Page 45 - 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

TRANSMISSION AND DETECTION TECHNIQUES FOR INTERNET OF BIO‑NANO THINGS
APPLICATIONS WITH STATIC AND MOBILE MOLECULAR COMMUNICATION: A SURVEY

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Amit K. Shrivastava , Debanjan Das , Neeraj Varshney , Rajarshi Mahapatra 1
1 Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, International Institute of Information Technology Naya
2
Raipur, Wireless Networks Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899 USA
NOTE: Corresponding author: Neeraj Varshney, neeraj.varshney@nist.gov

Abstract – Recent studies have shown that designing communication systems at nanoscale and microscale for the Inter‑
net of Bio‑Nano Things (IoBNT) applications is possible using Molecular Communication (MC), where two or multiple nodes
communicate with each other by transmitting chemical molecules. The basic steps involved in MC are the transmission of
molecules, propagation of molecules in the medium, and reception of the molecules at the receiver. Various transmission
schemes, channel models, and detection techniques have been proposed for MC in recent years. This paper, therefore, presents
an exhaustive review of the existing literature on detection techniques along with their transmission schemes under various
MC setups. More speci ically, for each setup, this survey includes the transmission and detection techniques under four differ‑
ent environments to support various IoBNT applications: (i) static transmitter and receiver in a pure‑diffusive channel, (ii)
static transmitter and receiver in a low‑induced diffusive channel, (iii) mobile transmitter and receiver in a pure‑diffusive
channel, (iv) mobile transmitter and receiver in a low‑induced diffusive channel. Also, performances and complexities of
various detection schemes have been compared. Further, several challenges in detection and their possible solutions have
been discussed under both static and mobile scenarios. Furthermore, some experimental works in MC are presented to show
realistic transmission and detection procedures available in practice. Finally, future research directions and challenges in the
practical design of the transmitter and receiver are described to realize MC for IoBNT health applications.

Keywords – Detector design, Internet of Bio‑Nano Things, modulation schemes, molecular communication, micro‑scale
and nanoscale communication

1. INTRODUCTION [2]. This paradigm also poses several research challenges
in terms of communication and networking using bio‑
Molecular Communication (MC) is one of the fastest chemical infrastructure while enabling an interface to the
emerging research ields in the recent times where chem‑ Internet. Development of ef icient and safe techniques
ical signals are used to communicate between the trans‑ for information exchange, interaction, and networking be‑
mitter and the receiver. It is worth noting that MC is a nat‑ tween the biological nano‑machines within the IoBNT, is
ural phenomenon and has been used by micro‑organisms one of the major research challenges. In this context,
such as bacteria to communicate among themselves [1]. MC has attracted signi icant research attention to support
However, recent advancements in the ield of nanotech‑ several health applications. Some of the other important
nology enable the development of nano‑scale devices that applications of MC i.e., Lab‑on‑a‑Chip (LOC) devices [3],
can also utilize MC to support several potential applica‑ [4], Targeted Drug Delivery (TDD) [5], [6], and the diag‑
tions where conventional wireless communication using nosis and mitigation of infectious diseases at the cellular
Electromagnetic (EM) waves is not feasible. Apart from level [7], [8], [9] are described below.
this, biological cells can also be synthetically modi ied
or generated to develop bio‑nanomachines to support The detection of biomolecules for LOC has been proposed
various applications within Internet‑of‑Bio‑Nano Things in [3] using the Radio Frequency inductance capacitance
(IoBNT) where the information can be easily encoded us‑ (RF LC) resonator. The principle behind the biomolecule
ing the concentration, release time, and type of molecules. detection was detecting the changes in the RF signal due
to the permeability and the resistance of the biomolecule.
It is important to note that since the capabilities of indi‑ For LOC application, a relay‑assisted MC based on di‑
vidual bio‑nanomachines may be limited to simple sens‑ electrophoresis was proposed in [4] where the molecules
ing and actuation, the IoBNT [2] is envisioned to enable propagate from the transmitter to the receiver under the
the interconnection of several bio‑nanomachines to per‑ in luence of a periodic electric ield generated inside the
form complex tasks. Applications of IoBNT include intra‑ relay. In this work, the inter‑relay segment is modeled
body sensing and actuation, gene therapy, intra‑body con‑ using the transmission line technique in which the re‑
nectivity control, arti icial blood cell production, and hu‑ lay provides drift to the molecules in the direction of the
man body monitoring by an external healthcare provider intended receiver. In [10], a wearable susceptometer
(on inger) for detecting magnetic nanoparticles has been

© International Telecommunication Union, 2021 33