DIRECT: A model for molecular communication nanonetworks based on discrete entities

Abstract

A number of techniques have been recently proposed to implement molecular communication, a novel method which aims to implement communication networks at the nanoscale, known as nanonetworks. A common characteristic of these techniques is that their main resource consists of molecules, which are inherently discrete. This paper presents DIRECT, a novel networking model which differs from conventional models by the way of treating resources as discrete entities; therefore, it is particularly aimed to the analysis of molecular communication techniques. Resources can be involved in different tasks in a network, such as message encoding, they do not attenuate in physical terms and they are considered 100% reusable. The essential properties of DIRECT are explored and the key parameters are investigated throughout this paper.