Novel Interleaved Code for High-Throughput Parallel DNA-Based Molecular Communications

DNA-based molecular communication (DNA-MC) is a biological communication mechanism that uses DNA strands as information carriers. The longevity, stability, high information density, massive parallelism, and biological compatibility of DNA offer a dramatic potential for DNA-based storage, computing, and communication. This letter extends our previous work, which used the directional and controllable molecular hopper along the track to replace the slow and random diffusion mechanisms. This letter proposes a multiple-track-hopper parallel communication mechanism to achieve high throughput by parallel transmission and sequencing. We recommend utilizing interleaved coding to mitigate the bit error rate (BER) caused by the back-stepping motion, resulting in successive symmetric errors. Additionally, we have explored the proper interleaving depth necessary to preserve the diminished DNA information density that results from the redundancy for error correction. Simulations show that interleaved coding efficiently reduces BER in parallel DNA-MC while requiring less redundancy. This letter demonstrates the feasibility and potential of high-throughput and low-error DNA-MC, which could enable novel interdisciplinary advances between DNA communication, nanotechnology, and synthetic biology.