HLA based architecture for molecular communication simulation

In parallel to the developments in nano-scale machines and engineered cells, communication among them is getting more attention. The use of molecules to transfer information from one nanomachine to another is one of the mechanisms to build networks at the nano-scale. The research activities on communication models and performance evaluation of molecular communication heavily depend on simulations to verify the proposed models. The existing simulation tools for computer networking can not be directly used for molecular communication due to different communication model and channel characteristics of the fluid environment and the carrier wave properties. Simulation of molecular communication requires modeling the new communication paradigm that comprises different options for encoding, transmission, propagation, reception, and decoding. It should consider possible architectural design options and performance evaluation of molecular communication networks. Since molecular communication involves the modeling of large number of nano-scale objects, the scalability of the simulation tool is another important concern. In this paper, we introduce a simulator design that aims at fulfilling important design issues of the molecular communication model, focusing on scalability. High Level Architecture (HLA), which is standardized under IEEE 1516, is used to design and develop a distributed simulation tool for molecular communication. The results show that different scalability options can be used to benefit from additional processing power to shorten the execution time. This also enables modeling large systems, which may not be possible otherwise.