Communicating Smartly in the Molecular Domain: Neural Networks in the Internet of Bio-Nano Things

Abstract: Recent developments in the Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT) are laying the groundwork for innovative applications across the healthcare sector. Nanodevices designed to operate within the body, managed remotely via the internet, are envisioned to promptly detect and actuate on potential diseases. In this vision, an inherent challenge arises due to the limited capabilities of individual nanosensors; specifically, nanosensors must communicate with one another to collaborate as a cluster. Aiming to research the boundaries of the clustering capabilities, this survey emphasizes data-driven communication strategies in molecular communication (MC) channels as a means of linking nanosensors. Relying on the flexibility and robustness of ML methods to tackle the dynamic nature of MC channels, the MC research community frequently refers to neural network (NN) architectures. This interdisciplinary research field encompasses various aspects, including the use of NNs to facilitate communication in MC environments, their implementation at the nanoscale, explainable approaches for NNs, and dataset generation for training. Within this survey, we provide a comprehensive analysis of fundamental perspectives on recent trends in NN architectures for MC, the feasibility of their implementation at the nanoscale, applied explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) techniques, and the accessibility of datasets along with best practices for their generation. Additionally, we offer open-source code repositories that illustrate NN-based methods to support reproducible research for key MC scenarios. Finally, we identify emerging research challenges, such as robust NN architectures, biologically integrated NN modules, and scalable training strategies.