Cooperative signal amplification for molecular communication in nanonetworks

Nanotechnology is enabling the development of devices in a scale ranging from a few to hundreds of nanometers. Communication between these devices greatly expands the possible applications, increasing the complexity and range of operation of the system. In particular, the resulting nanocommunication networks (or nanonetworks) show great potential for applications in the biomedical field, in which diffusion-based molecular communication is regarded as a promising alternative to EM-based solutions due to the bio-stability and energy-related requirements of this scenario. However, molecular signals suffer a significant amount of attenuation as they propagate through the medium, thus limiting the transmission range. In this paper, a signal amplification scheme for molecular communication nanonetworks is presented wherein a group of emitters jointly transmits a given signal after achieving synchronization. This is achieved by means of quorum sensing (QS), a method used by bacteria to both sense their population and coordinate their actions. By using the proposed methodology, the transmission range is extended proportionally to the number of synchronized emitters. An analytical model of QS is provided and validated through simulation. This model is the main contribution of this work and accounts for the activation threshold (which will eventually determine the resulting amplification level) and the delay of the synchronization process.

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