urban health monitoring. Using examples, we demonstrate the use of our platform as a testbed for molecular communication, and illustrate the features of these communication systems using experiments. By providing a simple and inexpensive means of performing experiments, our system fills an important gap in the molecular communication literature, where much current work is done in simulation with simplified system models. A key finding in this paper is that these systems are often nonlinear in practice, whereas current simulations and analysis often assume that the system is linear. However, as we show in this work, despite the nonlinearity, reliable communication is still possible. Furthermore, this work motivates future studies on more realistic modelling, analysis, and design of theoretical models and algorithms for these systems.

Analysis of low-density parity-check codes for the Gilbert-Elliott channel

Density evolution analysis of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes in memoryless channels is extended to the Gilbert-Elliott (GE) channel, which is a special case of a large class of channels with hidden Markov memory. In a procedure referred to as estimation decoding, the sum-product algorithm (SPA) is used to perform LDPC decoding jointly with channel-state detection. Density evolution results show (and simulation results confirm) that such decoders provide a significantly enlarged region of successful decoding within the GE parameter space, compared with decoders that do not exploit the channel memory. By considering a variety of ways in which a GE channel may be degraded, it is shown how knowledge of the decoding behavior at a single point of the GE parameter space may be extended to a larger region within the space, thereby mitigating the large complexity needed in using density evolution to explore the parameter space point-by-point. Using the GE channel as a straightforward example, we conclude that analysis of estimation decoding for LDPC codes is feasible in channels with memory, and that such analysis shows large potential gains.

On-Chip Molecular Communication: Analysis and Design

We consider a confined space molecular communication system, where molecules or information carrying particles are used to transfer information on a microfluidic chip. Considering that information-carrying particles can follow two main propagation schemes: passive transport, and active transport, it is not clear which achieves a better information transmission rate. Motivated by this problem, we compare and analyze both propagation schemes by deriving a set of analytical and mathematical tools to measure the achievable information rates of the on-chip molecular communication systems employing passive to active transport. We also use this toolbox to optimize design parameters such as the shape of the transmission area, to increase the information rate. Furthermore, the effect of separation distance between the transmitter and the receiver on information rate is examined under both propagation schemes, and a guidepost to design an optimal molecular communication setup and protocol is presented.

Channel and Noise Models for Nonlinear Molecular Communication Systems

Recently, a tabletop molecular communication platform has been developed for transmitting short text messages across a room. The end-to-end system impulse response for this platform does not follow previously published theoretical works because of imperfect receiver, transmitter, and turbulent flows. Moreover, it is observed that this platform resembles a nonlinear system, which makes the rich body of theoretical work that has been developed by communication engineers not applicable to this platform. In this work, we first introduce corrections to the previous theoretical models of the end-to-end system impulse response based on the observed data from experimentation. Using the corrected impulse response models, we then formulate the nonlinearity of the system as noise and show that through simplifying assumptions it can be represented as Gaussian noise. Through formulating the systems nonlinearity as the output a linear system corrupted by noise, the rich toolbox of mathematical models of communication systems, most of which are based on linearity assumption, can be applied to this platform.

Microchannel molecular communication with nanoscale carriers: Brownian motion versus active transport

In molecular communication, information is encoded and transmitted as a pattern of molecules or other very small information carriers (in this paper, vesicles are used). Nanoscale techniques, such as molecular motors or Brownian motion, are used to convey the vesicles from the transmitter to the receiver, where the transmitted message is deciphered. In this paper, the microchannel environment is considered, and the achievable information rates are compared between the use of Brownian motion and molecular motors, which are evaluated through simulation. Communication is viewed as a mass transfer problem, where messages are sent by transporting a number of vesicles from transmitter to receiver. Results are provided which suggest that active transport is best when the available number of vesicles is small, and Brownian motion is best when the number of vesicles is large.