A review of experimental opportunities for molecular communication

Abstract

The growth of nanotechnology has led to miniature devices that are able to perform limited functionalities in hard to access areas. Example nanodevice applications in the healthcare domain include early detection of harmful diseases. The current field of molecular communication is aiming to increase the functionalities of nanodevices, by enabling communication to be performed. Since its first introduction, communication researchers have been proposing various solutions that could possibly realize molecular communications (e.g., molecular diffusion and bacteria nanonetworks). These solutions have largely been limited to theoretical simulation modeling. However, to fully realize a future for real deployments and developments of molecular communication, a strong synergy will be required with molecular biologists. The aim of this paper is to create this link, and at the same time provide guidance for current molecular communication researchers of possible real developments of molecular communication based on the current state-of-the-art experimental work. In particular, we present a review on bacteria communication and membrane nanotubes, as well as neuronal networks. We also discuss possible applications in the future focusing in particular on Body Area NanoNetworks (BAN2).