Automata modeling of Quorum Sensing for nanocommunication networks

Nanotechnology is enabling the development of devices in a scale ranging from one to hundreds of nanometers. Communication between these devices underlying in the nanoscale greatly expands the possible applications, increasing the complexity and range of operation of the system. However, synchronization may be required to build a network architecture. In this work, we propose Quorum Sensing as a novel way to achieve synchronization between nodes of a nanonetwork. Quorum Sensing is a mechanism used by bacteria to sense their own population and coordinate their actions, through the emission and sensing of molecules called autoinducers. Here, the authors model the behavior of each bacterium as an individual finite state automaton, capturing its course of action. This model serves as the control unit of a “quorum nanomachine”, which would be able to synchronize with its fellows in a distributed manner by means of molecular communication. Finally, this configuration is implemented and simulated, and the results are later discussed.