Chemical Propagation Pattern for Molecular Communications

TL;DR

This paper investigates the propagation and reception patterns of chemical signals emitted from a spherical transmitter in molecular communication, introducing metrics to analyze directivity and signal characteristics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of spherical transmitters in molecular communication, focusing on propagation patterns and directivity gain, which were previously mainly studied with point transmitters.

Findings

Spherical transmitters affect the propagation pattern and directivity in molecular communication.

Defined new metrics: half-power pattern-width, directivity gain, and peak time.

Quantified power gain at different angles for spherical transmitters.

Abstract

In a diffusion-based molecular communication system, molecules are employed to convey information. When propagation and reception processes are considered in a framework of first passage processes, we need to focus on absorbing receivers. For this kind of molecular communication system, the characteristics of the channel is also affected by the shape of the transmitter. In the literature, most studies focus on systems with a point transmitter due to circular symmetry. In this letter, we address propagation and reception pattern for chemical signals emitted from a spherical transmitter. We also investigate the directivity gain achieved by the reflecting spherical transmitter. We quantify the power gain by measuring the received power at different angles on a circular region. Moreover, we define three metrics, i.e., the half-power pattern-width, the directivity gain, and the peak time of the signal, for analyzing the received signal pattern.