Abstract
It is envisioned that healthcare systems of the future will be revolutionized with the development and integration of body-centric networks into future generations of communication systems, giving rise to the so-called “Internet of Bio-nano things”. Molecular communications (MC) emerge as the most promising way of transmitting information for in-body communications. One of the biggest challenges is how to minimize the effects of environmental noise and reduce the inter-symbol interference (ISI) which in an MC via diffusion scenario can be very high. To address this problem, channel coding is one of the most promising techniques. In this paper, we study the effects of different channel codes integrated into MC systems. We provide a study of Tomlinson, Cercas, Hughes (TCH) codes as a new attractive approach for the MC environment due to the codeword properties which enable simplified detection. Simulation results show that TCH codes are more effective for these scenarios when compared to other existing alternatives, without introducing too much complexity or processing power into the system. Furthermore, an experimental proof-of-concept macroscale test bed is described, which uses pH as the information carrier, and which demonstrates that the proposed TCH codes can improve the reliability in this type of communication channel.
Highlights
The telecommunications domain is constantly developing, facing all types of new demands, and while fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks are currently being deployed around the world, work is already underway for future evolutions such as sixth-generation (6G) systems [1] and even beyond
We studied the adoption of TCH codes as a promising low-complexity solution for enabling reliable Molecular Communications (MC)
To validate the reliability achieved with the proposed approach, we implemented a macroscale MC platform where the channel is an aqueous solution and the information to be transmitted is differentiated by the pH value of the medium, as this is a good approach to a biological environment for in-body communications
Summary
The telecommunications domain is constantly developing, facing all types of new demands, and while fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks are currently being deployed around the world, work is already underway for future evolutions such as sixth-generation (6G) systems [1] and even beyond. Communications in IoBNT need to be biocompatible, energy-efficient, and robust in physiological conditions, making electromagnetic signals a difficult choice due to issues related to biocompatibility, power, and possible health hazards. An alternative to this problem is Molecular Communications (MC), using molecules for encoding, transmitting, and receiving information. MC are feasible, being considered easier to implement than other approaches in the near term. They are scalable having an appropriate size for nanomachines, and they are bio-compatible allowing the integration with living systems [6]. MC for in-body networks is still in its infancy, and it will take some time before practical systems become a reality, probably not before a seventh or higher generation (7G) of wireless networks [8]
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