Molecule Mixture Detection and Alphabet Design for Non-linear, Cross-reactive Receiver Arrays in MC

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Heinlein, Bastian, Zhu, Kaikai, Carkit-Yilmaz, Sümeyye, Lotter, Sebastian, Loos, Helene M., Buettner, Andrea, Deng, Yansha, Schober, Robert, Jamali, Vahid
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Heinlein, Bastian
Zhu, Kaikai
Carkit-Yilmaz, Sümeyye
Lotter, Sebastian
Loos, Helene M.
Buettner, Andrea
Deng, Yansha
Schober, Robert
Jamali, Vahid
author_facet Heinlein, Bastian
Zhu, Kaikai
Carkit-Yilmaz, Sümeyye
Lotter, Sebastian
Loos, Helene M.
Buettner, Andrea
Deng, Yansha
Schober, Robert
Jamali, Vahid
contents Air-based molecular communication (MC) has the potential to be one of the first MC systems to be deployed in real-world applications, enabled by existing sensor technologies such as metal-oxide semi-conductor (MOS) sensors. However, commercially available sensors usually exhibit non-linear and cross-reactive behavior, contrary to the idealizing assumptions about linear and perfectly molecule type-specific sensing often made in the MC literature. To address this gap, we propose a detector for molecule mixture communication with a general non-linear, cross-reactive receiver (RX) array that performs approximate maximum likelihood detection on the sensor outputs. Additionally, we introduce an algorithm for the design of mixture alphabets that accounts for the RX characteristics. We evaluate our detector and alphabet design algorithm through simulations that are based on measurements reported for two commercial MOS sensors. Our simulations demonstrate that the proposed detector achieves similar symbol error rates as data-driven methods without requiring large numbers of training samples and that the alphabet design algorithm outperforms methods that do not account for the RX characteristics. Since the proposed detector and alphabet design algorithm are also applicable to other chemical sensors, they pave the way for reliable air-based MC.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_10856
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Molecule Mixture Detection and Alphabet Design for Non-linear, Cross-reactive Receiver Arrays in MC
Heinlein, Bastian
Zhu, Kaikai
Carkit-Yilmaz, Sümeyye
Lotter, Sebastian
Loos, Helene M.
Buettner, Andrea
Deng, Yansha
Schober, Robert
Jamali, Vahid
Signal Processing
Emerging Technologies
Air-based molecular communication (MC) has the potential to be one of the first MC systems to be deployed in real-world applications, enabled by existing sensor technologies such as metal-oxide semi-conductor (MOS) sensors. However, commercially available sensors usually exhibit non-linear and cross-reactive behavior, contrary to the idealizing assumptions about linear and perfectly molecule type-specific sensing often made in the MC literature. To address this gap, we propose a detector for molecule mixture communication with a general non-linear, cross-reactive receiver (RX) array that performs approximate maximum likelihood detection on the sensor outputs. Additionally, we introduce an algorithm for the design of mixture alphabets that accounts for the RX characteristics. We evaluate our detector and alphabet design algorithm through simulations that are based on measurements reported for two commercial MOS sensors. Our simulations demonstrate that the proposed detector achieves similar symbol error rates as data-driven methods without requiring large numbers of training samples and that the alphabet design algorithm outperforms methods that do not account for the RX characteristics. Since the proposed detector and alphabet design algorithm are also applicable to other chemical sensors, they pave the way for reliable air-based MC.
title Molecule Mixture Detection and Alphabet Design for Non-linear, Cross-reactive Receiver Arrays in MC
topic Signal Processing
Emerging Technologies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.10856