Type-Spread Molecular Communications: Principles and Inter-Symbol Interference Mitigation

Abstract

Diffusion-based Molecular Communication (DMC) is a feasible method for information transmission in some nano-networks operated in gas or liquid environments. In this paper, we first propose an information modulation scheme for DMC, which is referred to as the Type-Spread Molecular Shift Keying (TS-MoSK). Considering that DMC signals usually experience severe inter-symbol interference (ISI), our TS-MoSK is characterized by introducing extra types of molecules for ISI mitigation (ISIM). Furthermore, we introduce two ISIM methods to the TS-MoSK modulated DMC systems, which are the active ISIM and passive ISIM. We detail their operation principles, and investigate as well as compare their achievable performance. Our studies show that, aided by the extra types of molecules, TS-MoSK outperforms the MoSK without spreading. Both ISIM approaches are effective for further improving the performance of TS-MoSK.