A Networking Paradigm Inspired by Cell Communication Mechanisms

This chapter provides a brief review of molecular communication, a networking paradigm inspired by cell communication mechanisms. In molecular communication, information is encoded to and decoded from molecules, rather than electrons or electromagnetic waves. Molecular communication provides bio-compatible and energy-efficient solutions with massive parallelization at the nano-to-micro scale; it is expected to play a key role in a multitude of domains including health, the environment, and ICT (Information Communication Technology). Models and methods of molecular communication are also reviewed, and research challenges that need to be addressed for further advancement of the molecular communication paradigm are discussed.