Simulation framework for touchable communication on NS3Sim
Introduction
With the recent progress of semiconductor materials technology [1], engineering bacteria technology [2] and nano-robot technology [[3], [4]], especially in the field of medical applications, a new type of communication called molecular communication [5], has become a popular topic of research. Different from classical wireless communications which use electromagnetic waves as the information carrier, the carrier in molecular communication is molecules. In the case that magnetism-sensitive molecules are used as the information carrier, which can be controlled to some extent by an external field and observed and monitored in real-time with existing imaging technology, the corresponding molecular communication scheme is named touchable communication (TouchCom) [6]. The term “touchable” indicates that the communication process can be controlled and tracked, which is similar to control through simple or multi-touch gestures by a finger through a touch screen.
Meanwhile, a new standard working group, the IEEE 1906.1, is committed to establish a standard for nanoscale and molecular communications [7], and build a framework on the Network Simulation 3 (NS-3) platform in accordance with the specifications they have proposed with several example modules. Though TouchCom is incorporated in the IEEE 1906.1 standard as a use case, it has not been implemented on the N3-3 platform. In view of this gap, this article introduces a TouchCom example in the medical application scenario (targeted drug delivery) based on the 1906.1 framework and NS-3. The paper will first briefly introduce the architecture of the multi-layer targeted drug delivery system and map the elements of the system onto the 1906.1 standard. With the established mapping relations, a flow chart is provided to describe the working procedures of how those components operate together in the NS-3 platform to simulate the targeted drug delivery system. The function of this example module is generating useful information representing the performance of the TouchCom system and includes path loss and transmission delay respectively. The path loss in TouchCom mainly refers to how much information carriers are lost during transmission due to interference and wastage and the transmission delay denotes how much time is spent traveling from the transmitter to receiver. As the current example module is the first basic version, this paper also introduces its potential extension in the future to enhance the functions in the module and refine the application scenario based on our results.
Section snippets
System architecture
The proposed cross-scale drug delivery system includes an external macro-unit (MAU) and a number of in vivo, drug-loaded micro-units (MIUs), which may be in the form of biodegradable and biocompatible silicon-based electronics [1] or engineered bacteria [3]. As shown in Fig. 1, the MAU directs the motion of a swarm of nanobots by generating a guiding field [[3], [6], [8]]. The MAU also applies angiography to visualize partially the inside, or lumen, of blood vessels in the human body. For
Mapping onto 1906.1 framework
The 1906.1 framework defines a set of fundamental components in the nanoscale communication system as follows:
Field: (A) It is a generic IEEE 1906.1 component that provides the service of controlled motion of message carriers. Application of the Field component can result in message carriers whose motion has both a deterministic and random component. (B) A region of space throughout which the force produced by an agent or agents, such as an electric charge, is operative.
Medium: The interface
Workflow of the TouchCom module
As discussed above, the TouchCom use case in IEEE 1906.1 framework consists of six components. Fig. 8 presents the flowchart of the simulation package.
The input parameters should include: parameter sets for generating blood vessels, initial drug concentration, drug type, drug resistance and sensitivity, lifespan of nanobots, and size of the visible region (i.e. the occupation of visible region in the entire fractal-based region). Based on the Medium parameter set, a fractal structure to
Simulations
In this section, we present some simulation results of the TouchCom package in the NS3 platform, including the fractal-based network structure with Murray’s law and corresponding performance of propagation delay and path loss. Diffusion-based part is not included since the model is not completed in the current version on NS-3 platform as mentioned above. We are working to present a more integrated system as soon as possible.
The simulation results are generated from the following example of
Conclusion
In this paper, we have presented details for the implementation of the TouchCom use case in the IEEE 1906.1 framework by using the NS-3 platform. In this package, we have integrated essential elements constituting the TouchCom system for drug delivery, which also includes the fundamental components in the 1906.1 framework. This allowed for the creation of a comprehensive example module in the NS-3 platform. As the first TouchCom simulation package among various platforms, this package provides
Yu Zhou received the B.Eng. degree in microelectronics from Anhui University, China, in 2009, and the M.Sc. degree in advanced wireless communications from Queen’s University Belfast, U.K., in 2012. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China, and the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong. His
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Yu Zhou received the B.Eng. degree in microelectronics from Anhui University, China, in 2009, and the M.Sc. degree in advanced wireless communications from Queen’s University Belfast, U.K., in 2012. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China, and the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong. His current research interests include molecular and touchable communications with application to targeted drug delivery and contrast-enhanced medical imaging.
Yifan Chen (M’06–SM’14) received the B.Eng. (Hons.) and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and electronic engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2002 and 2006, respectively. From 2005 to 2007, he was a Project Officer and then a Research Fellow with the Singapore-University of Washington Alliance in bioengineering, supported by the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Nanyang Technological University, and the University of Washington at Seattle, USA. From 2007 to 2012, he was a Lecturer and then a Senior Lecturer with the University of Greenwich and Newcastle University, U.K. From 2012 to 2016, he was a Professor and the Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China, appointed through the Recruitment Program of Global Experts (known as the Thousand Talents Plan). In 2013, he was a Visiting Professor with the Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore. He is currently the Professor of Engineering and an Associate Dean External Engagement of the Faculty of Science and Engineering and the Faculty of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. His current research interests include electromagnetic medical imaging and diagnosis, transient communication with application to healthcare, touchable communication and computation with application to targeted drug delivery and contrast-enhanced medical imaging, fundamentals and applications of nanoscale and molecular communications, and channel modeling for next-generation wireless systems and networks.
Dr. Chen is a fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. He is the Coordinator of the European FP7 CoNHealth Project on intelligent medical ICT, an elected Working Group Co-Leader of the European COST Action TD1301 MiMed Project on microwave medical imaging, an Advisory Committee Member of the European Horizon 2020 CIRCLE Project on molecular communications, a Voting Member of the IEEE Standards Development Working Group 1906.1 on nanoscale and molecular communications, an Editor of the IEEE ComSoc Best Readings in Nanoscale Communication Networks and the IEEE Access Special Section in Nano-antennas, Nano-transceivers, and Nano-networks/Communications, and the Vice Chair of the IEEE Nanoscale, Molecular and Quantum Networking Emerging Technical Subcommittee. He also served as a Technical Program Chair of the 2017 IEEE Electrical Design of Advanced Packaging and Systems Symposium, a Technical Program Chair of the 2017 IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Signal Processing and Communication Systems, a General Chair of the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Communication Systems, a Technical Symposium Chair of the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Communications in China, and a Technical Program Chair of the 2014 IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics — China.
Ross D. Murch (M’84-SM’98-F’09) is a Chair Professor in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). His current research interests include the Internet-of-Things, underwater acoustics and antenna design and his unique expertise lies in his combination of knowledge from both wireless communication systems and electromagnetic areas. His research contributions include more than 200 publications and 20 patents on wireless communication systems and antennas and these have attracted over 12,000 citations. He was Department Head at HKUST from 2009–2015, is an IEEE Fellow and has won several awards including the Computer Simulation Technology (CST) University Publication Award in 2015. His recent sabbatical visits have included Imperial College London, MIT and University of Canterbury. He has served IEEE in various positions including area editor, technical program chair, distinguished lecturer and Fellow evaluation committee. He received his Bachelor’s and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Rui Wang (M’10) received his Bachelor of Engineer Degree in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Science & Technology of China (USTC) in 2004. in 2008, he obtained the Ph.D. degree in wireless communications at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST) in 2009, he worked as a post-doctoral research associate in HKUST. During 2009–2012, he worked as a senior research engineer at Huawei-HKUST Innovation Laboratory, Huawei Technology, Co., Ltd. He is currently an associate professor in the Southern University of Science & Technology (SUSTech).
Qingfeng Zhang (S’07–M’11) was born in Changzhou, China. He received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China, in 2007, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2011. From June 2011 to December 2013, he was with the Poly-Grames Research Center, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada, as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Since December 2013, he has been with the Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China, as an Assistant Professor. His research interests are focused on emerging novel electromagnetics technologies and multidisciplinary topics.