Bio-inspired and nano-scale molecular communication: From evolution to evaluation

Many existing and envisioned information network architectures such as cognitive radio networks, sensor and actor networks, quantum communication networks, next generation Internet, and interplanetary Internet have several common significant challenges to be addressed such as the increased complexity with large scale networks, their dynamic nature, resource constraints, heterogeneous architectures, absence or impracticality of centralized control and infrastructure, need for survivability, and unattended resolution of potential failures. These challenges have been successfully dealt with by nature, which, as a result of millions of years of evolution, have yielded many biological systems and processes with intrinsic appealing characteristics such as adaptivity to varying environmental conditions, inherent resiliency to failures and damages, successful and collaborative operation on the basis of a limited set of rules, self-organization, survivability, and evolvability. Inspired by these characteristics, many researchers are currently engaged in modeling and developing innovative design paradigms to address the networking challenges of existing and envisioned information systems. In this talk, the current state-of-the-art in bio-inspired and nano-scale molecular communication is captured. As one of the most challenging and exciting artifacts of bio-inspired communications, nano-scale and molecular communication networks are introduced. Open research issues for the nano-scale communications are highlighted from the perspective of modeling and performance evaluation.