review;articles

Doi: 10.1145/2018396.2018417

Nanonetworks:
a New frontier
in communications
redesign the way in which compo-
nents and devices are created by tak-
ing into account the new properties
of the nanoscale. Moreover, a whole
new range of applications can be en-
abled by the development of devices
able to benefit from these nanoscale
phenomena from the very beginning.
These are the tasks at the core of the
nanotechnology.

The term nanotechnology was first defined in a work dated from 197415 as follows: “Nanotechnology mainly consists of the processing of, separation, consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom or by one molecule.” Later, in the 1980s, the basic concept of this definition was explored in much more depth by K. Eric Drexler, 3 who took Feynman’s vision about creating nano-devices by using tiny factories, and added the idea that they could replicate themselves via computer control instead. For more than 10 years, Drexler received numerous accusations of promoting science fiction. However, as the first simple structures on a molecular scale were obtained, the activities surrounding nanotechnology began to slowly increase and this term became more socially accepted. It was in the early 2000s when the major advancements in the field ramped up.

Among the different aims of nano-technology, we focus on the development of nanomachines, that is, integrated functional devices consisting

Technology able to create devices the size
of a human cell calls for new protocols.
By iaN f. akyiLDiz, JoseP miQueL JoRNet,
aND massimiLiaNo PieRoBoN

in 1959, the nobel laureate physicist Richard Feynman, in his famous speech entitled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” described for the first time how the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules would give rise to more functional and powerful man-made devices. In his vision, he talked about having a billion tiny factories able to manufacture fully functional atomically precise nano-devices. During the same talk, he noted that several scaling issues would arise when reaching the nanoscale, which would require the engineering community to totally rethink the way in which nano-devices and nano-components are conceived.

More than a half-century later, current technological trends, which are still mainly based on the miniaturization of existing manufacturing techniques, are facing these predicted limitations. Consequently, there is a need to rethink and

key insights

;;; Nanotechnology is providing a new set of tools to the engineering community to design and manufacture nanomachines; that is, basic functional nano-devices able to perform only very simple tasks.

;;; Nanonetworks—networks of nanomachines—will expand the capabilities of single nanomachines by providing them a way to cooperate and share information.

;;; it is still not clear how nanomachines will communicate. two main alternatives currently being considered are terahertz Band and molecular communications.