Error correction coding for molecular communications

The emerging field of communications between nanoscale devices is one of considerable importance since it is essential that nanonetworks are formed to realize the potential of such devices. Molecular communication is a method based on diffusion, inspired by biological systems and useful over distances in the nm to μm range. Messenger molecules propagate via diffusion and there is thus a probability that they do not arrive at the receiver or are delayed so as to be delivered in the wrong communication time slot. In this paper, the use of error correction codes is considered to improve the transmission performance of molecular communications. Using a simple block code, it is possible to deliver a coding gain of ~1.6 dB. Nevertheless, energy is required for the coding and decoding when employing the code and this paper also considers this for the first time. It is shown that simple error correction delivers a benefit in terms of energy consumption for distances upwards of approximately 10 μm to 20 μm.