On the Target Detection Performance of a Molecular Communication Network with Multiple Mobile Nanomachines

A network of nanomachines (NMs) can be used to build a target detection system for a variety of promising applications. They have the potential to detect toxic chemicals, infectious bacteria, and biomarkers of dangerous diseases such as cancer within the human body. Many diseases and health disorders can be detected early and efficiently treated in the future by utilizing these systems. To fully grasp the potential of these systems, mathematical analysis is required. This paper describes an analytical framework for modeling and analyzing the performance of target detection systems composed of multiple mobile nanomachines of varying sizes with passive/absorbing boundaries. We consider both direct contact detection, in which NMs must physically contact the target to detect it, and indirect sensing, in which NMs must detect the marker molecules emitted by the target. The detection performance of such systems is calculated for degradable and non-degradable targets, as well as mobile and stationary targets. The derived expressions provide various insights, such as the effect of NM density and target degradation on detection probability.

On the Coverage of Cognitive mmWave Networks with Directional Sensing and Communication

Millimeter-waves' propagation characteristics create prospects for spatial and temporal spectrum sharing in a variety of contexts, including cognitive spectrum sharing (CSS). However, CSS along with omnidirectional sensing, is not efficient at mmWave frequencies due to their directional nature of transmission, as this limits secondary networks' ability to access the spectrum. This inspired us to create an analytical approach using stochastic geometry to examine the implications of directional cognitive sensing in mmWave networks. We explore a scenario where multiple secondary transmitter-receiver pairs coexist with a primary transmitter-receiver pair, forming a cognitive network. The positions of the secondary transmitters are modelled using a homogeneous Poisson point process (PPP) with corresponding secondary receivers located around them. A threshold on directional transmission is imposed on each secondary transmitter in order to limit its interference at the primary receiver. We derive the medium-access-probability of a secondary user along with the fraction of the secondary transmitters active at a time-instant. To understand cognition's feasibility, we derive the coverage probabilities of primary and secondary links. We provide various design insights via numerical results. For example, we investigate the interference-threshold's optimal value while ensuring coverage for both links and its dependence on various parameters. We find that directionality improves both links' performance as a key factor. Further, allowing location-aware secondary directionality can help achieve similar coverage for all secondary links.

Impact of Multiple Fully-Absorbing Receivers in Molecular Communications

Molecular communication is a promising solution to enable intra-body communications among nanomachines. However, malicious and non-cooperative receivers can degrade the performance, compromising these systems' security. Analyzing the communication and security performance of these systems requires accurate channel models. However, such models are not present in the literature. In this work, we develop an analytical framework to derive the hitting probability of a molecule on a fully absorbing receiver (FAR) in the presence of other FARs, which can be either be cooperative or malicious. We first present an approximate hitting probability expression for the 3-FARs case. A simplified expression is obtained for the case when FARs are symmetrically positioned. Using the derived expressions, we study the impact of malicious receivers on the intended receiver and discuss how to minimize this impact to obtain a secure communication channel. We also study the gain that can be obtained by the cooperation of these FARs. We then present an approach to extend the analysis for a system with N FARs. The derived expressions can be used to analyze and design multiple input/output and secure molecular communication systems.