Cardiovascular System Monitoring via Wireless Nanosensor Networks

Abstract

This paper explores the capabilities of wireless nanosensor networks to monitor biological or chemical agents in human blood. Wireless nanosensor networks constitute the nanoscale version of wireless sensor networks. However, advances in the former cannot be accomplished by simply downscaling the technological developments achieved for the latter. This is due to several reasons: firstly, the communication paradigms proposed for nanonetworks, namely electromagnetic waves in the terahertz band and molecular signals, entail unprecedented challenges that need to be carefully addressed; additionally, new protocol designs are required as a result of the more severe resource restrictions imposed by nanonodes in comparison to wireless sensor nodes. Under these assumptions, this work-in-progress paper addresses the main technical issues involved in the development of a communication mechanism for a nanosensor network deployed in the human cardiovascular system.