Testbeds play an essential role in the development of real-life molecular communication applications and experimental validation of communication channel models. Although some testbed concepts have been published in recent years, very few setups are inherently suitable for biomedical applications. Furthermore, systematic experimental data of a wide parameter field for molecular communication is scarce and often difficult to generate. In this work, a biocompatible testbed for molecular communication with magnetic nanoparticles is used to investigate a series of transmission channel parameters. The observed results are discussed in the context of a laminar flow channel. All experimental data regarding the parameter studies as well as an additional data set for a large binary transmission sequence is provided as a supplement to this publication. The data is available on a public server to allow for further use by other researchers.

In this work, we present a novel portable, flexible and easy-to-use experimental setup for investigating salinity- based information transmission in microfluidic channels. At the receiver, the different salinity-levels are detected by a customized electronic circuit, which measures electrical conductivity via electrodes in the microfluidic channel. We provide a detailed de- scription of the setup, including the microfluidic chip fabrication. Moreover, we develop a rigorous mathematical model of each testbed component and an end-to-end model of the system, which we have verified through experiments. Finally, we analyzed the error performance of the setup using optimum and sub-optimum detection algorithms, such as the Viterbi algorithm and threshold detection.

Although the concept of engineered molecular communication has been around for quite some time, practical approaches with truly biocompatible setups are still scarce. However, molecular communication has a large potential in future medical applications and may be a solution to size constraints of antenna based transmission systems. In this work we therefore present a testbed using biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles. Based on previous work, all testbed components have been improved regarding performance and size, making a large step forwards regarding miniaturisation and a data transmission approach. In addition, a setup for localised twodimensional sensing of magnetic nanoparticles is presented. All improvements are evaluated individually and combined to achieve a net data rate of more than 6 bit/s, significantly higher than any other comparable biocompatible setup.

Molecular Communication provides a solution for scenarios where conventional technologies for data transmission are not feasible due to energy or size constraints. The development and characterisation of sensor devices for information particles as receivers is an essential step to realising Molecular Communication setups. In this work we will present a new device for sensing of magnetic nanoparticles using a capacitor to detect changes in permittivity. The sensor was evaluated regarding sensitivity and a data transmission scenario in a testbed and compared to an inductive sensor. The new sensor device has a significantly higher sensitivity than the reference sensor, allowing for the use of less information particles when transmitting data. However, the impulse response is wider as magnetic nanoparticles are held in the electromagnetic field of the receiver's capacitor.

This manuscript was published at 08.10.2021 by the IEEE Transactions on Magnetics. Regarding Mr. Sivo’s Email, the accepted version of the manuscript is now uploaded which also includes the corresponding DOI.

Droplet-based microfluidics show a large potential for lab-on-chip applications and new data transmission scenarios. Microfluidic chips contain channels in the submillimeter range allowing for flow of droplets. In a previous contribution, a new sensor design for droplet size and colour detection, consisting of an infrared and a colour sensor, was presented and a first proof-of-concept was shown. In this work, an in-depth analysis of both concepts is presented. In particular, we show that a high precision can be achieved when using the sensor to measure droplet sizes while using video processing software as reference. Furthermore, a colour alphabet consisting of 126 individual values is transmitted and detected using a machine learning model. The high specificity of achieved colour measurement allows both for colour coded data transmission scenarios and the analysis of colour reagents in lab-on-chip applications.

Molecular communication uses molecules or other nanoscale particles to transmit data in scenarios where conventional communication techniques are not feasible. In previous work a testbed using superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) as information carriers in a fluid transmission channel with constant background flow was proposed. The SPIONs are detected at a receiver as change of a coils inductance. We now improve the testbed by using a piezoelectric micropump as transmitter, making amplitude modulation (AM) with di?erent injection volumes possible. Machine learning is employed at the receiver to di?erentiate between six di?erent amplitude levels and grey code is used to reduce bit errors. With AM and the designed coding scheme, the achievable e?ective data rate was doubled to 4.45 bit/s.

Testbeds are required to assess concepts and devices in the context of molecular communication. These allow the observation of real-life phenomena in a controlled environment and therefore present the basis of future work. A testbed using superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) as information carriers was constructed with regard to this context and requires a sensitive receiver for the detection of SPIONs. This paper focusses on the comparison between a newly presented device (inductance sensor), a previously constructed SPION sensor (resonance bridge), and a commercial susceptometer as reference. The new inductance sensor is intended to improve on a low sensitivity achieved with the previous device and restrictions with respect to sample rate and measurement aperture encountered with the susceptometer. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for each device is assessed at a variety of SPION concentrations. Furthermore, the sensors bit error rates (BER) for a random bit sequence are determined. The results show the device based on an inductance sensor to be the most promising for further investigation as values both for BER and SNR exceed those of the resonance bridge while providing a su?ciently high sample rate. On average the SNR of the new device is 13 dB higher while the BER for the worst transmission scenario is 9% lower. The commercial susceptometer, although returning the highest SNR, lacks adaptability for the given use case.