A Hands-On Molecular Communication Testbed for Undergraduate Education

2025-12-01

AI Summary

Undergraduate communication engineering laboratories lack intuitive, reproducible, and low-cost molecular communication (MC) teaching platforms. Method: This paper designs and implements a simplified MC experimental system based on dye-molecule transport in water flow. It employs a multi-wavelength optical sensor for signal acquisition and applies pseudoinverse-based spectral unmixing combined with zero-forcing estimation to separate overlapping optical signals, supporting on-off keying (OOK) modulation and demodulation. Contribution/Results: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to systematically integrate fundamental MC principles into undergraduate laboratory instruction without requiring precision microfluidic equipment—relying instead on ambient water flow and off-the-shelf optoelectronic components. Students complete end-to-end channel characterization and communication within a single lab session, achieving stable 0.5 bit/s data transmission over a 15 cm channel. The system significantly enhances accessibility and hands-on engagement with MC concepts.

Technology Category

• Multiagent Systems: Agent Communication
• Search and Optimization: Mixed Discrete/Continuous Search
• Machine Learning: Mixture of Experts (MoE)

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Web measurements

Abstract

This work presents a hands-on molecular communication (MC) testbed developed for the undergraduate extit{Communication Engineering} lab course at the Institute for Communications Technology (IfN), TU~Braunschweig. The goal of the experiment is to provide students with an intuitive and reproducible introduction to MC concepts using a low-cost and accessible fluidic setup. The system employs a background water flow into which three dye colors are injected and symbols are detected by a multi-wavelength photosensor. A zero-forcing--based estimator is used to separate the spectral components and reliably identify the transmitted colors. The experiment is designed to be completed independently by students within a single laboratory session and requires only basic prior knowledge from introductory communication engineering courses. A detailed script accompanies the experiment, guiding students through channel characterization, color detection, pseudoinverse computation, and simple data transmission using on-off keying. In pilot trials, students successfully reproduced the entire communication chain and achieved stable data rates of up to 0.5~bit/s over a 15~cm channel. The proposed testbed demonstrates that fundamental principles of MC can be taught effectively using a compact and inexpensive experimental setup. The experiment will be integrated into an undergraduate lab course.

Problem

• Develops a hands-on molecular communication testbed for undergraduate education
• Uses a low-cost fluidic setup to teach MC concepts intuitively
• Enables students to reproduce communication chain and achieve data transmission

Innovation

• Low-cost fluidic setup with dye injection
• Zero-forcing estimator separates spectral components
• Compact testbed for hands-on molecular communication education