Page 46 - ITU Journal Future and evolving technologies Volume 2 (2021), Issue 3 – Internet of Bio-Nano Things for health applications
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ITU Journal on Future and Evolving Technologies, Volume 2 (2021), Issue 3
proposed. In this work, a nano‑machine beneath the in‑ Also, the early detection of neurogenerative diseases such
ger (inside body) could sense one type of molecule and as Alzheimer’s was presented in [13] considering the
release another type of molecule (i.e., magnetic nanopar‑ MC. This work considered an intercellular communication
ticles), which can be detected by the wearable suscep‑ system where the calcium molecules were used as signal‑
tometer. The principle behind this system is that the cur‑ ing molecules and their oscillation patterns were different
rent through the coil changes if the magnetic nanoparti‑ in the astrocyte (biological tissue) of a person suffering
cles pass through it. The equivalent circuit for this detec‑ fromdementiain comparisontoahealthyperson. The dif‑
tor using the induction and the operational ampli ier has ference between the other metrics such as the molecular
also been presented therein. delay, the channel gain as a function of distance (i.e., the
number of cells between the transmitter and receiver),
A novel method was proposed in [11] to transmit the
and the calcium oscillations were also presented. Further,
digitally encoded Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) using the
a Microbiome‑Gut‑Brain‑Axis IoBNT communication net‑
bacteria‑based nano‑networks. In this work, motile bac‑
work was studied in [14]. Note that the MGBA refers
teria moved towards non‑motile bacteria that stored the to the bidirectional communication network between the
digital information using plasmid (a DNA molecule). The brain and the gastrointestinal tract, which in general in‑
motile bacteria then conjugates with the non‑motile bac‑ cludes central, autonomic, and enteric nervous systems
teria to pick up the stored information. Finally, the motile of the body, the gastrointestinal tract, and its microbiome
bacteria deliver the information to another location. The (human microbiomes are responsible for launching the
movement of the motile bacteria was governed through immune system, affecting in lammatory homeostasis and
a molecular positioning system containing trilateral bea‑ immune regulation). Also, electrical and molecular infras‑
cons, emitting chemo‑attractants. tructure to realize the communication through MGBA has
For TDD applications, the authors in [5] proposed a been discussed in [14].
method for target delivery of nano‑sensors by using the
bacteria‑based coordination. Their proposed method uti‑ For monitoring the viscosity of blood, a wearable smart
lized multi‑hop communication along with two different device was presented in [9] where a transmitter released
chemicals for guiding the nano‑sensors in a particular di‑ molecules (in particular aptamers) inside the blood ves‑
rection. This setup can be useful in TDD applications sel through a needle and these molecules were received
where drug delivery inside the cancerous tumor is re‑ by the sensors. These sensors then sense the level of ab‑
quired. Further, for TDD and monitoring the drug con‑ sorption and differentiate between the levels of absorp‑
centration, an implantable drug delivery system was pro‑ tion for high and normal viscosity scenarios. Further, a
method for detecting cancer using mobile nano‑sensors in
posed in [6] where the anti‑cancer drug molecules were the blood vessels was proposed in [15]. In this work, mo‑
released by the transmitter towards the cancer cells that bile nano‑sensors are used to detect the presence of can‑
may form a lump or tumor. The drug molecules are as‑ cer biomarkers in the blood vessels. Finally, these mobile
sumed to propagate inside the Extracellular Space (ECS). nano‑sensors reach a fusion center (FC), which decides
For analysis purposes, spherical transmitter and receiver the presence or absence of an anomaly after detecting the
models are consideredand the Channel Impulse Response concentration of biomarkers and comparing against the
(CIR) is derived and veri ied through particle‑based simu‑ threshold using the Log‑Likelihood Ratio (LLR) test. In all
lation. In this work, the drug concentration pro ile at any the above studies, the transmitter and receiver were ei‑
point inside the tumor is also obtained by solving the con‑
volution of the release rate and the derived CIR. ther static or mobile under pure diffusive or low‑induced
diffusive channels. Also, the scenarios and applications of
Furthermore, a scheme for reducing the effect of propa‑ MC systems differ in each of the works. Hence, a struc‑
gation delay in a simultaneous drug delivery system was tured survey of transmission and detection under differ‑
proposed in [12], where a controller nano‑machine sent ent scenarios and applications is required.
signaling molecules to the drug‑carrying nano‑machines
which could be at unequal distances from the controller 1.1 Related works
nano‑machine. Upon receiving the signaling molecules,
the drug‑carrying nano‑machines were expected to re‑ A survey on recent advancements in MC was presented
lease the drug molecules simultaneously. However, due to in [16] in which microscale and macroscale communi‑
unequal distances from the controller nano‑machine, the cation along with modulation techniques, channel mod‑
drug‑carrying nano‑machines could not release the drugs eling, error correction codes, and simulation tools have
simultaneously. Apart from the TDD applications, vari‑ been discussed. In [17], an MC‑based nano‑network has
ous MC systems for health monitoring in IoBNT are also been studied for TDD applications. Particularly, the com‑
present in the literature. For example, the work in [8] munication between different entities in a simple nano‑
proposed an MC‑based health monitoring system which network based TDD has been highlighted. Apart from
detects the biomarkers of heartattacks through the im‑ this, several challenges in modeling the cardiovascular
planted nano‑sensors. The nano‑sensors were designed system, extracellular space, and cellular surface as a com‑
to sense the endothelial cells circulating in the body. munication channel were presented. Apart from this, an
34 © International Telecommunication Union, 2021