Experimental Implementation of Index Modulation for Molecular Communication

Molecular communications is a novel communication method that is ideal for nano- and micro-sized scenarios, where conventional radio-frequency communication systems are difficult to employ. Molecular communication via diffusion is a type of molecular communications, where molecules are utilized as information carriers between transmitters and receivers. To increase the communication quality/rate of these systems, multiple input multiple output setups are also considered. Index modulation, which uses the active transmitter index to convey information is one of the most recent methods that is considered in the literature. The main problem of the relevant literature is the dependence on analytical-only or simulation-based results due to the difficulty in designing proper experimental setups. This paper focuses on a physical testbed that implements index modulation for molecular communication. The considered channels are also modeled in COMSOL, and the corresponding simulations are performed. Results demonstrate that index modulated molecular communication systems can be physically achieved and can be used to successfully transmit data.