Estimation of Source Direction with Spherical Array Receiver in Molecular Communication

This paper proposes a method to estimate the direction of a point source in a diffusive molecular communication (MC) system. The estimator neither requires the knowledge of the number of released molecules nor the distance from the source. The goal is achieved via a specifically designed spherical array of receivers composed of a finite number of fully-absorbing (FA) elements, i.e. receivers. It is proved that the source direction estimation without the knowledge of the number of released molecules is feasible only for the symmetrical configuration of receivers on the array. The proposed approach is based on a model for the temporal asymptotic number of molecules absorbed by multiple FA receivers that takes into account their reciprocal interaction. The accuracy of the estimation is measured in terms of root mean squared error for different scenarios.