A Velocity-based Dynamic Routing Protocol for Terahertz Nanonetworks

Abstract

Deploying nanosensors within the human body to establish a nanonetwork enables real-time acquisition of healthcare-related data, significantly enhancing the speed and efficiency compared to traditional detection methods. Terahertz band communication is typically deployed as the physical-layer technique among nanodevices due to their size and material constraints. However, due to the limitations of battery capacity and communication range of nanodevices, routing protocols are needed to enable multi-hop relay transmission, realizing the information exchange from nanosensors to upper-level devices. To increase the energy efficiency of the nanonetwork, this paper proposes a novel routing protocol for a three-dimensional scenario with mobile nanonodes. In this protocol, we select the optimal relay node for each hop by evaluating the impact of factors such as the velocity vector of the nanonode. Moreover, this protocol utilizes the movement of nanonodes to replace part of relay processes to reduce energy consumption and ultimately forward the data from the original source node to the controller node. Simulation results show that the parameter settings of nanonodes have a significant effect on the performance of the considered network, including time and energy consumption and the equilibrium state of the network, proving the effectiveness of the proposed routing protocol for nanonetworks.