An algorithmic distance estimation scheme for diffusion based molecular communication systems

Molecules are often used as the information carrier to accomplish communications among nano-machines. To achieve a fast and reliable transmission, knowing the distance between the transmitter (TX) and the receiver (RX) is of great importance. In this paper, an algorithmic distance estimation scheme is proposed whereby, the RX estimates the distance by way of counting the number of molecules within a fixed period of time. Two optimisation methods have been also proposed and explained. Simulations are carried out to show the accuracy and to discover how the diffusion channel will influence the performance. Results illustrate that this estimation scheme and proposed optimisation methods will bring an enhancement to the area of molecular communications.