Nanoscale Optical Wireless Channel Model for Intra-Body Communications: Geometrical, Time, and Frequency Domain Analyses

Abstract

In vivo wireless nanosensor networks (iWNSNs) consist of communicating miniature devices with unprecedented sensing and actuation capabilities, which are able to operate inside the human body. iWNSNs are the basis of emerging healthcare applications, such as intrabody health-monitoring and control of biological processes at subcellular level. Major progress in the field of nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, and wireless communication is enabling the interconnection of the nanodevices in iWNSNs. In this paper, the effect of single biological cells and cell assemblies on the propagation of optical wave for intrabody communications of nanosensors is analytically investigated in three distinct ways, namely, geometrical, time-domain, and frequency-domain analyses. The analytical channel model is validated by means of full wave electromagnetic simulations through a case study for red blood cells (RBCs) inside the blood plasma. The results show that RBCs perform as optical microlenses that confine the radiated light on a focal area, which agrees with recent experimental achievements. It is also shown that changes in shape and size of the cells slightly alter the channel impulse response. This study motivates the development of new communication solutions for intrabody nanoscale optical communication networks and new nanobiosensing strategies able to identify diseases which cause cell shape alterations.