Stochastic noise model for intra-body terahertz nanoscale communication

Abstract

The development of miniature plasmonic signal sources, antennas and detectors are paving the way towards advanced healthcare networks, namely, in-vivo Wireless Nanosensor Networks (iWNSNs). These networks are expected to enable a plethora of applications ranging from intra-body health-monitoring to drug-delivery systems. The state of the art of nanoelectronics, nanopho-tonics, and nanoplasmonics points to the Terahertz (THz) band (0.1-10 THz) as the frequency range for communication among nano-biosensors. Several propagation models have been recently developed to study and assess the feasibility of intra-body electromagnetic (EM) nanoscale communication. These works have been mainly focused on understanding the propagation of EM signals through biological media, but do not present extensive formulation which quantify the noise contributions in the intra-body channel. In this paper, a stochastic noise model for iWNSNs is presented upon analyzing the individual noise constituents that affect intra-body systems operating in the THz frequency band. The identified noise sources include Johnson-Nyquist noise, Black-body noise as well as Doppler-shift-induced noise. The probability distribution of each noise component is derived and a comprehensive noise framework is established which allows the total noise power-spectral density of the iWNSN in the THz frequency band to be computed. The proposed analytical model is fundamental as noise is an important metric which affects both the intra-body channel capacity and data rate in the THz band.