Molecular Communication in Vacuum

Existing molecular communication systems, both theoretical and experimental, are characterized by low information rates. In this paper, inspired by time-of-flight mass spectrometry, we consider the design of a molecular communication system in which the channel is a vacuum, and demonstrate that this method has the potential to increase achievable information rates by many orders of magnitude. We use modelling results from TOFMS to obtain arrival time distributions for accelerated ions, and use it to analyze several species of ions, including hydrogen, nitrogen, argon, and benzene. Using a simplified communication model, we show that data rates in excess of 100 Mbit/s/molecule are achievable.