Toward a Wired Ad Hoc Nanonetwork

TL;DR

This paper introduces a Wired Ad hoc NanoNETwork (WANNET) model using actin filaments for nanocommunication, demonstrating high throughput and low delay compared to wireless molecular networks.

Contribution

It proposes a novel wired nanonetwork model based on actin filaments and provides an analytical physical layer model with performance evaluation.

Findings

High achievable throughput demonstrated

Lower delay compared to wireless nanonetworks

Analytical model of actin nanowire physical layer

Abstract

Nanomachines promise to enable new medical applications, including drug delivery and real time chemical reactions' detection inside the human body. Such complex tasks need cooperation between nanomachines using a communication network. Wireless Ad hoc networks, using molecular or electromagnetic-based communication have been proposed in the literature to create flexible nanonetworks between nanomachines. In this paper, we propose a Wired Ad hoc NanoNETwork (WANNET) model design using actin-based nano-communication. In the proposed model, actin filaments self-assembly and disassembly is used to create flexible nanowires between nanomachines, and electrons are used as carriers of information. We give a general overview of the application layer, Medium Access Control (MAC) layer and a physical layer of the model. We also detail the analytical model of the physical layer using actin nanowire equivalent circuits, and we present an estimation of the circuit component's values. Numerical results of the derived model are provided in terms of attenuation, phase and delay as a function of the frequency and distances between nanomachines. The maximum throughput of the actin-based nanowire is also provided, and a comparison between the maximum throughput of the proposed WANNET, vs other proposed approaches is presented. The obtained results prove that the proposed wired ad hoc nanonetwork can give a very high achievable throughput with a smaller delay compared to other proposed wireless molecular communication networks.