Self-orthogonal convolutional codes (SOCCs) for diffusion-based molecular communication systems

Enhancing the communications performance of diffusion based molecular communications system whilst being considerate about the energy requirements is an ever present problem for researchers. Here it is proposed for the first time, that self-orthogonal convolutional codes (SOCCs) might be a candidate solution moving forward. Analysis is conducted that shows the performance comparisons between both un-coded systems and those which employ Hamming codes. The specific metrics used herein are with respect to coding gain and critical distance. The results show that a (3,2,13) SOCC provides the largest coding gain compared with all Hamming codes over a BER range of 10⁻⁵ to 10⁻⁹ and furthermore, also has the shortest critical distance.