Coexistence in molecular communications

Abstract

Molecular communications is emerging as a technique to support coordination in nanonetworking, particularly in biochemical systems. In complex biochemical systems such as in the human body, it is not always possible to view the molecular communication link in isolation as chemicals in the system may react with chemicals used for the purpose of communication. There are two consequences: either the performance of the molecular communication link is reduced; or the molecular link disrupts the function of the biochemical system. As such, it is important to establish conditions when the molecular communication link can coexist with a biochemical system. In this paper, we develop a framework to establish coexistence conditions based on the theory of chemical reaction networks. We then specialize our framework in two settings: an enzyme-aided molecular communication system; and a low-rate molecular communication system near a biochemical system. In each case, we prove sufficient conditions to ensure coexistence.

Strategies for Coexistence in Molecular Communication

“…In this section, we provide numerical results to illustrate features of our model. In particular, we demonstrate the key differences between the model introduced in this paper and our earlier model studied in [23]. We also study the behavior of the scaling law in Theorem 1 to gain further insights into fundamental limits of communication in the proposed model.…”

“…This formalization is based on the theory of chemical reaction networks, which provides methods to establish stability of the biological system and hence conditions under which biological function is preserved. Unlike earlier work on coexistence between molecular communication systems and external biological systems [23], this work accounts for a wider range of biological systems and utilizes a more realistic model. 2) We propose the framework of cognitive molecular communications, which provides a basis to design systems that do not disrupt the function of nearby biological systems.…”

“…Nevertheless, it may be challenging to implement unless the kinetics of the biochemical system are sufficiently slow. Conditions where the interweaving strategy can be applied were obtained in our earlier work in [23].…”

“…In our earlier work in [23], we studied conditions under which the steady-state concentrations of chemical species are not perturbed by an external molecular communication system. These conditions were on the type of chemical species used for communication.…”

“…In our earlier work on coexistence in molecular communications [23], we introduced tools from the theory of chemical reaction networks to understand how molecular communication systems impact the dynamics of chemical systems. In particular, we established how steady states of a class of simple chemical systems are perturbed by the presence of information molecules.…”