Molecular Communication through Biological Pattern Formation

This paper proposes to use spatio-temporal patterns that the concentration of propagating information molecules form in the molecular communication environment and develops a new modulation technique for molecular communication between bio-nanomachines. In molecular communication considered in this paper, information molecules transmitted from a group of sender bio- nanomachines propagate in the environment, chemically react with the molecules in the environment, change their concentration, and form an oscillating and propagating pattern. The rates at which sender bio-nanomachines transmit information molecules determines the frequency, amplitude and phase characteristics of the pattern, and the sender bio-nanomachines modify the transmission rates in order to modulate information on to frequency, amplitude and phase characteristics of the pattern. A group of receiver bio-nanomachines detects these characteristics to collectively decode information. This paper develops a new model of molecular communication through pattern formation. Using the model developed in this paper and numerical examples, this paper demonstrates the advantages of the proposed modulation technique, namely, higher information capacity and longer communication distances.