Abstract:
The field of nanotechnology, evolved over the last few decades, has resulted in the ability of engineering novel tools, materials, and components at the molecular and atomic scale, and it is expected to lead to the development of nanoscale machines, or nanomachines. However, a shortcoming of these nanomachines is the limited processing capabilities that allow them to only perform limited tasks. Enabling communication between nanomachines could further strengthen their capabilities and provide opportunities for new applications.
The emerging field of molecular communication aims to enable nanomachines to communicate from an infrastructure that is constructed using biological components and systems that are found in nature. The possibility of constructing bio-compatible communication systems using natural biological cells are at the basis of a plethora of application including, intra-body sensing and actuation as well as targeted drug delivery. The focus of this seminar is to provide an overview of this new field, where molecular communication system models using bacteria, calcium signaling, and virus will be presented. For each of these models, a representative communication system will be discussed. The seminar will also discuss the possible reuse of protocols from conventional communication systems that can be applied to molecular communication. Lastly, the seminar presents future perspectives of applying molecular communication for the Internet of Bio-Nano Things.
About the Speaker:
Sasitharan Balasubramaniam (Sasi) received his Bachelors of Engineering (Electrical and Electronic) and Ph.D degrees from the University of Queensland, Australia, in 1998 and 2005, respectively, and Masters of Engineering Science (Computer and Communication Engineering) degree in 1999 from the Queensland University of Technology, Australia. After completion of his Ph.D, Sasi joined the Telecommunication Software & Systems Group, Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland where his research focused on bio-inspired communication networks, including routing and resource management, green communication networks, as well as molecular communications, which he started in 2007. In 2009, he successfully received the Science Foundation Ireland Starter Investigator Research Grant, which allowed him to create a Bio-Inspired Research Unit.
In 2013, Sasi joined the Nano Communication Centre, Department of Electronic and Communication Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Finland, where he leads the molecular communication research track. In September 2014, he received the Academy of Finland Research Fellow grant that allows him to create an independent research group. In total he has attracted €1.2 million in research funding. Sasi has published 35 transactions/journal/magazine publications, 2 book chapters, and 61 peer reviewed conference papers and actively participates in various conference committees. He was the TPC co-chair for ACM NANOCOM 2014 and IEEE MoNaCom2011, both conferences which he co-founded, and in 2015 he is the General co-chair for the ACM NANOCOM 2015. He is currently an editor for the IEEE Internet of Things journal, Elsevier Nano Communication Networks, as well as Elsevier Swarm and Evolutionary Computation journals.
His current research interests include molecular communications as well as the Internet of Nano Things. Sasi is currently an IEEE Senior Member.
More information about Sasi can be found at http://www.cs.tut.fi/~balasubs/.
