Page 17 - ITU Journal Future and evolving technologies Volume 2 (2021), Issue 3 – Internet of Bio-Nano Things for health applications

ITU Journal on Future and Evolving Technologies, Volume 2 (2021), Issue 3

external, distributed, or programmed control toring of plants by measuring their health through BNTs
with high spatiotemporal resolution. deployed on the plants or in the soil. This can be also
supported by BNTs monitoring and controlling smart irri‑
2.3 IoBNT Applications gation systems, actively fertilizing the soil, and deterring
bugs and wildlife damaging crops.
The IoBNT will enable a plethora of applications in many
ields where the connection of biological entities and na- 2.3.3 Environmental Applications
nodevices to the Internet leads to unprecedented
ways of interfacing with biology due to IoBNT’s Another promising area for IoBNT applications is envi‑
inherent biocompatibility, reduced invasiveness, and ronmental monitoring. By deploying IoBNT networks in
low power consumption. In the rest of this section, we water supply and distribution systems, it might be possi‑
discuss the potential of IoBNT in biomedical applications, ble to detect pollutants in the water and use nano‑ ilters
smart agriculture, and environmental applications. to remove harmful substances and toxic agents contained
in it. A similar system can be deployed to combat air pol‑
2.3.1 Biomedical Applications lution in crowded cities. Another environmental appli‑

cation can be listed as handling the growing problem of
The most promising applications of IoBNT are envisioned
waste management where IoBNTs can be used to sort and
to be in the biomedical ield where IoBNT would play a
process waste. Nanosensors can sense and tag different
crucial role in healthcare. IoBNT comprising nanonet‑
materials and nanoactuators can biodegrade the tagged
works of biosensors and actuators operating near, on, or
materials or alert service providers to remove potentially
in the body, will enable real‑time remote monitoring and
toxic waste that might pollute water or soil.
control of patients’ health.
A nanosensor network deployed in cardiovascular sys‑
3. CHALLENGES
tem monitoring vital signs such as heart rate, blood pres‑
sure, EEG signals, and blood oxygen and carbon dio-
xide levels may reveal abruptly occurring diseases such 3.1 Communication Methods for IoBNT
as heart attack and automatically alert healthcare
providers. Meanwhile, continuous long‑term monitoring Conventional forms of electromagnetic (EM) communi‑
of these vital signs may be used for management of cations are deemed not suitable for connecting BNTs,
chronic diseases as well as data collection to predict mainly due to the antenna size limitations, biocompati‑
future attacks. Recently, researchers also considered bility concerns, and the severe attenuation of EM sig‑
applying IoBNT concept for detection and mitigation nals in physiological media relevant for IoBNT applica‑
of infectious diseases [15] where bio‑hybrid BNTs tions [1]. Because of these challenges, researchers have
constantly monitors for biomarkers released by started a quest for alternative communication methods
infectious microorganisms. Other biomarkers that would to extend our connectivity to nanoscales. We can clas‑
be interesting to monitor by IoBNT would be glucose. A sify the proposed nanocommunication methods into two
sudden changes in glucose levels can be deadly for main types: (i) Molecular communications (MC), (ii) THz‑
diabetic patients, IoBNT can alert the patient against band EM. Other techniques based on magnetic coupling,
low/high glucose levels and can help adjust precise and Fo ̈ rster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET), heat trans‑
timely administration of insulin automatically. Similarly, fer and acoustic energy transfer have also been proposed
IoBNTs can be used for hormonal therapy management for nanonetworks. In the rest of this section, these tech‑
in cancer treatments or hormone replacement niques will be ly overviewed, with a particular fo‑
therapies in sex change [48]. cus on MC, which is considered as the most promising
Besides monitoring applications, IoBNT can also lead the nanocommunication method to enable IoBNT.
realization of next generation smart drug delivery appli‑
cations. To spare the non‑target organs and tissues from 3.1.1 Molecular Communications
the side effects of drugs, BNTs can deliver medicine to tar‑
Molecular communications is a bio‑inspired communica‑
geted regions in human body. BNTs encapsulating drug
tion technique, that uses molecules to transfer informa‑
molecules can either actively search for or be directed ex‑
tion. More ically, a physically distinguishable fea‑
ternally to target cells and release the drugs only on target
ture of molecules, such as their type and concentration, is
location.
used to encode information, and random molecular mo‑
2.3.2 Smart Agriculture tion in a luidic channel is exploited as a means of sig‑
nal propagation for information transfer. MC is radically
Humans are not the only organisms that can bene it from different from conventional communication paradigms,
remote health monitoring with IoBNT. The health of ani‑ e.g., EM communications, in various aspects such as the
mals such as cattle and poultry can be also interrogated by size and type of network entities, information transmis‑
IoBNT to ensure the health of the animals and the quality sion mechanisms, noise sources and fundamental per‑
of their products such as meat, milk, and eggs. Another formance limits including transmission delay, achievable
bene it of IoBNT to agriculture would be through moni‑ data rates, coverage and power consumption.

© International Telecommunication Union, 2021 5