Molecular Communications for Nano-Devices

Supervisor: Dr Maged Elkashlan

Research group(s): Networks

Nanotechnology enables the miniaturization and fabrication of devices in a scale ranging from 1 to 100 nano-meters, which promises novel solutions for wide applications in biomedical (drug delivery), industrial (pollution control) and military fields (covert embedded surveillance). Although the function of a single nano-device is extremely limited, nano-networks (swarms of nano-devices) will overcome the functional limitations and potentially expand the envisaged applications. However, before the promise of nanotechnology can be fully achieved, some problems such as efficient communication between nano-devices need to be solved. The communication capabilities of nano-devices are challenging due to the small dimension, low-complexity, and low-energy expenditure constraints. Therefore, molecular communications (MC) is of particular interest to researchers because of the low-power requirements and the advantages of signal energy endurance and random propagation. MC is broadly defined as embedding digital information onto the property of molecules and allowing the molecules to diffuse from a transmitter to a set of receivers. The information can be embedded on either physical or chemical attributes of molecules. This project will primarily attempt to understand the different advantages of molecular communications in different complex biological and industrial environments, and design effective communication systems for robust transmission of data.