IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - April 2017 - 42

Active Network
Network
Active
Message carrier
carrier
Message
X
X

Y
Y

Program (e.g.
(e.g. chemical)
chemical)
Program
Data (e.g.
(e.g. molecular)
molecular)
Data

Data (e.g. molecular)
chemical)
Active Network
Network
Active
Channel == f(x)
f(x)
Channel
(noisy)
(noisy)

Transmitter
Transmitter

Receiver
Receiver

Medium
Medium

FIGURE 1. The relationship between IEEE P1906.1/Draft 1.0 and active networks is illustrated. The message carrier may be "active" in the sense that it generates programmed
changes within the underlying network as it moves through the network. This optimization changes the probability of Y, and thus the channel output being correctly received
when X is sent.

defines the common services that a
nanoscale communication protocol will
utilize. The framework must be broad
enough to encompass the possible types
of message transport that leverage properties exhibited at the nanoscale. It must
also be broad enough to anticipate academic and industry needs to develop
individual components of a nanoscale
network and allow them to interoperate.
Simulation modules will likely develop
along similar lines; such modules must
be able to interoperate and allow code to
be easily reused.
The components of the framework
build upon the definition and include:
message carrier, motion, field, perturbation, and specificity. The message carrier
was mentioned in the definition as the
physical entity that carries the message;
similar to quantum mechanics, it may
take a particle or waveform. The motion
component refers to the service that provides the force that enables the message
carrier to move. The field component
provides the service of guiding the message carrier. Motion may be random
while the field component provides
directionality [2]. The field component
may be applied externally.
Perturbation is the component that
provides controlled change to create a
signal. It is analogous to modulation in
telecommunications; it is the process of
varying an aspect of the message carrier
or its flow such that a valid message is
formed. Perturbation can take many
42 IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine

april 2017

forms including changing the molecular
structure, varying the concentration of
message carriers, varying a voltage
level through a nanowire, or changing
the specificity of the receiver. Finally,
the specificity component controls the
affinity of the receiver to the message
carrier. These components and their
relationships are known simply as the
standard model.
The five components must interoperate through a well-defined interface.
This allows a division of labor such that
one organization could develop message carriers while another develops
field components, and everyone can be
confident that the components will
work successfully together.
The message carrier component
transports the message. Specificity provides the ability for addressing and thus
may reside at the data link layer as a
means of ensuring the message carrier
binds only to the intended target. The
motion component represents the physical operation of the application of
force to the message carrier; it ensures
that the message carrier travels from
one node to another across a data link.
The field component provides a level of
directionality to the motion of the message carrier and can help it cross a data
link as well as a complete network
path. Finally, the perturbation component applies to variations of any subset
of components to form a signal recognized by the intended receiver.

IEEE P1906.1 components are more
general than the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model and apply
equally well to an active network as
illustrated in Figure 1. In this case, the
message carrier is "programmed" to
make persistent changes to the underlying network channel medium that
impacts subsequent future message carriers traveling over the channel [1].
Thus, if X and Y are random variables
representing the input and output of the
channel, respectively, then channel
operation is modified by some function
f(X) that impacts the conditional probability of Y being recognized correctly
when X is transmitted. While an active
network is a powerful paradigm, it also
violates the strict separation of layers
enforced by the OSI model.

V. USE-CASES: REAPING
THE BENEFITS
In this section, we briefly discuss usecases that provide example applications
that make use of the IEEE P1906.1/
Draft 1.0 Recommended Practice for
Nanoscale and Molecular Communication Framework. The mapping of these
use-cases onto the framework and definitions will be shown. As mentioned,
the IEEE P1906.1/Draft 1.0 does not
specify a protocol or an application.
Instead, use-cases serve to illustrate
how the standard may be used for various protocols and provide ideas for
future protocol and application development. Example technologies include
the Carbon Nanotube (CNT) radio and
molecular communication (active and
passive) described next.
The CNT radio illustrated in Figure 2
meets the definition of a nanoscale communication network because it has an
essential component, the CNT that is
one-dimensional with a diameter on the
order of a nanometer [7]. It meets the
size requirement and exhibits quantum
confinement with regard to having
nanoscale physical properties. Finally,
the CNT radio has elements that map to
a transmitter, receiver, medium, message, and message carrier, thus meeting
all the requirements for the definition of
nanoscale communication. The IEEE
P1906.1/Draft 1.0 components and

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