Molecular transport in microfluidic channels for flow-induced molecular communication

Abstract

Fluid flow inside microfluidic channels can alleviate excessive dispersion and delay in diffusion-based molecular communication and lead to the emergence of Flow-induced Molecular Communication (FMC). To develop communication techniques for FMC, analysis of molecular transport by flow, i.e., convection, inside microfluidic channels is essential. In this paper, molecular transport, i.e., concentration propagation, is studied for FMC in rectangular microfluidic channels. First, solution of flow velocity inside rectangular microfluidic channels is presented. Then, impulse response and transfer function are determined for a point source based on the flow velocity, diffusion constant, channel cross-section, and length parameters. Frequency and phase responses for concentration propagation in rectangular microfluidic channels with different cross-section and length parameters are revealed via numerical results.