Impact of receiver reaction mechanisms on the performance of molecular communication networks

Abstract: In a molecular communication network, transmitters and receivers communicate by using signalling molecules. At the receivers, the signalling molecules react, via a chain of chemical reactions, to produce output molecules. The counts of output molecules over time is considered to be the output signal of the receiver. This output signal is used to detect the presence of signalling molecules at the receiver. The output signal is noisy due to the stochastic nature of diffusion and chemical reactions. The aim of this paper is to characterise the properties of the output signals for two types of receivers, which are based on two different types of reaction mechanisms. We derive analytical expressions for the mean, variance and frequency properties of these two types of receivers. These expressions allow us to study the properties of these two types of receivers. In addition, our model allows us to study the effect of the diffusibility of the receiver membrane on the performance of the receivers.