Molecular Physical Layer for 6G in Wave-Denied Environments

Guo, Weisi; Abbaszadeh, Mahmoud; Lin, Lin; Charmet, Jerome; Thomas, Peter; Wei, Zhuangkun; Li, Bin; Zhao, Chenglin

Abstract

The sixth generation (6G) of wireless systems are likely to operate in environments and scales that wireless services have not penetrated effectively. Many of these environments are not suitable for efficient data bearing wave propagation. Molecular signals have the potential to deliver information by exploiting both new modulation mechanisms via chemical encoding and new multi-scale propagation physics. While the fusion of biophysical models and communication theory has rapidly advanced the molecular communication field, there is a lack of real-world macro-scale applications. Here, we introduce application areas in defense and security, ranging from underwater search and rescue to covert communications; and cyber-physical systems, such as using molecular signals for health monitoring in underground networked systems. These engineering applications not only demand new wireless communication technologies ranging from DNA encoding to molecular graph signal processing, but also demonstrate the potential for molecular communication to contribute in traditional but challenging engineering areas. Together, it is increasingly believed that molecular communication can be a new physical layer for 6G, accessing and extracting data from extreme wave-denied environments.

Citation

Guo, W., Abbaszadeh, M., Lin, L., Charmet, J., Thomas, P., Wei, Z., Li, B., & Zhao, C. (2021). Molecular Physical Layer for 6G in Wave-Denied Environments. IEEE Communications Magazine, 59(5), 33-39. https://doi.org/10.1109/mcom.001.2000958

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 22, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Jun 3, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-05
• Deposit Date: Feb 12, 2025
• Journal: IEEE Communications Magazine
• Print ISSN: 0163-6804
• Electronic ISSN: 1558-1896
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 59
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 33-39
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/mcom.001.2000958
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3479439